The following statements are in no way supposed to be offensive to anyone who even remotely resembles them. That said, please keep an open mind when reading. These are simple observations of I have made, and I am not stereotyping anyone. Thank you.
Alright, so everyone has seen scene kids, right? Not a guy who wears skinny jeans, but I mean the seriously scene, sometimes emo/ recovering emo, (emo meaning those who struggle with cutting,) and their friends, who wander around the mall, get in trouble with security guards, do drugs, smoke, drink and are just all around people that your parents don't like you hanging around with? I'm not saying that they all do each of these things, and I'm not saying they're bad people. I spent a day with them and I really liked them! They were weird and goofy, and I had fun. But there was one thing I noticed: they like to argue.
Not each one, but most. I say something about scene, emo, gays, whatever, and I'm verbally attacked. "Stop f***ing labeling me!" "You got a problem with gays?" and so on and so forth. I haven't said anything bad, nor am I openly hostile towards any of these particular groups. I haven't got any problems with them. I'm totally indifferent, except to those who force their beliefs on others or hurt other people because of differences. But this annoyed the heck out of me! Why must these people - these great people - be so touchy about this? Maybe because they've encountered people who disagree and are cruel about it. Either way, I don't see why I should be the enemy because I said someone looks scene.
I had a conversation about this with a relative, and we theorized about reasons. As I recently mentioned, maybe they have had problems with people who can't accept them, and are immediately defensive of themselves because they think it will happen again? Maybe they just want to hide the fact that they are insecure about themselves, and in the act of defending who they are they gain confidence in themselves? Maybe they just want to pick a fight?
I'm a prep, I suppose you could say. I get along wtih my parents, get good grades, dress in a T-shirt and jeans, and read a lot of books. So when I dropped in this little suggestion, I was totally guessing, but it made sense after further discussion. Maybe they argue with me because they are jealous or don't understand me. They don't believe I understand them because they don't get along with their parents, because their parents are cruel or they push them too hard. They struggle with drugs and alcohol, sexual orientation. They immediately want to defend themselves because they don't want me to look down on them. They want to force me to be more open minded.
If that's the case, (and I'm not saying it is,) this is not the way to go about it. Simply talking about it would make me understand much better. I can't sympathize with them, but I do know that it can be hard. I also know a thing or two about human psychology. By bearing down on me and scaring me, especially when I'm out numbered, makes me close up and not want to listen to any of these people. When there's ten people, mostly all taller than me yelling at me for the slightest thing, I really don't feel sympathetic. I think they're all idiots who are just way too touchy, and they should all shut up. I get angry in these situations, although on the outside I look scared, (and I am!) and it doesn't matter if you're mad or scared or both, but naturally, you defend yourself. I can't be openminded when I'm out-numbered. Yelling at me isn't how you get me to understand.
That was my rant on defending yourself, it seems. It was label themed, but all the same. Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope you learned something. Otherwise... I hope you had fun... or something like that...
~Mocha
