Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 17:57:07 -0400
From: Babylon909@aol.com
Subject: More on Raving & the Law......

The powers-that-be are quite naturally against the rave culture because it doesn't fit neatly and very profitably into society.

Terrance McKenna once said, we aren't tuning in, turning on and dropping out, we're infiltrating and taking over....

This, I believe, is more of the approach we as a community need to take towards our society as a whole. "Society" is too big, too established a thing to change by getting up in its face and showing it how we believe it should be. It might sound silly at first, but we need to learn from the mistakes of the psychedelic "revolution" of the sixties. We shouldn't need or want everyone to become a ravers, because quite obviously (I think?), raving is not for everyone. Instead, we need to set an example for others that shows them that there is indeed a better way to do things. As McKenna points out, the best way to change things is from the inside out and the bottom up, not from the outside looking in. Never forget, it is possible for the few to change the many......

Authority is to be outwitted and avoided. Plain and simple. Compromising with the cops can only lead to a compromised culture, and we already have one of those, don't we?

I'm sorry, but that's flat out wrong. What we need to do is build a community that doesn't need to avoid authority. I know, we're a long, *LONG* way from being there - I have no illusions about that one, believe me. That doesn't mean, however, that it can't still be the ideal.

I love the underground, and I love the fact that not only am I a part of it, I'm also someone who helps make it happen. As I said before, raving isn't for everyone, so there will most certainly always be an undergound. But if we are to be a force that helps change and remould scoiety, we can't spend our time, and more importantly, our energy, avoiding and outwitting the authorities. Why does this mean we are compromising our culture? If anything, I think that's what our culture is all about. If we can find a way to get the authorities involved enough to see the positive things about what we do, we won't be compromising anything - we'll be succeeding! Only if you consider the purpose of the scene to be being underground would this be a form of compromise......

...the first "raves & the law" post made very clear that police were "our fellow human" and should be PLUR'ed...well, at least R'ed (respected). Like it or not, the misunderstandings that some policemen bring to a rave site (like thinking raves are drug parties or that everyone inside is there to show disregard for the law) are a danger to the rave community.

Well said...I'd only add one thing, though...i don't think they are misconceptions, I think they are overgeneralizations. Drugs and raving are forever intertwined, and I don't necessarily even believe that that should be changed. Moderated yes, changed no. As Moby of all people once observed, the rave scene probably never would existed had it not been for MDMA.....

One of the best rave memories I have is from a party called Wild held two summers ago. It was a three day event held at a campground somewhere in the mountains in PA. The thing was, there were several hundred people who lived there, and they were there with us the entire time. Ya know what? By the end of it, they and their *CHILDREN* were out there with us on the field, dancing under the stars at 2 AM. Two days previous, most of them had never even heard of a rave, and what little they had heard was bad. By the end of it, they were asking us to come back the next summer! I even remember one woman saying she was amazed by how *nice* we were all being to each other. Somehow, I have a feeling those people will never be the same again.....

The best thing is still to involve the police by hiring "off duties" to work your party. Have them stand at the entrance. Be nice to them like you would any other human. Chat with them, don't just employ them...it could be the best thing you EVER do for the rave scene..

Like I just said, our example can make a difference. The next day, when they go back to work, they'll tell their co-workers what they saw, and little by little, things *WILL* change. Yeah, it'll take time, but we got plenty of that. I know I'm in it for the long haul :) All I can say is, I hope you are too......

Finally, remember one thing. Every day a cop goes out to work the street,and every night especially, there's a small chance he won't get home to see his family again, and not because of some freak accident, but directly because of the task is he is charged with carrying out. Think of how this would affect you, day after day, how it would have to wear you down and tear you apart. And you wonder why most cops have attitudes?

Think about it, please....Thats all I can ask.....

Peace.....
Babylon
WoderTwin Records