Opened my mouth just a little too wide...

[-Resurrected Writer-]

Today, in my health class, we were discussing kids with guns; the conversation eventually trickled down to the Columbine incident.
So at one point I said "The tradgedy was horrible, indeed, yet another problem was the media outrage at 'a particular subculture'."

(*Sigh* I should've just ended at "The tradgedy was horrible, indeed." stare )

Then another guy blurts out "The goths," to which I coyly reply "Yes, the gothic subculture."

Next thing I know, the teacher asks me, "Well, what is the goth theme?"

At those words I felt myself growing red. I don't usually dress like how a normal person would perceive "goth" to be and it was, for lack of a better term, awkward. "Well, I'm not sure this class has either the time or the attention span for a lecture like that, Miss sweatdrop ," I replied.

But they pushed me on and I basically became the only, one-sided source of information on goths. The music, the subculture, the aesthetics, the meaning of "mallcore" - with no one to give a second opinion that would either back me up, explain further or correct ********> I hope I wasn't misinterpreted. gonk

Anyone else have a moment like this before? I hope I'm not alone in this...  

[The Dadalorian]

i just don't say anything really  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

Chaos A.D.

i just don't say anything really

Probably what I should've done. gonk
But something told me to do it. I don't know what, but something inside urged me to do it... I hope there are no issues tomorrow.  

[Athiel]

Oh, dear, something tells me your lessons are rather inefficiently planned.^^  

[Veruniel]

Personally I'd refuse to get drawn into conversations about what 'goth' does or doesn't mean. It means so many different things to so many people that I couldn't possibly expain it well without 1) taking a hundred years or 2) being so vague and general that no one would learn anything anyway.

The best thing to do is just explain that wearing black doesn't automatically mean you'll act like the cast of A History of Violence.

As for the reason people choose to wear black... well, it could be anything from liking 'goth rock' to thinking vampires are romantic.  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

Veruniel

Personally I'd refuse to get drawn into conversations about what 'goth' does or doesn't mean. It means so many different things to so many people that I couldn't possibly expain it well without 1) taking a hundred years or 2) being so vague and general that no one would learn anything anyway.

The best thing to do is just explain that wearing black doesn't automatically mean you'll act like the cast of A History of Violence.

As for the reason people choose to wear black... well, it could be anything from liking 'goth rock' to thinking vampires are romantic.

Yes, I was trying to be a bit vague, but something still tells me that one of them may have misinterpreted it... and that worries me. I guess that's one of my problems with conversation sometimes - I spill a few too many things and forget to mask others.

Whether or not I ********, I won't know until tomorrow.  

[GilAskan]

This has happened to me more than I can recount.

gonk  

[x Socks x]

This sort of happened to me once. It was in German class, and this kid was going on about how "emo only exists because of how stupid everyone was about two years ago. Everyone thinks it's a ******** type of music, and it's not! It only popped up in our freshman year."

I said, "Or, you know, it's been around since the 80's, and it's an offspring of Punk."

"No, hardcore sprung from punk! Emo means emotional!"

Then I said the words Emotive Hardcore, and said how sad it was that no one considers the labels on people to be misinterpreted and that it COULD be a style of music, sort of like Goth. I'm not sure if he didn't hear me, decided to ignore me, or didn't know what to say, because as soon as I brought up Goth-rock as an offspring of Punk as well, he just began talking to someone else with his same rant.

No wonder only so many people know what it is. The vast majority of people refuse to believe it, because then they can't go prancing around saying that they know what it is and how stupid those certain people are. rolleyes  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

GilAskan and [Brain Damage], thank you both for letting me know that I'm not the only one in this guild who has had to deal with something like this. smile  

[Corpse_Bride_131]

Hehe... I've had a moment like that before. That's when I stopped giving my opinion on certain things. Like, I go to a Catholic school, but I'm not Catholic and I really do not support the Catholic Church. Well, one day I got really worked up about what someone had said about how other Christian religions weren't really like, following God's word or something, and I just let loose. It was awful. Actually it was pretty funny now that I look back on it, but I didn't feel it was so hot then. lol.  

[Rellik San]

I usually just nod and smile and laugh when someone says something stupid, that works.  

[-Isel-]

Actually, I just tell them the worst possible thing I can think up.

One person called my friend a "fire witch, cuz you always be wearin' red" (he has no red clothing)- had I been there, I would have confirmed that all goths, nay, all white people are fire witches and are out to get him.

We're post-sensationalists, it's what we do.  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

Corpse_Bride_131

Hehe... I've had a moment like that before. That's when I stopped giving my opinion on certain things. Like, I go to a Catholic school, but I'm not Catholic and I really do not support the Catholic Church. Well, one day I got really worked up about what someone had said about how other Christian religions weren't really like, following God's word or something, and I just let loose. It was awful. Actually it was pretty funny now that I look back on it, but I didn't feel it was so hot then. lol.

Unfortunate side-affect of different Christian sects - each one thinking that they are truly following the word while the others believe otherwise.  

[x Socks x]

Corpse_Bride_131

Hehe... I've had a moment like that before. That's when I stopped giving my opinion on certain things. Like, I go to a Catholic school, but I'm not Catholic and I really do not support the Catholic Church. Well, one day I got really worked up about what someone had said about how other Christian religions weren't really like, following God's word or something, and I just let loose. It was awful. Actually it was pretty funny now that I look back on it, but I didn't feel it was so hot then. lol.

Oh, my gosh. I'm Catholic and all, but when people go around saying, "Lolz, you're not Catholic so you're going to hell!" That seriously pisses me off. I'm sorry you have to be around traditionalists like that, honestly. sad Those people seriously need a reality check.

@Dead Ed: No probs. I've actually never heard a story like yours. You were put on the spot in front of an entire class! That's terrible. I would have honestly probably just said, "I was just joking?" I hate speaking in front of people. Especially since they'd most likely sit and question you just for kicks. (sort of like people asking me what I'm drawing. You know they don't really care. talk2hand )  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

[ Brain Damage ]

Corpse_Bride_131

Hehe... I've had a moment like that before. That's when I stopped giving my opinion on certain things. Like, I go to a Catholic school, but I'm not Catholic and I really do not support the Catholic Church. Well, one day I got really worked up about what someone had said about how other Christian religions weren't really like, following God's word or something, and I just let loose. It was awful. Actually it was pretty funny now that I look back on it, but I didn't feel it was so hot then. lol.

Oh, my gosh. I'm Catholic and all, but when people go around saying, "Lolz, you're not Catholic so you're going to hell!" That seriously pisses me off. I'm sorry you have to be around traditionalists like that, honestly. sad Those people seriously need a reality check.

@Dead Ed: No probs. I've actually never heard a story like yours. You were put on the spot in front of an entire class! That's terrible. I would have honestly probably just said, "I was just joking?" I hate speaking in front of people. Especially since they'd most likely sit and question you just for kicks. (sort of like people asking me what I'm drawing. You know they don't really care. talk2hand )

Yeah. They kind of give other Catholics a bad, largely false reputation for being close-minded.

I hate that, too. Another part of it was that a friend of mine sitting next to me was like "You're not goth... are you Ed? confused " So I swallowed and said, "Well I enjoy the music and understand what goth is, and have a strong interest in it"... yeah, being put on the spot like that was a pretty bad experience. But I did sort of drag myself into it, even when I was trying to be vague.