Badr Morshed ENG 201 “From Geeks to Freaks response”
Goths have always been known to be not “normal”. I believe that this idea is used toward many subcultures. I honestly never knew that goths are goths due to the reasons that were pointed out in “From Geeks to Freaks”. I’ve always believed that goths chose that route because it was the things they liked and interested them. An example is the way that they dress. People have the right to dress however they want. For me to find out that the dark colors represent the dark past they had is interesting because I’ve always thought it was just a dress preference. Stereotypes will always be a problem within any society and is a very tough matter to address. People can’t stop quickly judging a person based on a stereotype that someone made up somewhere down the road or might have been true about an individual the belongs to that subculture but doesn’t necessarily apply to all. I spoke with a few goths before and they didn’t seem to be these not so “normal” people just from the way they dress or the tattoos they chose to put on their bodies. I really like the way that Amy approached her brief research. She actually took the time to get to know some of the goths on a bit of a personally level before writing what she now knows about them. Amy’s way of approaching this matter will be helpful in writing my ethnography. Getting to know the subculture a little more in person or at least asking questions would be very helpful in writing the piece.
I rarely judge people for their life choices because I hate being judged by others. On my opinion, anybody can wear, do and say everything they want unless it hurts somebody else. But going back to Goth subculture - I honestly do not care about it. I have never been interested in Goth subculture so I never tried to find out who they actually are. The image of a typical Goth in my head is created by all those stereotypes that exist in world but I was never scared by their appearance. I believe that their lifestyle and attitude towards society is just a way to get attention of other people. After reading this text I clarified for my self some things about my previous statement. My interest picked the paragraph where author talks about negative experience that individuals that identify them selves as Goths had in the high school. The fact that somebody fell social discomfort and was considered as a geek while being a teenager describes why this person did not become a mediocre representative of a middle class. Possibly becoming a part of Goth community helped them to feel more confident and important in this world. Or maybe they really enjoy to shock people and see the fear in their eyes. But as I said earlier - I do not care.
Amy Wilkins’ piece really made me think deeply about Goths and how they feel about the world. I never really judged Goths for how they dress or what they believe, but I always questioned why they acted how they did. “From Freaks to Geeks” did a great job of giving me the inside scoop and answering this question. Previously to this reading I had imagined that this group of people always chose to isolate themselves. Through connections, I met several people that described themselves as Goth, and talked about people outside of their group as “sheeps” and “norms”, and always talked down on people that followed the “mainstream” way of living. Due to the way that these acquaintances constantly illustrated the “sheeps” in such a negative way, I came to the conclusion that the isolation was maybe the fault of the Goths more than others. However, Amy Wilkins provided me with the side of the story that I never bothered to search for. In the article, a person named Zoe states that many of the members of her group with whom she has spoken to have had bad experiences in school previous to college. Several of them felt like they never belonged, or felt invisible, which made me come to a simple conclusion. Although they are different in regards to how they dress, act, or what they believe, they are are just doing what we all do, trying to belong to something and trying to be acknowledged. I agree with Brad on the fact that their choice of lifestyle is aimed purposely as a way to receive attention, but I honestly see no problem in this. As we stated in class, there is no such thing as bad press, and after being classified as geeks, Freaks seems like a hell of an upgrade. In the end, at least they get the attention that they were craving, right?
Badr Morshed
ReplyDeleteENG 201
“From Geeks to Freaks response”
Goths have always been known to be not “normal”. I believe that this idea is used toward many subcultures. I honestly never knew that goths are goths due to the reasons that were pointed out in “From Geeks to Freaks”. I’ve always believed that goths chose that route because it was the things they liked and interested them. An example is the way that they dress. People have the right to dress however they want. For me to find out that the dark colors represent the dark past they had is interesting because I’ve always thought it was just a dress preference.
Stereotypes will always be a problem within any society and is a very tough matter to address. People can’t stop quickly judging a person based on a stereotype that someone made up somewhere down the road or might have been true about an individual the belongs to that subculture but doesn’t necessarily apply to all. I spoke with a few goths before and they didn’t seem to be these not so “normal” people just from the way they dress or the tattoos they chose to put on their bodies. I really like the way that Amy approached her brief research. She actually took the time to get to know some of the goths on a bit of a personally level before writing what she now knows about them.
Amy’s way of approaching this matter will be helpful in writing my ethnography. Getting to know the subculture a little more in person or at least asking questions would be very helpful in writing the piece.
From Anna:
ReplyDeleteI rarely judge people for their life choices because I hate being
judged by others. On my opinion, anybody can wear, do and say
everything they want unless it hurts somebody else. But going back to
Goth subculture - I honestly do not care about it. I have never been
interested in Goth subculture so I never tried to find out who they
actually are. The image of a typical Goth in my head is created by all
those stereotypes that exist in world but I was never scared by their
appearance. I believe that their lifestyle and attitude towards
society is just a way to get attention of other people. After reading
this text I clarified for my self some things about my previous
statement. My interest picked the paragraph where author talks about
negative experience that individuals that identify them selves as
Goths had in the high school. The fact that somebody fell social
discomfort and was considered as a geek while being a teenager
describes why this person did not become a mediocre representative of
a middle class. Possibly becoming a part of Goth community helped them
to feel more confident and important in this world. Or maybe they
really enjoy to shock people and see the fear in their eyes. But as I
said earlier - I do not care.
Amy Wilkins’ piece really made me think deeply about Goths and how they feel about the world. I never really judged Goths for how they dress or what they believe, but I always questioned why they acted how they did. “From Freaks to Geeks” did a great job of giving me the inside scoop and answering this question. Previously to this reading I had imagined that this group of people always chose to isolate themselves. Through connections, I met several people that described themselves as Goth, and talked about people outside of their group as “sheeps” and “norms”, and always talked down on people that followed the “mainstream” way of living. Due to the way that these acquaintances constantly illustrated the “sheeps” in such a negative way, I came to the conclusion that the isolation was maybe the fault of the Goths more than others. However, Amy Wilkins provided me with the side of the story that I never bothered to search for. In the article, a person named Zoe states that many of the members of her group with whom she has spoken to have had bad experiences in school previous to college. Several of them felt like they never belonged, or felt invisible, which made me come to a simple conclusion. Although they are different in regards to how they dress, act, or what they believe, they are are just doing what we all do, trying to belong to something and trying to be acknowledged. I agree with Brad on the fact that their choice of lifestyle is aimed purposely as a way to receive attention, but I honestly see no problem in this. As we stated in class, there is no such thing as bad press, and after being classified as geeks, Freaks seems like a hell of an upgrade. In the end, at least they get the attention that they were craving, right?
ReplyDelete