What Exactly Is A Goth

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Don't mind these wise asses its a fair question. =)

In a very broad sense goth is just an adjective. Perhaps meaning "dark, mysterious, melancholy". Horror movies are "goth" , Edgar Allen Poe is "goth". But you could argue this one all day and all night.

Unfortunately it sort of like saying "what is art?" or some other difficult to define term. (or impossible because there is no clear definition)

And welcome to the board, dont let this confusion about termonolgy or lacktherof make you feel unwelcome.

[Steven]

havent we always done this? Clung to a specific social click?

personally I think if we had not had Vietnam, the Jones' to keep up with with 2.5 cars and 2.25 children and a 401K, a family unit that consists of two working parents who are both medicated, MTV and PS3 as our child rearers, etc., we'd have no goths.

to me Goths are just a much more recognized and organized (per se) outcry against that which we have created: an American Facade.

[Onyx]

havent we always done this? Clung to a specific social click?

personally I think if we had not had Vietnam, the Jones' to keep up with with 2.5 cars and 2.25 children and a 401K, a family unit that consists of two working parents who are both medicated, MTV and PS3 as our child rearers, etc., we'd have no goths.

to me Goths are just a much more recognized and organized (per se) outcry against that which we have created: an American Facade.

Oh nonononono Steven! No.

*Hand-staple-forehead*

Now you've done it.

Goth is so much more than that to me. It's a beautiful sadness. It's an appreciation for the darker side of life. No true joy can exist in one's life without also experiencing and facing pain. It's refusing to paint on a fake smile to show the world, so that when you do smile, it's real.

In facing and accepting one's own death and realizing how short life is, one may learn to appreciate what a precious gift each day brings. That's why true, real joy is so precious, because it is so rare.

"The deeper sorrow cuts, the more joy one can contain."

[Steven]

I can relate to what your saying Onyx, to a degree. And I DO appreciate the darker side of life, and have certainly spent my time there. ANd I certainly agree with refusing to paint on a smile, I can only add that I also do not agree with staying in the place of despair as an identifyer, I think that long term it can exascerbate hopelessness, soemthign I seem to see a great deal of today.

I am not a pie in the sky kinda guy (really wasent going for the rhyme, hey - its a talent). for the sake of just being something. Both elements of life need balance.

I just think that at times, despair seems to be at the forefront.

and I think that despair as a whole, has been bred generationally, and is peaking at this moment because there is so much lack of faith in what we used to be. I do think each successive generation has added to the burden of the next.

[Soulrev]

Being goth is also about as bad as being Japanese and living in this country in the late 40's. In some areas. Like my closed-minded area. These people stare at me all the time and whisper in eachother's ears and I hate it. But I don't let what other people think of me deter me from being myself.

Oh and the rumors I hear about myself.. Wow.

[BrassFusion]

You don't have to dress weird to be a goth and you don't have to be a goth to dress weird... but if you like dressing the way you do, more power to you.

And hell... rumors? Some of the cattiest people I know self-identify as "goths."

[Homicidalheathen]

Goth is so much more than that to me. It's a beautiful sadness. It's an appreciation for the darker side of life. No true joy can exist in one's life without also experiencing and facing pain. It's refusing to paint on a fake smile to show the world, so that when you do smile, it's real

That was beautiful Onyx and quite right!