Why Mexico wants emo dead

When Kristoff talks Mexico listens.

So when the Televisa VJ condemned the Emo movement on Telehit in a lengthy diatribe, punk rockers and metal-heads took to the streets - and violently beat Emos at a concert in Queretaro on March 9. Films of the beating appeared on YouTube.com, further fanning the hatred. And while Kristoff has responded to claims that he is responsible for their violence, but he has not retracted the statements made on his program.

"I may not agree with the emo philosophy, but I would die to defend their right to express themselves," he said after the violence.

On the same program urged people to leave the "defenseless" emos alone and instead if they wanted to fight to attack the "Mara Salvatrucha" or the "Reggaetoneros."

He expressed remorse for the three people seriously injured in the conflict in Queretaro.

While Kristoff is advocating peace - or at least for people to stop picking on Emos - the violence between Emos, punk rockers and metal-heads continues to explode.

This weekend there were clashes in Tijuana and Mexico City. But the real war seems to be on the Internet, with sites like YouTube, MySpace and last.fm serving as a platform for both sides to attack each other. To date the "Verdades del movimiento Emo," Kristoff's rant against Emo, has received 281,656 hits and 2,456 comments. The anti-Emo videos, including those documenting the violent attacks, continue to grow both in number and hits.

"I just wanna say one thing: Emo sucks," the beginning of Kristoff's rant, have been repeated throughout the online Anti-emo scene. As has the idea the emo is not actually a movement, something Kristoff spoke of at length.

"There's no movement, there's no state of mind, there're no musicians. You're confusing punk, hard rock, screamo. You put together all these styles only to give significance to your stupid (expletive) ‘movement.' It's not a movement."

But while Kristoff rants about his views on Emo being a wannabe movement, Mexican sociologists and public commentators feel the issue delves further into Mexican society.

News reports have cited that homophobias may play a role in the attacks, which is supported by YouTube videos that shout slogans like "Movimiento Anti-Emosexual" and "Emo is gay." But sociologists say that the clash may be more of a class conflict than simply a music preference issue.

Most Mexican Emo fans are young, upper-middle class teens; whereas fans of hard core or punk often come from lower classes, according to reports in Mexican media.

"There are many reasons why children would bully others," said Andoni Zagouris, a licensed specialist in school psychology with the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district.

Some children seek power and control they do not feel they have at home. So when they arrive at school, they look for someone to pick on to feel superior, Zagouris said.

Many times they'll pick on students who show some vulnerabilities. But when some students see a student with hair dyed a non natural color, piercings or other things to make them stand out, it's like a bull being taunted by a matador.

Students who dress differently often times are looking for attention, and in some instances they use it as a passive-aggressive way to antagonize others. Whatever the reason, their fashion decisions evoke responses from bullies, he said.

"I've had bullies say, 'If they don't want to be bothered why do they dress so weird,'" Zagouris said.

But regardless society's views, Adam Gonzalez, a hardcore promoter in the Valley, said Kristoff should have known the power of his words.

"He should have been more careful of what he says," Gonzalez said. "He has that responsibility. Now it's just snowballed to kids beating each other up - because they see some kid dressing in bright colors and with hair to the side. He should have thought twice, should have realized the power of his words."

A Constant Tension

Although the Mexican public has been taken aback by the violence against Emo fans, Adam Gonzalez, a hardcore promoter in the Valley, said that conflicts between genres are common. Music used to have clear divisions, he said. But now music is melding together, pulling influences from different genres.

Hardcore is mixing with emo. There are hardcore bands with metal influence. And as genre's mix, fans mix too.

"There could be a hardcore that ends up going to a metal show," he said. "We end up going and it's different styles of music, different styles of thinking. Of course it's going to clash."

In the RGV, where there has always been a strong metal following, conflicts arose as hardcore tried to establish itself. "There were a couple of fights," he said. But in the past few years hardcore has found its niche the conflicts have subsided.

"It's kind of mellowed down from a couple years ago," he said.

Gonzalez believes there will always be conflicts as any new genre of music tries to establish itself.

"It happened everywhere what we went through," he said.

But Gonzalez questions why people are attacking Emo kids, even though he characterizes their music as more of a trend than a genre.

"There hasn't really ever been an issue with emo kids (in the Valley)," he said. "They don't tend to be as aggressive. They're a lot younger. They just sort of do their thing."

Monitor Staff Writer Jennifer Berghom contributed to this story.

Paige Lauren Deiner covers features and entertainment for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4425.