Throughout my time here as a freshman in Penn State, I have been going to a lot of EDM (Electronic Dance Music) concerts. I love this genre of music, and I am part of a club that discusses all the time (Electronic Dance Music Club, AKA EDMC). When I get to these concerts, I think for a second. Can these be considered civic engagement?
Some of you would say “No! Raves are just people filled with MDMA, there’s nothing civic about that”. But, hear me out, because some aspects of raves can be considered civic engagement.
One aspect would be that a lot of people that go to raves engage in a moral code that is called PLUR. PLUR stands for “Peace, Love, Unity, Respect”. It is an unspoken code that a lot of people who go to raves follow so that there are no troubles and everyone has a good time. Everyone is united under the same love for electronic music, and mostly everyone tries to make it as good as possible for the rest of the people at the concert.
Sure, there are some people that go to the concerts just for the sole purpose of doing drugs, but you can nitpick bad people in any group. That doesn’t generalize an entire community. the EDM community is a very good one. One that contributes greatly to helping people out, and branching out the genre of music.
While I’ve never been to a rave (you’ll have to take me one day) I think that the common bond of community is what makes this civically engaged. Additionally I like that you commented about the bad people who go to raves. I agree with you, there are bad people in every social group and it is important for us to make sure that their actions do not marginalize the rest of the group. How do you think that the perception of raves effects peoples attendance? How can raves change their social stigmatization? Just food for thought.
I’m not very familiar with raves because I’m not that into electronic music. For this reason, I don’t think I would have a very good time at a rave, but if that’s what your into then that’s awesome! I’m sure that not everyone there does drugs, so it’s too bad that raves have such a bad reputation. I’ve never heard of PLUR, but I like the idea of it. How many people do you think actually follow that code of conduct? It’s a shame that people who misunderstand or are ignorant of some things are the reason that those things get bad reputations. Do you think people just don’t understand or know enough about raves, or do you think the bad reputation actually comes from too many people doing drugs at raves? Do you think it would be possible for “clean” concerts to be held where everyone had the same understanding that no one was going to do drugs? I think that could help the reputation of raves and attract people to go to them.
I do not realize listen to EDM and therefore have not attended a concert. I think most people attend concerts for the sole purpose of enjoying themselves. Although you may find ways to defend it as civic engagement, I do not think that is most people’s intention. I did not know about PLUR and think it is probably advantageous in concert situations. Is this a common term? I like your point about judging a whole group based on a select group of people. I think people do it way too often and people often forget that just because someone behaves a certain way doesn’t mean everyone else does too.