Absinthe Heart: The Devil Did Not Make Me Do It

Seeing someone dressed entirely in black and putting on death pale cosmetics is normal for the likes of us and those who are into the dark alternative subculture as we view them as individuals who are just dressing up in something that they thoroughly immersed in but what of the public? While most would shrug it off as an act of self expression or being weird, there are a few out there who make their disdain for goths openly but what happens when their resentment turns into a blind crusade? Body counts are definitely involved but this does not come from the "Satanists" or "witches" who commit the crime; They end up becoming the victims in this lopsided war instead


(Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold at the scene of the Columbine High massacre)

"Goths would have us believe that this was just an isolated incident. That Columbine was just a one-off. We know better..."
"Out of just a few of the cases we have researched, we can create an alarming series of statistics. Remember we have hundreds more. When you put just a few together it looks very disturbing. This is why we fight. We will expose these filthy Goths for what they are. Very dangerous indeed."
- An excerpt taken from an anti Goth website created by parents against the subculture

Despite living in a modern civilisation desensitised by violence, gratuitous sex and accessibility to any information with a click of the mouse, the kangaroo court mentality of society still exists and the moment an incident takes place, the finger pointing towards alleged perpetrators moves faster than a bill being passed in parliament to ban personal possession of firearms and who better to blame than the goths? An oddity that strikes fear into the hearts of the Stepford community with their unorthodox practices that go against organised religion, appearances that could give the grim reaper a run for its money and not to forget, cold hearted murderers who would not think twice before plunging the knife to complete their mission with the likes of Slayer and Marilyn Manson giving them the instructions to carry out the atrocities. For years, there have been reports of goths running rampant with their corpse painted faces and vampirism beliefs embedded into their demented minds to kill non believers and use them either as sacrifice to Satan or to retaliate against the norms of society. Not only that, these individuals turn towards places of worship such as churches and raze them to the ground in order to signal their aggressive intentions and even their idols get into the act of things, such as Burzum from Norway who carried Nazi leanings and Faust from Emperor who murdered a homosexual. The buck doesn't stop there with just the Wilson family murders and the beheading of Fawn Trivette by her fiance Christopher Dunsmoor using a samurai, the gothic community came into prominence with the Columbine High massacre that was carried out by goths Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold who wore trenchcoats and held semiautomatic guns as weapons to kill 12 students, 1 teacher and injuring 24 others on April 20 1999 before taking their own lives after the bloodshed. Just when the community thought that the Parents Music Resource Center (PRMC) had their hands full containing "Satanic metal" acts such as Mercyful Fate and Deicide, the problem had now escalated to criminal activity resulting in the loss of lives and in order to combat the rising tide of the trigger happy goths, anti goth movements were created to counter the problem such as Moral Majority led by Jerry Falwell and even religion got into the act using both print and mass media to declare their war against the goths, decrying them as "children of the devil" and "freaks conceived by witchcraft". To exemplify this, politician Joseph Lieberman once appeared in a talk show broadcasted by a Christian network and while holding a disc on one hand, he denounced the record as "the most evil music ever released by a major record label" with a vocal audience roaring in support for his statement coupled with the fact that post Columbine, more of these goth murders were still taking place with students from Lely high school attempting to replicate the Columbine High massacre in 2004 and the murder of Virginia Commonwealth University student Taylor Behl by her boyfriend Ben W. Fawley while engaging in rough sex. So is this sufficient vindication to haul up all of the goths and burn them at stake? Hold back those torches and pitchforks and look beyond the make up; these criminal acts are no different than those committed by serial murderers, rapists and arsonists who look no different than the man on the street


"Well, do what? Mow the lawn? Have a drink?"
- Judas Priest's Rob Halford defending himself in court during the James Vance trial where the latter claimed that the line "Do it" from the song Better By You, Better Than Me inspired him to enact a suicide pact with his friend Raymond Belknap

“It’s not about what they’re wearing, it’s about what they’re doing”
- Don Elium, co-author of the book "Raising a Son: Parents and the Making of a Healthy Man"

