Generally I dislike emo music for the same reason many others do: Stuff like Fall Out Boy and Dashboard Confessional is whiny, repetitive and plastic.
Problem is, a lot of people now use the word "emo" to label people unfairly, not just the music.
The word itself has become derogatory.
Whether it is intended, being called emo can be pretty insulting, because most people have come to associate being emo with being fake. If someone is serious about their musical tastes, or they are conscious about their image - pretty much everyone falls into this category - then they are not going to take kindly to it.
I'm not even sure where the word "emo" comes from, and I don't think most people do, but we think we know what emo is and what it isn't.
People who wear dark clothing, people who have black square-rimmed glasses, people who have long hair, people who have a dejected look on their face, look emo.
How many people look that way during winter quarter at Ohio State?
Millions of high school and college students feel depressed every day for whatever reason. If any of them express it outwardly, they are acting emo.
There are emo shoes, emo belts and emo shirts. Someone could have been wearing this stuff ever since leaving the womb, but in 2007 it makes them emo.
This is so close to being a full-blown stereotype, Carlos Mencia is probably getting ready to tell bad jokes about it.
It might not be fair to judge mainstream emo music for being fake punk, fake hard-core or fake anything. All sorts of musicians in all sorts of genres prop up fake images of themselves. Rappers exaggerate their street cred, and flaunt lifestyles that even they couldn't afford.
Heck, that's what MTV is for.
It is hard for everyone to even agree on what emo music is. One person's emo is another's punk-rock, indie or alternative band. Sometimes the term is just tacked onto whatever band people judge to have an artificial sound or cringe-worthy lyrics.
Part of the reason people insult others for being emo is because those dubbed as emo in the public are usually such easy targets.
Avril Lavigne is hysterically funny, the Canadian yuppie princess acting so tough with her backup band, sneering at us behind her three coats of designer mascara. It is so easy - and fun - for someone like me to make fun of her. So if anybody looks like her, they might catch flack for it.
"Emo" is such an ambiguous, blanket term. So many people my age are characterized as being emo even when it has nothing to do with their character.
I am even guilty of the unfair judgment. I was wasting time on Facebook the other day, and I spotted my friend's Facebook photo that was dark and out of focus. I wrote him a message telling him the photo was emo. Then I leaned back in my desk chair and cracked a grin for my stupid sense of humor.
The kid listens to almost nothing but heavy-metal. He would probably have a panic attack if he was forced to listen to an entire Hawthorne Heights record. But to some idiot like me scanning Facebook, he might fit the emo criteria. But he is the last person who should be called emo. In fact, most people's Facebook photos are out of focus either because they are insecure about their appearance or drunk when they took the picture.
So naturally I felt pretty bad about the whole thing, because I couldn't have been more wrong.
Oh dear, I'm expressing remorse. This column is so emo.
Graham Beckwith can be reached at beckwith.29@osu.edu.
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