ordered chaos

I refuse to believe that Astroworld demonstrates that we are all animals at heart or that celebrity culture corrupted every person. First, this was not a stampede-- it was a crowd crush. Someone in a crowd crush has no idea what is happening towards the front and is helpless to move. Crowd crushes are largely the fault of poor crowd organizing/management. Some of the people in the crowd were assholes-- those who stormed the gates, danced on ambulances, etc. Most of them were just caught up in a press of bodies.

Travis Scott is not an innocent party here. He encouraged fans storming the gates and has been charged twice before in 2015 and 2017 for inciting hysteria at his shows. He encouraged violence against a kid in 2015 while crowd-surfing for allegedly trying to steal his shoe and at another show told fans to jump from a balcony-- fans later suffered serious injuries. He encouraged fans to flip off security trying to break up to the crowd and get to injured people. He has a history of being awful to security. I hate cops as much as anyone, but security guards aren't cops. They're just some guys who are getting paid a shit wage to prevent people from getting hurt. You're not standing up to the "man" by being a dick to security at a concert any more than you would be for getting tossed out of a bar by a bouncer for being drunk and disorderly. You're just being an asshole.

Travis Scott encourages people to "rage" at his shows with no care for the consequences. Well, that's just a mosh pit, right? Except, punk/heavy metal shows are famously focused on a sense of community and social responsibility. There have literally been scientific studies that demonstrate how focused heavy metal fans are on helping people who fall during shows. However, if you co-opt the goal of a mosh pit as a stress-reliever and/or a way to release anger without the rules of etiquette or citizenship, then you might be Travis Scott you've created an incredibly dangerous situation.

Travis Scott saw an ambulance trying to get through and he didn't stop playing. He saw a fan's lifeless body being carried away and he didn't stop playing. There is no way he couldn't have heard the crowd chanting to stop. This is not normal behavior. Side note: Here are some examples of responsible examples of crowd control behavior from artists who stopped their shows to stop people from getting hurt in no particular order that I found on Reddit in no particular order: Adele, ASAP Rocky, Avenge Sevenfold, The Killers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, KSI, MCR, this entire compilation).

These artists aren't heroes. They just know that crowd crushes have happened before and are practicing basic human decency.

And there were people who tried to help. If you haven't seen the video of the girl who climbed up on a camera platform or read her account, it's brutal, terrifying stuff. People were chanting to stop the show. This ICU nurse tried to help and documented the severely undetrained staff. Concertgoers did their best to pull others to safety, but the people who were in charge simply did not care.

Queen Elizabeth II was an incredibly popular monarch. She was clever and cunning and played her apolitical political role well, taking care to remain in the good graces of the public. It is NOT a coincidence that while monarchies all around Europe toppled, Britain never once seriously looked at getting rid of their Queen.

This is not true of Charles. He is not as well liked. He does not have the benefit of longevity - most people alive have known the Queen as their monarch their whole lives, and have never seen the monarch change. Kicking a little old lady off the throne after what many people have seen as years of service to her country was a relatively unpopular proposition, but the same is not true of of a man who people aren’t all that fond of, and who doesn’t hold the position.

If you’re on tumblr you’re probably very aware of the questionable past and present of the British throne - and if you’re British or a member of a commonwealth state, now is the time to start talking about it. The monarchy is never going to be overthrown while Queen Elizabeth is still alive, but on her death… well, it’s pretty much fair game.

So instead of just celebrating on your blog, go out and talk about the monarchy. Sow seeds of revolution. Talk about the racism of the royal family. Talk about the racism inherent in the system, and the very personal racism that Megan Markle exposed. Talk about how it isn’t fair that in a unilateral society based on principles of equality, we have not just a monarch but an entire class of people who are born into titles. Talk about how the royal family hoard wealth, how their modern wealth has come from their past subjects, as well as the burden on tax payers. Talk about how unfit they each are for their positions. How you don’t like Charles, or don’t want him as king. Talk about how outsiders are treated - Megan, Diana.

What's happening? There's been a large uptick in cases in india (325k+ in a single day) and we do not have to resources to cope with it. People are dying rapidly and they have to struggle to get a bed. They're dying on sidewalks.

The blame can be placed on a person and that person is narendra modi, our prime minister.

There was a lot he could have done to prevent it but he chose not to. (Refer this post for detailed explanation)

If you can donate, do NOT donate the PM CARES fund. Many indian citizens donated to it a while back but no one knows where the money went.