I recently read an article about the the religion and the effect it has in the economy of a country. Unfortunately I couldn't find any link in English with such data, but in Spanish Protestant Countries. In resume, of the 10 richest countries in the world, 6 has protestantism as the principal cult.
So, what does all this have to do with the goth scene? This debate on how a religious cult and how a social system affects its evolution, has all to do with the sub-cultural scene.
I believe in the authenticity of the goth, punk among others, but I don't think this can be generalized for some other sub-cultures. I got in love with goth scene about 20 years ago, and I'm still learning new stuff every day. Most of my friends were punks, although we shared some goals and objectives, goth is a more specialized and focused expression. Among goths, there is no stone written paradigms, is not a single opinion or trend, is not a teenage sickness, among normal people they just see the same. But this topic is not about trying to convince people about the ideas and philosophy behind goth, this topic is about expressing the authenticity of a movement, a movement that goes beyond country borders.
I would partially define it as an art style, a life expression, a preference for loving the mystical and mysterious ways life has, the left side of the Qabalah. It has nothing to do with the an specific music genre, or a decade, but with a human history which has shown how the dark path is not always the negative.
I have had several times this debate regarding the authenticity of a sub cultural movement and the social conditions to actually provoke it, goth being subject questioned.
Taking the following argument as a start point, hippies, which I'm sure some will argue against what I'm gonna say, but worthy.
Hippies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie), one of the first ideas associated with the hippie movement is drugs, specially marijuana. Why is this? There are several documents talking about this problem. Isn't that the same drug used during the Vietnam war? Isn't that marijuana is perfect for making the majority of the people calm and quiet? "Don't panic, stay calm, peace and love, it will end soon... " I don't really want to start a topic against the hippie movement, out there will be some other thread to discuss and support it.
But this same approach is taken as an argument against the authenticity of the goth movement. If we take two ideas people relate with goth; androgynous and suicide. I will give some of reasons why they would be authentic, non-conditioned and then what does normal "intelectual" people would argue.
Androgynous
* woman solidarity (minorities solidarity) (+)
* no fear of extreme expression (+)
* no doubts regarding our sexuality (+)
* take your art out to the streets. (+)
* tv media, create a perturbed imaged of the self (-)
* confuse youth to have better control over them (-)
Suicide
* no doubt some of us find life a limited and very superficial transition (there is no need to wait) (+)
* the most important act of freedom (+)
* this society doesn't have any real meaning we want to create new ones (+)
* Capitalism doesn't care about people, create an environment where only the strong ones live, the rest commit suicide (-)
* Produce music so that people get depressed, we can induce suicide ideas (-)
Several times I have heard these negative opinions, haven't really found any information on how a government can induce a society to have such feelings, and in a such specialized population, we are still not the majority, so this sounds wrong.
The strange thing now, I have found a massive web content about goth from south america countries (Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Peru...), I don't really have a explanation why is happening this now.
I remember goth being popular during 80's 90's in my Country (and is not US, UK or Germany), I can justify by telling it was because of the media, but why now? Is it that christian Countries compel goth scene? Is it the crappy famous vampire movie? Has it always being like this for south america?
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