Anyways, goth just means "extremely different" in a sense.  The original use of the word in its modern-day context was during a BBC interview.  They referred to a band as being gothic in comparison to the mainstream pop they had at the moment, and so the name just kinda stuck.  They used gothic in the sense of the Visigoth and Ostragoth tribes who were, in essence, barbarians.

 

Therefore, there was no standard set up for being goth other than being extremely different.  We're just people who are so much different from the normal everyday people that we're shunned.  We'd get together in groups with other freaks (no offense, of course) and do whatever.  Anything we did was considered evil or wrong because they didn't like us, understand us, and/or understand what we were doing. 

 

A lot of the real goths, however, don't really HATE everyone who's not goth or punk.  This is what separates us from the apes (and by apes I mean the general population of north america), the ability to control the urge to smash something complicated or something that hurt me in any way.  I feel pity for them because they'll go through life, thinking that whatever they're doing is all there really is unless they decide to think outside the lines.....this is strictly forbidden unless you're gothic (remember, it only means different) and therefore they are pressured into remaining in their sad, pathetic lives until they die or kill themselves.

 

I used to want to be like everyone else until I realized how much better off I really am than they are for remaining sane.  These people aren't really retarded, they're stark-raving mad.  It just so happens that definitions of comparative terms (ie "sane" vs. "insane") are controlled by the majority, therefore, if the truly insane outnumbered the truly sane, then the tables would turn and the sane would be locked up......this is what I believe has happened in the world today.....it's the only logical answer.