Preview

Peace, Love, Unity, Respect

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
925 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Peace, Love, Unity, Respect
We intently display ourselves sporting the most fashion conscious trends in our suburban manifestations of white picketed, identically boxed houses. However, what would happen if your neighbour's white picket fence was no longer white but psychedelic orange, and instead of quaint jazz music, hard electro-dance would blast out of their windows? Certainly the average Joe would have a few choice words about the situation.

Funny enough, America is known as the land of the free, but ironically we are still fighting the restrictions of social enclosure. Our society spews its conformist values on anything it surrounds, and in the moment that one seems "different", we quiver. Amongst these individuals are ravers, members of a grossly misunderstood sub-culture that often encounters stereotypical generalizations. However, ravers are nothing of a menace to society, but the heart of culturally acceptable behaviours.

People typically see raves as a place to propagate unorthodox behaviour.
"…Ravers must be hooligans that act wild like animals. They definitely disturb society with their fear evoking hallucinations… It could only be the product of the dozens of drugs they have cocktailed within the last hour…"
It sounds like something my mom would say, but this is not the case. I too at one time was a believer that nothing but bad could come from the experience of a rave. It was the propagated media images clouding my reasoning that excluded me from accepting any possibility of negotiable goodness. This was until I had the pleasure of experiencing rave culture for myself.

While in Europe this summer I had the opportunity to pass through Switzerland. Much to my disbelief, our little German bus got caught up in the streets of Zurich's annual "street-parade". Wearily, I stepped off the bus into an experience unlike anything I had envisioned before. The second largest rave in the world was invading two thirds of the city. In sneakers and jeans with a camera in hand, I

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    music, and social class which can generate a lifestyle filled with compulsion, criminal gains, and…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I came into this scene when I went to reave called “Awakening” in 2008.After I attended this rave with some friends I decided I wanted to experience more of the rave scene and so I did. This so called rave scene has its own culture and community. When you become part of the scene you start to notice fellow ravers start speaking about P.L.U.R. which sounds like a mission statement. What it stands for is peace, love, unity, and respect. When you go to raves you can tell ravers follow this so called mission statement because they are friendly, giving, and helpful with whatever you need. Another thing I liked when I went to raves was when ravers were switching kandi with other fellow ravers. Kandi is a bracelet made out of beads. These bracelets are a symbol of unity between one another.…

    • 2535 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Erenberg’s essay “Steppin’ Out” in the book Major Problems in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. In “Steppin’ Out,” Erenberg speaks on the dance craze that swept throughout the cities from 1912 to 1916. “Steppin’ Out” takes place a few years prior to the Prohibition movement, but it still gives a precedent for the movement. Erenberg tells his readers that dancing in public places was scandalous, but when it became publicly accepted, nightclubs began to blossom like magic. Exhibition dancers were the first of the kind, but by 1912, most cabarets installed dance floors in order for their guests to partake in the festivities. Hotels soon followed closely behind, and dancing became a regular, and one of the most popular, forms of entertainment, especially when drinking was involved.…

    • 1472 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Forensic Science Quiz

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Club drugs are synthetic drugs that are typically used in bars, night clubs, raves, and other gatherings. Some of these drugs have become popular in these settings because they are thought to enhance or improve the experience, they also have no side effects and dangers. The settings of raves and nightclubs also support the use of these drugs. Their small and often tablet form make them easy to conceal and with all the people moving and dancing, people who take them are often not as noticeable as they may be in other settings…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Raves is one of the ways that youth can indeed have their own spaces to express themselves. It was interesting to read about how raves can immolate tribal cultures through the music, drugs, and dance. I believe that this tells us a lot about American culture today. American culture today I have noticed is always looking back to the past in order to gain inspiration about how to make our country better. While this article was written back in the 90’s, I notice even today that young people take influence from the past in their subculture. A lot of video games for example like Assassin’s Creed III takes place in the American Revolution. A few years ago I myself wore feathers in my hair as it was part of a trend at the…

    • 1282 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Rumspringa

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages

    -Drugs are also passed around at these parties; marijuana, pipes of crank and cocaine. Some of the partygoers are seriously addicted while others are trying drugs for the first time.…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In addition to Breakdancing, Disco became extremely popular. Disco became popular during the mid to late 70’s and largely consisted of youth going to dance clubs dressed in the new Disco style. This Disco styled clothing is composed of tube tops, sequined halterneck shirts, blazers, spandex short shorts, loose pants, form-fitting spandex pants, maxi skirts and dresses with long thigh slits, jersey wrap dresses, ball gowns, and evening gowns (Tom & Sarah Pendergast). Some viewed Disco as a “mere hedonistic escapism of little if any social value, an individualistic attempt to escape the real world – if only for a night” (Conway); however, others saw it as a subtle political statement accepting those of other ethnicities. Some claimed that the…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mdma (Ecstasy)

