I think that MCR is so uniquely cathartic because they have hit an essential truth that so many artists get fundamentally wrong and that essential truth is that for optimism or hope to mean anything at all there has to FIRST be acknowledgement of suffering. Full acknowledgment. Acknowledgement of the complexity of that suffering, the shame of that suffering, the reality and the depth of that suffering. Acknowledgement of the very, very ugliest parts of that suffering. It has to be spoken. It has to be acknowledged. It has to be purged. Without that acknowledgement, the sentiment of “it will get better” is hollow and meaningless.