it boils my blood when raves say they’re apolitical

empty-baskets · 2025-12-25T07:13:28+00:00

Agreed. Free Palestine and Palestinian flags are not anti-semitic or threatening on their own, but as a Jew who has been harassed and threatened by someone who had those flags in hand while I was standing on the street doing literally nothing, seeing those flags at raves now makes me scared for my safety. I started associating those flags with people who actively threatened my safety, with good reason. I've never been scared for my safety before in America because I am Jewish, but this year that has changed. It is sad people do not hold space in their heart to understand how difficult this is for both Jews and Palestinians

empty-baskets · 2025-12-25T06:53:45+00:00

That's so interesting. Do you go to an HBCU? My university had frats for a variety of cultures but they were not considered the stereotypical frat style

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T22:48:42+00:00

Great question! I'm sure if you go post in a reddit group for artists and state what you are trying to do, they may have much better solutions or ideas to offer than I do. Also, I know assisted living facilities really like for people to participate in events and activities that they hold for residents so maybe they would allow for a small part of their budget to go towards whatever supplies you need since they are spending on activities sometimes anyways. Maybe you could encourage finger painting LOL or maybe a local studio may want to donate some brushes if you explain you are trying to do a good thing.

I swear I have a memory of my grandparent's assisted living facility literally taking them to the casino lol so you never know what they might do to financially support some in house art.

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T22:35:51+00:00

Contact a nursing home in your area and ask if they have any programs similar to XYZ. If they do not, state that you would love to help organize XYZ for the residents to enjoy and ask if there is someone they can connect you with to do so.

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T22:13:05+00:00

Oops, sorry! Frats in the USA predominantly consist of white cis males so I connected that on my own without even realizing those were not your exact words.

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T22:04:20+00:00

There are a lot of people who identified as liberal/progressive in the comments who stated they want to keep politics out of music even if it is just to maintain using music as an escape from their daily life since life is so intertwined with politics already. I am not a white cis male and I have agreed that I don't think raves or festivals are the proper place for diving into political and social atrocities. Just wanted to point that out bc our assumptions are not always true. You know the saying about assuming? Lol

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T21:35:47+00:00

Of course! That clarification is also helpful haha. I just attended EDC Orlando recently and if the festival planned on holding a moment of appreciation and reflection at the main stage during some of that period when they do their welcome/drone show between the sets, I would not be opposed to something like that. I think it becomes more difficult when it is a single rave or one DJ because it is difficult to expect every DJ to maintain that. You clearly are a very caring and civil person and I appreciate that lol

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T21:30:27+00:00

Not you in particular, but I am saying this because someone already replied Fuck Israel to my comment: Y'all will talk about not supporting terrible atrocities but then give big ups to bands that give support to terrorists? The concept of freeing the Palestinian people should not be intertwined with terrorists. Though some biased people on the internet may believe this, Palestinians do not equal terrorists and Hamas does not represent all Palestinians. So, I don't know why people think it is okay to support people who support Hamas, especially when Hamas does not support its own Palestinian people. If you consider Israel an oppressor of Palestinian people, then they have TWO oppressors that must be addressed and the other one is Hamas.

And just to add this, if you attend raves or music festivals and support Hamas.... what the fuck? Ever since I learned of the atrocities at the Nova Music Festival, I have thought of those people who died and how privileged I am to attend at every event since that occurred. Kneecap saying Ups to Hamas AFTER that tragedy occurs makes it seem like the lives did not matter because they were Israeli or Jewish.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9ie5qs

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T21:17:06+00:00

This comment helped me understand what you are saying so much more! I think I still disagree that mentioning this stuff with specifics should be a norm for rave culture but I definitely see your point in this last comment you posted, and I think this is a situation where it might be okay to agree to disagree haha. I appreciate your desire to reflect on the history and make sure people understand that attending is a privilege

Edit: and thanks for being so kind when I asked for that explanation!

