Sunday, March 11, 2012

Editorial: Leave the Emo youth alone

Today the Associated Press reports on the targeting of Iraq's Emo youths. Alice Fordham (Washington Post) reports, "Lists threatening named people with death unless they change their attitude circulated anonymously late last week in Baghdad. Prominent clerics, as well as at least one police official, have condemned the emo -- short for emotional -- craze for its gloomy music and macabre look, which includes tight clothes and styled hair. The trend began in the 1980s in the West but has only recently become popular in the Arab world."


If you followed the story last week, you most likely followed it with horror. Especially horror at the US government which never once had a comment on it and on the reporters who cover the State Department and the White House but never bothered to ask about it. Not even when Barack Obama was lecturing the country on what he wanted his girls to do someday -- those girls that no one else is ever supposed to speak of.

If you need background on the developments, you can refer to the following:


There was more than enough to cover last week and Iraqi news outlets were covering it: Al Mada, Dar Addustour, Alsumaria TV and more. The LGBT press was covering it last week as well. But for big media to cover it, it took Ahmed Rahseed and Mohammed Ameer (Reuters) to report on Saturday, "At least 14 youths have been stoned to death in Baghdad in the past three weeks in what appears to be a campaign by Shi'ite militants against youths wearing Western-style "emo" clothes and haircuts, security and hospital sources say. Militants in Shi'ite neighborhoods where the stonings have taken place circulated lists on Saturday naming more youths targeted to be killed if they do not change the way they dress."

And though, as the week drew to a close, the government of Iraq realized this was a problem for their image, at the start of the week, they had no such concerns and the police and the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Education were happy to share how they targeted Iraqi youth.

Some reality: As long as this crap takes place, Iraq's never going to progress. What you have are thuggish theocrats who want everyone to act and think the same. That would be conformity. As Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, conformity is "the hobglobbin of little minds." Conformity gives you an Iraq solely dependent upon the whims of the oil industry.

Expanded minds allows Iraqis to look at the landscape and determine other areas that Iraq can make money from, other ways to leave an impact.

They might be able to make money off a thriving music scene. Iraq's been developing a heavy metal music scene (which is currently under verbal attack by theocrats) and the Emo scene could become even more productive and important because Emo is better suited for Iraq. And with neighbors like Egypt attacking Emo, allowing Iraq to own the genre could create a firm base for a regional music business.

Can you imagine America without the hippies?

They influenced the music, they influenced the literature, they influenced the films, the culture, the society. To this day, Madison Avenue uses that period to try to sell products.

Their clothes were considered 'funny' and, yes, 'depraved' at the beginning.

sonny and cher

Take Sonny & Cher. Consider them the original Emos. Kicked out of hotels due to the way they dressed, asked to, in fact, leave the eatery they frequented because their look was 'freaking out' some of the other patrons (actually, some bullies were starting trouble -- bullies exist around the world), they weren't trying to dismantle the world or society, they were just trying to find their way.



I got flowers in the spring I got you to wear my ring
And when I'm sad, you're a clown
And if I get scared, you're always around
So let them say your hair's too long
'Cause I don't care, with you I can't go wrong
Then put your little hand in mine
There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb
-- "I Got You Babe," written by Sonny Bono, Sonny and Cher's 1965 number one hit


Smart people in Iraq would realize that what's taking place is a culturally significant moment. Iraqis are attempting to explore their place in their country, the region and the world. This is something that should be encouraged and applauded. If Iraq wants to return to being a cultural leader (they were once the cradle of civilization), they'll grasp how significant this moment is and allow it to flower.


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