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Astroworld: Global Terrorism

The events that took place on November 5th, 2021, led to what is now known as the Astroworld Tragedy. How could a concert, a place of music, friends and good times be labelled an act of global terrorism?

Music is an extraordinary thing. It does not have a shape, form or size, yet people claim they can feel and sometimes relate to it. Music is an agent of globalization as you do not need to understand it to appreciate it.

However, concerts like Astroworld seem to have almost weaponized music. He encourages fans to rage and consume anything from "drugs, water, orange juice and alcohol" to get lit (DeSantis, 2021). It leads frenzied fans to form moshpits - an act similar to a stampede only where the “purpose, however, is not to injure, but rather to release frustrations and celebrate music” (Clark, 2014). People are less than a foot apart, moving haphazardly to the beat like in the image below (Allen J. Schaben, 2021). The raging at the concert led to the death of 10 people, the youngest of which was only nine years old (Astroworld: Who were the victims?, 2021).

Moshpits and raging - in general - do not pertain to only the United States. Similar incidents have occurred all over the world. Under the pretence of having a good time, some musicians incite their fans to go as far as to commit crimes and disregard others - in the name of good fun.

Globalization has normalized this facet of pop culture - and it needs to be stopped. When musicians - with especially large followings across different nationalities and cultures - purposefully endorse illegalities and crime, they are akin to global terrorists and should be treated as such.

And thus, the tragedy at Astroworld was an example of global terrorism.

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References

Astroworld: Who were the victims? (2021, November 15). Retrieved from BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59225744

Clark, C. (2014, May 19). The etiquette of the mosh pit, explained. Retrieved from Metro Times: https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/the-etiquette-of-the-mosh-pit-explained/Content?oid=2201657

DeSantis, R. (2021, November 8). Travis Scott Talks 'Raging' in Resurfaced Video: 'Always Wanted to Make It Feel Like It Was the WWF'. Retrieved from People: https://people.com/music/travis-scott-talks-raging-in-resurfaced-2015-video/

Erika, G. (2021, November 9). [Astroworld Concert (Header Image)]. People. https://people.com/music/crowd-safety-experts-explain-why-astroworld-tragedy-was-preventable-how-you-can-stay-safe/

Schaben, A. J. (2021, November 5). [Photograph of Astroworld Tragedy]. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-11-17/a-festival-paramedic-reflects-on-the-astroworld-tragedy