Brian Johnson today:
Posted on 03/09/2012 5:38:10 PM PST by Zhang Fei
Iraqi activists sounded the bell over the killing of dozens of teenagers by religious police for having “emo” haircuts.
Activists told the Cairo-based al-Akhbar daily that at least 90 Iraqi teenagers with “emo” appearances have been stoned to death by the Moral Police in the country in the past month. The violent crackdown against “emo” Iraqi teenagers came after the Iraqi interior ministry declared them as “devil worshippers.”
“The ‘Emo phenomenon’ or devil worshiping is being probed by the Moral Police who have the approval to eliminate it as soon as possible since it’s detrimentally affecting the society and becoming a danger,” a statement by the Interior Ministry said.
“They wear strange, tight clothes that have pictures on them such as skulls and use stationery that are shaped as skulls. They also wear rings on their noses and tongues, and do other strange activities,” the statement added.
The statement said that Iraq’s Moral Police was granted approval by the Ministry of Education to enter Baghdad schools and pinpoint students with Western appearances.
The activists told the newspaper that a group of armed men dressed in civilian clothing led the teenagers to secluded areas a few days ago, stoned them to death, and then disposed their bodies in garbage dumpsters across the capital, Baghdad.
“First they throw concrete blocks at the boy’s arms, then at his legs, then the final blow is to his head, and if he is not dead by then, they start all over again,” one person who managed to escape told the daily. The exact death toll remains unclear, but Hana al-Bayaty of Brussels Tribunal, an NGO dealing with Iraqi issues, said the current figure ranges “between 90 and 100.”
Activists said that leaflets were distributed in Baghdad warning teenagers from donning the “emo” style, and in some regions, teenage homosexuals were killed by battering their heads also by concrete blocks.
You had to ask????
If I had possessed that attitude as a teenager my dad would have taken a belt to me and given me a valid reason to be distraught and disturbed.
Some of my Hispanic students go emo, and they are almost always the smarter ones who enjoy reading, and don’t get into hip-hop and thug culture. This is tragic.
What’s really happening here is that they are murdering any kid who shows an inclination for American culture. And some here don’t get it.
Amen. There’s quite a pile-on here. Further, I work with youth and actually know the difference between Emo and Goth, despite my age. FWIW, it’s been all twisted up in this thread.
Do we know for fact that this actually happened, because "Activists told" someone?
Or is this just some "Wag the Emo" scenario to scam the media into reporting sensational stories?
-PJ
Cheers!
Only 90 huh? Hmmmmm. 90...That’s it? Well, 90 is a start I suppose since all 90 of ‘em were probably dancing in the streets and screamin’ ‘death to America’ on 9/11. I wonder if all 90 of the little death cult savages were yellin’ ‘allah ackbar’ or some other jawa sand box goat humpin’ gibberish when the rock bombin’ started?
Often this starts quite out of view of parents and by the time parents learn about it, a violent confrontation of the kind you mention can well result in a runaway or suicide.
I very much doubt any of these are Islam sympathizers. More likely they’re bummed out over Islam and are looking to the Western influence to express their grievance.
I think the adoption of some of these styles is a protective device for kids in a rough environment. I always thought the fact that an unusually large number of the smarter boys in rough black areas seemed to flaunt being gay or even cross-dressing was simply because that let them off the hook and nobody wanted them to join a gang. They could just go home and do their nails and read a book and the homies would call them a few nasty names and then forget about them. But it gave them a collective identity.
The same is probably true with the Hispanic kids or the Iraqi kids, adopting a sort of outsider identity that gives them a little group cohesion and also protects them from peer pressure simply because they are considered wierd and nobody wants them around.
That said, you can get away with it if the "only" thing you have to worry about are gangs. But if you live in a tyranny, it's actually much more difficult, because you'll attract the attention of the State, in this case, the Islamic Morality Police.
If this report is true, remind me again of exactly why we went into Iraq and gave up the lives of thousands of our young people? To make the world safe for Islamic theocracy?
I asked my 17 year old the same question, in typical fashion, his reply was “Emo’s, they are just whine-a-baby losersâ€.
LOL, you said what I was thinking. I'm going to hell.
Geez, and I just hung out with the potheads and listened to metal. A lot easier and a lot more fun.
Brian Johnson today:
“Moral Police? Looks like the only thing we’ve accomplished over there is creating West Iran.”
Dragging kids out of classrooms and stoning them to death doesn’t even happen in Iran. Sounds more like the barbarism under Saddam
The religion of peace just doing its job.
The spray paint cans with the mixing ball that rattles when you shake it.
Wow, the ROP calling someone else devil worshipers - now that’s rich.
So were Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. Were they forerunners of goth and/or emo? Come to think of it, maybe Roy was with all the gloom and doom he embraced. But he roared it out, he didn’t whine about it.
WOW, in my day I thought Beatniks were bad.
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