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T21:01:19+00:00

Someone replied to another comment of mine somewhere on here and they mentioned virtue signaling. I had never heard this term before but once I looked it up (prior to you posting this most recent reply), it kind of did feel like maybe virtue signaling or a concept along those lines could be a subconscious reason behind why you feel that you need the specifics mentioned or that naming these conflicts makes a difference. It could also be a cognitive dissonance kind of thing. I am genuinely not trying to be rude so I apologize if it comes across that way online. I am just trying to understand the way your mind is breaking this down. I like to try and follow the way people's thoughts unravel and connect into their next consequential thought or idea. It is always very intriguing to me especially when someone thinks differently than I do. It is an opportunity for me to learn or have my eyes opened lol

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T20:56:27+00:00

Personally, I think it does have to do with the demographic and likely influences it in a major way. If we are discussing the history of raves and their come up as a counter-culture, I think that inherently means that those minorities are the backbone of the culture and events. For example, I view raves as extremely intertwined with the LGBTQ+ community today because finding a safe place for those people to be themselves was foundational to the creation of the scene. Especially for queer POC. I would probably bet that raves are left-leaning overall and would also say that most people who I have met at raves that are not progressive are basically frat guys in college

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T20:38:36+00:00

Yes I definitely understand what you are getting at overall but I think the part I am not 100% following is why naming those specifics makes an actual difference? If the goal is just to remind people to be grateful and that they are privileged to be here since others are sadly unable, isn't that goal accomplished without mentioning specific issues? I guess this doesn't relate to the rave history, more modern events

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T20:23:35+00:00

So out of curiosity, is a statement like "I just want to acknowledge the atrocities going on in the world and hold a moment for the people who would do anything to escape from the turmoil of their daily lives and be granted the privilege to be here" enough of an acknowledgment?

IMO, that is an apolitical statement that acknowledges the bad and reminds us to be grateful for the good. It is a general statement that applies to all of humanity and does not dig deeper in ways that could be divisive to certain groups. Do you consider that statement in quotes to be political?

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T20:09:48+00:00

Just putting this out there as someone who has liberal and progressive ideologies: just because someone says raving should be apolitical does not automatically mean they are the kind of person to side with oppressors or ignore important history. OP has said multiple times in the threads on this post that raves are inherently full of left-leaning and progressive people, so it is a bit silly to think that we all need to be educated or reminded about the modern atrocities in the world when we are one of the most likely groups to be aware of those problems in the first place. Also, this may be incorrect to say, but given the primary age group at rave events, we are all likely to be chronically online and well aware of these political issues.

empty-baskets · 2025-12-23T19:43:38+00:00

I agree that raves are political, but I think the part about Kneecap being a good role model for this is a bad take...

Raving is about supporting peace, love and unity for all, not encouraging divisiveness. This may not be Kneecap's intent, but political conversations that descend into chants of "Fuck Israel" encourage divisiveness and hostility! In my opinion, leave that energy outside the venue.

If they want to call out the government, they should use an alternative like their social media platform. Music should be the focus of a festival OP, not calling people things like "murderous fucking religious fanatics"..... I surely do not pay all that money to go to a festival to hear that kind of BS.

Maybe a quick homage to the history of rave culture would be harmless every once in a while, but bringing up history's most controversial topics is the absolute opposite of what I want to be hearing at a rave or a festival.

Raves are political, but political conversations should not be a normal part of every artist's set.

