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Dear Rev. Green,

I myself am not a goth. By today's "standards" some people wouldn't considere me goth. I've always thought that some of the cloths from the "goth" subculture were cool since I was little.

Now I did read all the comments on your "Mail Box" page and I'll admit that some of them were, well I can see why you think all goths are bad. But not all of them are. Not all them even wear black. One of my hobbies is looking up stuff on different religions, and what ever I think looks interesting. Online I'm part of a goth guild, that's how I found your page. I joined it to learn about the goth subculture, not just what other people say who don't understand it. I think its good to do research and even meet and get to know people of a religion or subculture before you start making assumptions. This is what I found out from that guild:
- in the 1700s a "goth" was one who "frequented art galleries, liked the fine arts, & appreciated the finer things in life".
- Not until recently did the "goth" subculture start to represent those who were into "goth" bands, wear lots of black, chains, spikes, heavy makeup, and things like that.
- A person with a "goth" state up mind
- A person who is an independant, free thinking, & creative person

There are many definitions for "goth". What I found, and sometimes this annoys the the members of this subculture, is that there is not a real set standard for someone who is "goth". I have seen so many discusions online about people asked "what exactly is a goth?" "what makes you a goth?" "I think a goth is ...".

I myself am Christian, I've grown up in church, I go every Sunday with my dad. But I have also learned to respect other religions and other people's view on things. I've gotten this from my mom, she's a Protestant. She's a very open minded person and she's made sure to teach me to be one too.

I'm not bashing, I'm just pointing some things out that I've found while researching varius things. Now, on your page entitled "The Devils Music" you say to avoid albums with the pentagram (I'm guessing this would also include the pentacle) on the cover. The pentagram is one of my favorite things to research because its been in use in countless religions, countless times and has so many different meaning that people don't know about. One of which is that in Hebrew times it was used by the Jews to represent the first five books in the Torah. It was also inscribed on King Solomon's ring. The legend that fallows this fact is that it had been given to him by God to control the demons that were harming his people and to force them to tell him their weaknesses. It was also used by past Christians to represent the five wounds of Jesus (the wrists, feet, and side), and as a pertective amulet. I'm guessing it was around the time of the witch hunts that it started being associated with the devil.

Now on your page entitled "Goth - The Facts" you make it sound like only goths harm themselves, that only goths try to or do commit suicide. I would like to point out that not only goths commit suicide or harm themselves. What I'm going to point out first is self harming. Approximately 1% of the United States population has done self harming, meaning other people besides goths. On www.focusas.com they broadly define self harming as "self-injury is the act of attempting to alter a mood state by inflicting physical harm serious enough to cause tissue damage to one's body". I will admit that in the past I have done this. When I was little I would get stressed out and start banging my head on the floor, or anything else I could bang it on. The only thing my mom could do was put me in the middle of the room and slide a pillow where I was banging my head to soften the blow. As I got older I stopped banging my head but instead would punch my leg which was then was replaced by scratching my arm, sometimes till it bled. Since then I've found other ways of releasing my anger, like writing, ripping paper, or digging a pen into a stack of paper. Now for suicide. According to http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm "Adolescents and young adults often experience stress, confusion, and depression from situations occurring in their families, schools, and communities. Such feelings can overwhelm young people and lead them to consider suicide as a 'solution.' " Suicide can happen in any group of kids, not just goths. I know a couple people from being in the hospital (because of medical illnesses) that have thought or attempted suicide because of their illness. I've only considered suicide once, and I mean really considered it. But at the time I had a lot of stuff going on with the doctors, with school, and I was tired of always, in my mind, burdening my parents with my medical problems. Other then that, most of the time I just wanted to run away. To get away from home, the hospital, school, all that stuff.

I thought of these because of the things that were going on in my life, not because I was into the goth subculture, not because "my goth friends told me to". I know a couple goths at my school and if they found out a friend was slitting their wrists they wouldn't go "sweet man, keep doing it" they would tell the person to stop, ask them why they were doing it, and tell them to get help. Also, on the goth group that I'm on online, I even found a list of things to do besides slitting your wrist, or other things of self harm. Some examples are:
" - Treat yourself whenever you feel like cutting. Hot bath, candy, etc
- Rubber Band around the wrist. Snap it when you feel the urge to cut for the pain
- Drawing and painting what what feel inside is easier than expressing it in words
- Tearing up newspapers. This uses up a lot of strength and anger
- Playdoh can take a lot of anger out of a person and can be remoulded and used again. This keeps the person entertained and using their hands, thus helping to take their mind off their problems
- Clean "

As for the part were you say "many goths who commit murder ... obsessed with Satanism, death, murder, vampirism, violent video games, role playing games, Hitler, and drug abuse". For one thing that I learned just recently is that, as I see it, Satanism is sort of a religious form of Atheist. One of their rules is to not partake in criminal activities. Murder and rape being examples, things that are constantly put in with people being Satanists. I also said its like a religious form of being an Atheist meaning they don't believe in God or Satan. I'm not saying its good to be a Satanist, or Atheist, I'm just pointing out the common flaw in people constantly pairing them up with devil worshipers. For people who obsess with death, murder, violent video games, and drug abuse, these people can come from any group, not just goths. Also violent video games are popular with almost any boy in the U.S. from teens to young adults. For people who obsess about Hitler and think they're vampires, I think they might need to find a psychiatrist in my opinion.

Well, that's all I can think of. I'm sorry the email was so long, but I hope you found it informative. For the record, you are entitled to your opinion, just like I'm entitled mine. But by grouping tons of people together, blaming them for things that can and are being done by kids from other groups as well, you're just asking to get flamed.

I hope you have a good day.

May the Lord bless you,
C.L.D.

They ignore anything that contradicts their ideas, I even posted on the message bored, in a polite respectful manner informing them of who I am, what I represent and asking where do I fit into their order of things.

I am yet to receive a reply and that was some days ago.

Realy?
I just checked my emails because it said I have three new ones, and one of them was from the site.
And I just sent the message today, I was supprised to have a reply back so soon.

Interesting because most mails we get are either to praise our site for it's biting satire, or bands who want to be put on our Devils Music section. But thank you for being an avid viewer. Here's a few tips-

1. learn to laugh at those who laugh at you - we do
2. learn to spot a parody written by a punk, a goth and a black metaller- you seem to have missed our disclaimer
3. realise that the most goth thing to do is say you're not a goth (see Andrew Eldritch)
4. lighten up and stay true.

peace

Team GHG