While it is easy to lump the black metal and gothic movement as the same thing and the former sharing certain similarities, the church burnings in Norway and brutal murders in order to appease Satan that has plagued the black metal scene for years are remotely related to what the gothic subculture is all about, a history that has its roots in architecture and literature in the earlier centuries to the music and fashion movement of modern times. But irregardless of genre, stereotyping Goths and black metal fans as murderers are no different from calling a person listening to hip-hop a gangster or a reggae follower being an addict to opiates and who gives them such labels and demonising them in the process? It is the crusaders of morality themselves, finding a scapegoat to shift the blame and using the goths as a targetboard to throw their darts at and hoping to hit the bullseye eventually. Sadly for these morality groups, their aims have not only gone way off the mark but it has also courted controversy against them for the extreme measures taken to eradicate the supposed problem that has tainted the minds of society. Remove the exteriors of their preferred lifestyle, peer into the history of their childhood and one will realise that Alex Baranyi and David Anderson of the Wilson family murder are no different from any other murderer who are not into the gothic subculture; A life spent growing up on hardship and being envious of affluent families who lived in mansions while their parents struggled to make ends meet. Teenagers being ostracised by their schoolmates for looking gawky and often bullied by jocks for their "weirdness" while seeking solace in their own activities such as Dungeons & Dragons or even objects such as dolls. But beneath that escapism lies a mind fuelled by vengeance and a vow to "make them pay", resulting in massacres and murders from their misled path in life which could have been avoided if someone was there to sniff out the danger and nullifying the danger before its too late. In the Michael Moore documentary Bowling For Columbine, shock rocker Marilyn Manson was interviewed by Moore to give his thoughts on the Columbine High massacre. During that point of time, he was cited as the main influence of killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold despite the fact that they both hated Manson's music and when asked on what he would have said if he was given the chance to speak to them before the massacre, Manson simply said; "I wouldn't say a thing. I would just listen to them and that's what nobody did". The allegations made by the media were further unravelled in David Cullen's book Columbine where it was revealed that Harris and Klebold actually had a lot of friends, were not at the receiving end of any bullying and the supposed martyr of the killings, Cassie Bernall who became a popular figure in religious circles after proclaiming to have believed in God before getting killed by the duo actually died without being asked any questions whereas the actual person who was asked about her faith, Valeen Schnurr answered yes and survived the ordeal without a single shot being fired at her. But while most incidents portray goths as raiders of innocent lives, there have been instances where the former ends up on the receiving end of a merciless murder by the "lambs" and until today, the death of Sophie Lanchaster has been made known worldwide on the prejudice goths have to face at the mercy of the public eye. On August 11 2007, 20 year old Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriend Robert Maltby were attacked by a group of teenage boys led by Brendan Harris and Ryan Herbert in the wee hours of the morning while on the way back home to their flat in King Street and while it started off with a friendly conversation and handing out cigarettes to the group, the latter unexpectedly turned against Robert Maltby and began attacking him before Sophie Lancaster came to his defence by shielding Robert's head on her lap. Relentless and intoxicated under the influence of alcohol, the gang continued their assault by striking and stamping Sophie on the the head such to an extent that when the paramedics arrived at the scene much later, they had difficulty in recognising her as her face was heavily bruised and while both Sophie and Robert slipped into a coma, the latter managed to wake up after 2 weeks without any recollection of the incident but sadly, Sophie passed away without another chance to live and enjoy life like her fellow peers. What was more appalling was the fact that Brendan Harris and his mother was light hearted about the matter during Harris' initial interview with the police and their condescending demeanour throughout the trial despite the severity of their actions

"I stand outside this house of justice today, not as Sophie's mother, but as her voice. Her voice that was cruelly silenced in a single mindless act. Sophie was a thoughtful, sensitive individual and she would not have wanted her death to have been in vain"
- Sylvia Lancaster, mother of the late Sophie Lancaster who was savagely beaten to death on August 11, 2007

Before the media decides to put up the Wanted posters on goths and distort truths on the gothic subculture, before warmongers throw the gauntlet, launch a full scale battle and publicly invite others to join in the bandwagon, let's not forget one simple fact; It could have happened to anyone by anyone. By judging a book by its cover, they fail to realise that goths are human beings after all and deserve to walk among the same path as they do and have dreams just like any other child, teenager or adult


Or must it take another death in order for them to wake up and do something about this injustice?