Maybe they just did it because they missed the Bauhaus reunion tour...

So now France is dealing with the “Goth Problem”.

Two teenage girls committed suicide by binding their hands together and jumping from a 17th-story apartment window. A note found in one of their pockets read “Life isn’t worth it.”

The girls were into goth, wore black clothes and had body piercings. I know this because the media feels that it’s an important item to point out. One of the girls also kept a rather hate-filled blog, and quoted lyrics from a favorite French Black Metal Group called Anorexia Nervosa(shown). A recent album is called “Suicide is Sexy.”

“I hate you. I vomit on your soul and family. Death to your parents. Torture and rape to your children. I hate you to death,” go the words. “You are the whore of human weakness … worthless.”

The lyrics hopefully sound better in French, because that’s some pretty lousy songwriting. Maybe it's got a nice beat, something you can dance to.

The band's label representation was quick to blame "society":

“If you want someone to blame, blame society. Just turn on the TV. Look at the violence children are faced with from the day they are born. Society is the problem,” he said.

Again, I hope that recycled rhetoric also sounded better in French. I do think it’s closer to the truth, though.

I don’t think I need to tell anyone who reads this blog that some kid’s favorite music is never the reason they commit any act. Gangbangers don’t shoot up a neighborhood because Tupac said so, kids don’t shoot up schools because Marilyn Manson said so. There is always a deeper reason, centered on environments, upbringing, or the simple fact that this is a severely messed-up kid who didn’t get the attention and care that he/she needed. Music is an easy blame for the papers. It allows them to close the case and move on. It allows the readers to realize that this can’t happen to their kids, because their kids like Britney Spears. It’s a dangerous way of thinking.

Unfortunately, suicide happens, and until we recognize that the reasons are not always easy to find, we will see it happening more and more often as the youth of today deal with more complex issues than we did, just like our issues were more complex than our parents had, etc.

Is your kid into goth? Or punk? Do you talk to him/her? Do you know what they’re up to? If you answered yes to those questions, your kid is much better off than any suburban soccermom who has no idea where her kids are.

On a lighter note, there is this quote from the article:

“If anything, being part of a goth group decreases the likelihood of suicide, because, in my experience, they are mutually very supportive.”

That’s from François Poublan, “a Catholic deacon who works with Goths.” When did the Vatican create that position? What requirements do you need for that? Are you allowed to listen to The Sisters of Mercy? And does the uniform involve a much bigger crucifix than your colleagues with more traditional positions?
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