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"Why does society look down upon "emos"/people who are depressed?"
These are my own theories. People who are different are going to get looked down on and "emo" is an easy target for a couple reasons:
1) They've visibly different. You don't even have to know anything about the person before you can pick on them. Some people get picked on for their habits or personality, but won't get looked down on by total strangers if they look "normal".
2) Society doesn't tolerate certain kinds of discrimination and reacts harshly to people who say negative things about race, religion, and so on, but being emo doesn't really come under that umbrella. We all know it's not okay to make fun of someone for the color of their skin and we hear that enough that it's a pretty immediate reaction that we get upset when someone's being racist. I think that without reinforcement a lot of us would let bullying and discrimination pass even for things that we know are wrong and get told are wrong an awful lot so since you don't often hear people say "don't pick on someone for wearing different clothes" then not a lot of people are going to stand up like you did.
People look down on depressed people because:
1) People don't want to be reminded of things in their own lives which make them feel sad/uncomfortable/etc.
2) People are selfish and distrusting. They see depressed people as asking for things which, to their minds, they are already able to do for themselves. They don't understand how depression affects people.
And of course people who don't know any better mix emo and depression together so some of these things overlap in their minds.
These are my own theories. People who are different are going to get looked down on and "emo" is an easy target for a couple reasons:
1) They've visibly different. You don't even have to know anything about the person before you can pick on them. Some people get picked on for their habits or personality, but won't get looked down on by total strangers if they look "normal".
2) Society doesn't tolerate certain kinds of discrimination and reacts harshly to people who say negative things about race, religion, and so on, but being emo doesn't really come under that umbrella. We all know it's not okay to make fun of someone for the color of their skin and we hear that enough that it's a pretty immediate reaction that we get upset when someone's being racist. I think that without reinforcement a lot of us would let bullying and discrimination pass even for things that we know are wrong and get told are wrong an awful lot so since you don't often hear people say "don't pick on someone for wearing different clothes" then not a lot of people are going to stand up like you did.
People look down on depressed people because:
1) People don't want to be reminded of things in their own lives which make them feel sad/uncomfortable/etc.
2) People are selfish and distrusting. They see depressed people as asking for things which, to their minds, they are already able to do for themselves. They don't understand how depression affects people.
And of course people who don't know any better mix emo and depression together so some of these things overlap in their minds.