Emo Scene Community

There are so many misunderstandings about Nihilism, this is not a philosophy that promotes suicide. It later extends to Existentialism <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism">, the idea that questions what life means and what is to live a more meaningful life. You breathe doesn't mean that you are living. Are you really living at this moment? Not only biologically, but in other aspects. I see and read types of labelling, prejudices, and stereotypes against current emo subculture. Again, there is no right or wrong way of reading literature, but if you take a look into the root of emocore rock music, there is a tie with the Straight Edge philosophy. My understanding of Straight Edge is self-respect. Emocore musicians tend to write instropective and confessional lyrics. If you are a self-respecting and instropective person, how on earth can you cut yourself and conduct self-harming behaviour? Sure, drinking, smoking, and doing drugs are your choice of lifestyle, but is it really a self-respect? I do not want to criticize or blame on those personal choices. I believe in freedom of personal choices as long as it is not destructive towards oneself or others. Where I am living in is one of the roughest parts of a city somewhere in Canada. I've run into street girls, gangs, drug dealers, and people living in general poverty driven lifestyles. So many things I have seen are against my ethics and my own life style choices. It is sad to see how poverty destroys and exploits human beings. According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs <<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs">, we cannot reach the next level of needs without meeting the first basic needs. You will run into a mine field if there is food when you are starving to death. You give up your needs of safety over food. Poorer you are more sick you are. I haven't met many individuals yet that are both mentally and physically healthy with poverty driven lifestyles. Their poverty driven lifestyles come from both personal choices and social structures. I see poverty as the root of all the evilness. For me being "emotional" means being empathetic towards human beings in general. If you are running to depression, tell me about it, I know how draining and sickening it is. It feels like being sucked into a black hole. No wonder why it leads you to death to be free from the pain. However, try to think about it this way: You are sick and you understand what it means to be in pain. Don't focus only on your pain and try to reflect yourself in it. I know it is not easy. From my personal experience, being depressed helped me put myself in someone else's shoe. I can't help liking Straight Edge guys. Of course Ian MacKaye is one of the role models in my life. But again, I do not want to criticize or blame on those who are not. If everybody was Straight Edge this world must have been boring like hell. We need alcoholics, drug addics, and prostitutes. Otherwise, we won't have doctors, nurses, lawyers, police officers, and other professionals. I told you so, I love evilness and greed people in general.