Dear YouTube, please ban all idiots from your site or at least keep them from making videos while adding commentary when they clearly don’t know anything about the topic. One main offender who actually inspired this little rant you all are reading goes by the username Tantris999 on Youtube. The video in particular goes by the title Ritual Murder of Woman by Satanic Goth. This video is a news segment from an actual news channel on TV somewhere, and it’s about a kid named Scott Dyleski who murdered a woman apparently for some Satanic ritual. Tantris999 adds commentary throughout the video talking about how goths are involved in vampire satanic cults when they had someone from the actual Gothic community on the news explaining what goth culture was. The whole time Tantris999 was like, “No, he’s not telling the truth. He’s watering it down. It’s all about Satan. Blah blah blah blah” and at that point, I wanted to throw my computer through a damn wall (and my computer is like my child). The person they had on went by the name of Voltaire. He said that goth was more of a style, more of a music scene. He was basically saying that not everybody that is considered “goth” is Satanic. A majority of those in the Gothic community aren’t, but are more interested in the artistic sense of the culture. There are Satanists in the Gothic community, but most of them are not theistic Satanists, and even if they are, they don’t go around killing people. Not that I’ve heard of anyways. Then, this Tantris999 wants to go blaming Marilyn Manson. Manson is very popular in the Gothic community, and the fact that this person (if they were indeed into the goth scene) liked Manson and his music is a complete coincidence. What? Are we going to run around blaming Marilyn Manson for every murder some kid in eyeliner commits? No. People who do this, no matter what they are inspired by, have enough sense and enough brains in their head to know that that is not acceptable and should not be done. If they do it, you can blame nobody but the person who committed the crime. We can’t blame music, TV, movies, talk shows, any of this for some kid interpreting something in his/her own way. That would be ridiculous. Goth is actually a pretty cool culture. Romance, fashion, architecture, art, literature, the best of these elements come from Gothic culture. Edgar Allen Poe? He is regarded by several as a Gothic writer. These eccentric churches? Those are called GOTHIC cathedrals (even though some could argue the two are in no relation). Goth has become one of the biggest fashion trends in the fashion industry. Satanism does not always equal the Gothic community. There are probably tons of people who are Satanists who aren’t “goth”. They were also trying to blame Manson for a Black Dahlia copycat murder because he did a painting depicting it, and the killers were fans of his. The Black Dahlia murder itself could’ve been their inspiration for killing that girl, not Manson’s painting. Basically, the point of this rant is that Tantris999 is an asshole, just because somebody is Gothic, it does not mean they are going around killing people and sacrificing them to Satan, not everybody involved in the Gothic culture is a Satanist or is involved in some sort of vampiric or Satanic cult, and Marilyn Manson is also not to blame for a bunch of idiots running around killing their family, friends, or even complete strangers.
| — | Marilyn Manson, AXS Interview (Uncut) c. 1996 |
Today, I was re-watching some Jerry Springer on Youtube, and an episode came on where they featured shock rock artists. Originally, they had some stupid idiot named El Duce from the band, the Dementors, on the air as well as some dominatrix “shock rocker” named, Dominique. They proceeded to use these two “artists” as examples of how “horrible” shock rock is. El Duce promotes rape, and Dominique promotes a female ruled society where men are subservient to women. Why would you use those two people to portray shock rock? Two of the biggest fucking idiots of that genre. Really, Jerry? You’re some what of an educated man. Use your head here. Now, I know a lot of people don’t like them and I know a lot of shock rock fans don’t consider them to be shock rock, but they brought the band GWAR on the show. I’m not a fan of GWAR. I’ve only heard one song called Sick Of You, and it wasn’t my cup of tea, but they are actually pretty funny people. They had people trying to say that they promoted violence at their shows through moshpits, and I just felt so bad for this band because how the fuck are they supposed to control what happens in the audience? Moshpits don’t just happen at GWAR concerts. Moshpits don’t just happen at shock rock concerts in general, either. You can’t blame that sort of thing on them. Back to how GWAR was “portraying/promoting violence” in their performance. GWAR actually makes fun of the stupidity and violence in the world. Their whole performance is a mockery of society. What you see on stage is their portrayal of the world with a little twist. A mom said her son came back wanting to beat the shit out of people, but the boy even said, “I wanted to do that before I heard of the band.” It’s society that does this to kids. It’s society that teaches them violence is funny or violence is okay. You can’t go around blaming every controversial band you see or hear of for what your kid is doing. It was your responsibility to raise them. If you didn’t do your job as a PARENT, then it is your fault for whatever happens to your kid out there. To say that a band “raises a child” is absurd. YOU, as the parent(s), raise the child. You may have raised them pretty fucking poorly, but you still raised them. If your child interprets a band’s onstage antics or a band’s lyrics a certain way, it is not the band’s fault. It is your child who is doing that. A band can be “Fuck bitches. Get money. Get shitfaced!” or whatever way they want to portray themselves, but at the end of the day, any person with even the slightest bit of sense knows that they don’t expect, or WANT, you to go out and get trashed or fuck tons of people and become a whore. It’s just what they sing because it appeals to them. They aren’t trying to satisfy YOU. They are trying to satisfy or write songs for themselves. If a child misinterprets something or does something completely idiotic because of a song, then that is their own fault, and just maybe, the parents didn’t raise their child right. You can’t blame a band for somebody’s actions. There was something inside that individual that just needed the slightest touch, and they were going to be set off. It just so happened to be a certain band’s (or tons of bands’) music. They could see a pencil that got a bit of paint on it and they could think, “This is a sign that I need to stab somebody.” It’s how an individual interprets it. A band is not telling somebody to go kill or hurt ANYBODY. A band is trying to put in their two cents through music. There is always some sort of message in a band’s music, especially in the genre of shock rock. People may see a lot of shock rock artists and hear their music, but never truly understand the message. Although the main goal of shock rock is to captivate, shock, thrill, and offend as many people as they can, there is always some sort of educated opinion or message in their music. Marilyn Manson’s music, for example, has tons of messages about Catholicism, society, and the ways of humanity. He is throwing back at the world what it has become. He is not saying “Kill everybody.” He is saying that we ARE killing everybody. Everybody with an opinion that is different. He is making fun of society and humanity. The Murderdolls are sometimes grouped in with shock rock. This band is purely for horror. They’re not saying “Kill your friends. Kill yourself. Kill your family,” just like horror movies aren’t saying, “Dress up as some legendary killer and kill everybody.” It’s all for show. It’s for the thrills and gags. If you know that you have taught your child well enough to where you know that they will not be stupid and do something completely idiotic after hearing a rock song, then why worry if they go to a concert or listen to a certain band? If you raised them right, then they will be fine. To put it all into one sentence…I’ll try my best: Music doesn’t create monsters; Society does.