    • 1698 Words
    • 7 Pages

    4- Leung KS, Cottler LB. Ecstasy and other club drugs: A review of recent epidemiological studies. Curr Opin Psychiatry 21:234–241, 2008.…

    • 1698 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The extract from ‘Is Alcohol Worse than Ecstasy’ successfully uses audio codes, to enhance the sinister tone with the intention to grasp the audience’s attention and make them feel uncomfortable about the idea of drugs. The track uses non diegetic sound to highlight the themes involved in the extract, influencing the audience to subconsciously see alcohol/drugs as a negative thing.…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Sacha Z. Scoblic’s essay, Rock Star, Meet Teetotaler, she recounts her societal struggles after coming out from troubles involving alcoholism. At the age of thirty-two, she had been a Teetotaler for six months and was meeting people at a restaurant in hopes of finding friends to be acquainted with her new found sobriety. However, when she declines an offer of wine, she displays conflict between her drinking and non-drinking self because she once conceived that entertainment could only be met through the consumption of alcohol. She portrays a desire for social acceptance, yearning to be fun and exciting so that she could be seen as easy to get along with, but feels uncomfortable in being so without intoxication. With no idea how to be fun without drinking, she realized that her drunken personality was not her actual one, and writes about her quest for searching identity. Displaying fear that her new found sobriety would cause her to stick out in society as awkward and mundane, Sacha admits to have been through a tough change of social lifestyle. A story of personal experience, it is clear that Scoblic wrote this essay in order to enlighten alcoholics and drinkers as a whole by convincing them that they could be both entertaining and entertained without the use of liquor. She does this through the use of informal style, yet sophisticated diction, as well as assertive writing in order to bring out sympathy and understanding from the readers that are able to relate to her experiences.…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hip Hop music and setting encourage opportunities for victimization and crime. Further, the attendees’ typology and their patterns of alcohol consumption and illicit drug abuse provide motivational factor for aggressive behaviors. “The theoretical discoveries from various researches illustrated that nightclubs in 1990s were the major settings for victimization, deviance, and crime,” (Davis, 34). Further, other types of criminal activities and victimization occur after the completion of the event as people interact and make social connections. “Other important aspect is social context, which has great impact on the behavior of the youths,” (Kun, 589). The context shapes the identities and the behaviors of individuals or group. Hip Hop Music has certain aesthetic effects, which are attracting to the youth. However, these effects making it a unique culture have been overshadowed by the negative effects and influences associated with the…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A common misunderstanding exists that psychedelic drugs can only be used for recreational purposes. There are, however, numerous cultures across the globe that take advantage of their psychoactive properties for religious and spiritual reasons. (Schultz) Popular research has even gone so far as to suggest that responsible use of psychedelics can lead to positive change for individuals and societies. (Masters and Houston) It is therefore essential to understand their potential role in contemporary American society.…

    • 2208 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Shaping American Culture

    • 2365 Words
    • 10 Pages

    One of the most distinctive countercultures of the very colorful decade of the 1960s were the hippies. The hippie’s counterculture developed during the 1960s in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. The hippies adopted the language and counterculture values from the Beats Generation. Their distinct style (bell bottom pants, brightly colored shirts and long loose hair on both men and women), their addictive use of LSD, and their psychedelic music was a clear reminder of their rejection to their parent’s values, of working man with…

    • 2365 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Music and drugs have gone together hand-in-hand ever since the explosion of rock and roll on the American culture in the 1950’s. Since then, many gifted performers have succumbed to drug-induced deaths, which is why I feel that drugs negatively effected rock music. Many great pieces of art have been rumored to be created while under the influence of several drugs, or to be inspired by these drugs. Many artists over the years have used drugs as an excuse to escape their fame, and many have used different types of drugs for inspiration for writing pieces of music, or as for an “extra boost” for a live show. While drugs may have helped great works of art to be enjoyed by many, drugs are ultimately responsible for many untimely deaths of many great artists, who died before we could truly see their potential.…

    • 1435 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Society with Music

    • 2717 Words
    • 11 Pages

    What does music mean to you? Do you think it’s changed from the different styles of music and the way that music sounds from when it started? Music can play a big part and role on society. There are many different types of music and music festivals in today’s society. Music has changed a lot within the past few decades. Music festivals have pretty much stayed the same. People can be judged on the type of music that they listen to as well as the way that they dress. In this essay I will consider how music relates to a sociological theory, three social concepts, how music has changed, peoples clothing appearance, race in relation to music, TV in relation with music, different type of music magazines, the radio, and music festivals in society.…

    • 2717 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics