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First off, there are many of us here who were old school gawth before many of you were born. I could spent a page dropping names and proving my point, but lets just say many of us have more connection to the scene than others.
That being said, this is not a contest of who is more goth. This is a simple issue of deciding how important you feel the goth subculture is.
What people are proposing here is we be put on the same level as jewish people who have their synagogues burned and covered in swastikas by skinheads, that we get equal protection like blacks who are hung for dating white women , like other minorities who really have had, and still have atrocities forced upon them in todays society.
Althought I'm sure the founders of the movement have nothing but good intentions, goths have by no means suffered as much as the groups above, or any other minoroties who have been targetted in such a manner.
If we try to compare our plight, which so far is limited to a single incident where a group of random yobs beat up a couple goths in the middle of the night, to these other groups, we will look very petty and small.
The people 'hate crime' legislation protects are people who have genuine concern for their safety. They have a history of people attacking, killing, and worse, in some cases genocide against their people merely because of their race, sexual orientation, or religion.
If we go around trying to compare ourselves as such, especially since the only documented incident so far is isolated and was just a random occurrence, well you can only imagine what critics will say, and what people who really need such legislation will say about us.
If anyone here thinks being goth is such a plight that we need to have legislation to protect us, that 'our people' have suffered as much as Blacks in America, jews in Germany, or any number of groups in other parts of the world who were killed for their beliefs, then you really need to get a grip on reality.
The day the fourth reich takes over and starts exterminating goths, or we see news reports of goths being dragged behind pick-up trucks for dating normal women, or if you ever walk outside to find a burning effigy in your front yard with GO HOME written on it, then we can start talking about legislation.
For now, all we have is a couple people beaten by yobs. It doesn't mean we are by any means an oppressed people who need special protection under the law.
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