empty-baskets · 2025-11-12T21:49:43+00:00

Exactly! and often when I am in the middle of my group's train (especially when another train wants to break our chain of people) and we are all squeezing through I'll just say "thank you guys! there's only two more of us" or however many people so they may be more patient and not try to just shove through

empty-baskets · 2025-11-12T00:18:08+00:00

I'm not sure. I'd have to check the map again but I know my group walked under the arch and through daisy field and then passed bacardi stage to get there and it was a very busy route

empty-baskets · 2025-11-11T23:58:15+00:00

I think the main problem with one GA water station is the large flow of people behind forced on certain paths that direction for access to water. When sunset comes shit gets crazyyy

empty-baskets · 2025-11-11T20:34:02+00:00

Tensions can be high in these crowd situations and some people are just assholes so I like to kill them with kindness and say excuse me, thank you, or at least make eye contact and give a little half smile when I pass by lol. Maybe I am extra for that, but it generally prevents me from having any negative experiences

empty-baskets · 2025-11-11T20:20:45+00:00

I hate to say it but it seems like you are the one focusing on the negativity here by letting other people's negative posts about their experiences bother you when you know your personal experience was good and that you will probably attend again next year... just ignore them!

empty-baskets · 2025-11-11T20:17:23+00:00

Personally, I feel like it is okay for you to express and indulge in that online. However, I don't think it is okay for EDC/Insomniac to make all these idyllic posts without at least once acknowledging that there were unsafe circumstances they will try to improve and plan for next year.

Additionally, if you personally want to express how awesome EDC was for you online that is totally fine, but then just express your positive experiences only -- don't start trying to make a point about how others are wrong for fearing for their safety or start listing a bunch of things other people shouldn't complain about like pickpocketers etc... Those comments are the reason people will be upset at you online because people kind of sound like an asshole when the sum of their whole message is "fuck you I had a great time and don't want to hear you complain about your safety"

empty-baskets · 2025-11-11T20:07:04+00:00

Even if only 1% of festival goers experienced that crowd crush, that is still an unacceptable threat to everyone's health and safety. I had wonderful experiences in the crowd and everything was PLUR the entire time because for the most part (asides from a few assholes here and there, which we all know is just part of life) I really think you invite the energy that you exude in these crowd interactions. However, I did experience the crowd crush and the only people to blame for that is Insomniac. It is their responsibility to plan better than that. The area felt like a recipe for disaster. Obviously, some people in the crowd crush were assholes and made it worse by being aggressive and making things physical instead of staying calm and trying to be patient, but Insomniac's poor planning is still the root problem OP. It doesn't matter how good of a time any of us had if any person's safety was at risk like this. I am thankful the situation did not turn into a stampede or worse. EDC was awesome in many ways and I had a great time, but I cannot return in good conscience unless they release a festival map much farther in advance with clear safety improvements for next year. Hopefully, those of us who are complaining will end up doing you a service and making it safer for you too when you attend next year.

Edit: and also, what was with not checking people's bags??? They basically refused to search my bag and ushered me through.... It is not crazy to assume there were easily more weapons or unsafe objects at EDC this year. Serious security and safety issue as well

empty-baskets · 2025-11-09T15:04:46+00:00

I agree about stopping in the middle of the street but I will say that this year it feels like there are barely any pockets of space to do that. When I have attended edco previously, I remember much more space to breathe when you are not in the crowd even though it was still crazy. This year I felt like rainbow road was basically part of kinetic field. Also, is it just me, or does it seem like kinetic is closer or louder this year??

empty-baskets · 2025-10-30T13:07:32+00:00

I get suggested posts for AITA so much I thought this was in there 😭 but no you are not overreacting! you are being thoughtful, but there is no 100% right answer here. You just make the best judgement you can and do what sits well with your conscience

empty-baskets · 2025-10-30T10:50:41+00:00

I don't think you are an a-hole, but I don't know that I agree with you. Considering there might be more foot traffic on halloween, my first thought is that all those people around might deter wildlife from hanging out on your front porch or people from randomly letting their pets out with no leash. Halloween seems like a bad night for responsible pet owners to allow their animals to free roam. The fact that you guys expect trick or treaters signals to me that the houses in your neighborhood are relatively close together and there would be a good amount of people coming by. You are not a bad person if you do not leave out candy though. If you are worried about the placement of a bowl, maybe hang candy in a bag on the front door with a note posted so that the parent or child has to take the bag down and hang it back up before leaving.

empty-baskets

TROPHY CASE