The official NMA board
General Category => Everything Else => Topic started by: Master Ray on May 06, 2017, 07:58:33 PM
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https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/may/05/dance-of-death-are-the-days-of-the-moshpit-numbered
Found this in The Guardian the other day, an interesting read and it was nice to see NMA mentioned a couple of times in the comments section.
The NMA moshpit is, IMO, an essential part of the NMA live experience, whether you partake in it or not. Be interested in what you lovely lot think of this article?
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Mmmm, not sure about the article and it's comments. I thought the main focus was on the fact that people, no I won't say girls or women because it is obvious that blokes and young lads are getting touched up/sexually assaulted at gigs.
Moshing,punching out, violence and being a general shit is one thing.
Sexual assault is the other.
These are separate offences and should not be thought of as the same incident.
Years ago we had our own "Family Feeler". There was guy who regularly touched the ladies amongst us and he was encouraged to "go away".He was not tollerated once we all discovered none of his body contact was accidental,it was sexual assault and nothing else.
He was also a git who drank any drinks put on tables too...and a Lev's fan.
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I think that the pit is here to stay, maybe in a safer more controlled way . Personally I'm not one for going right into the centre of it. I like to find a good spot near the front middle, this of course is near the pit . Whilst 99% of people are considerate we all know that it just takes one arsehole .
And of course sexual assault can never be tolerated
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Moshing,punching out, violence and being a general shit is one thing.
Sexual assault is the other.
These are separate offences and should not be thought of as the same incident.
Quite.
I read the article and comments and it seems to me that a number of issues are being lumped together under the "mmm moshpits are bad ok" banner.
Aggressive and violent folks are just that and will behave that way given any excuse - gig, football, saturday night closing whatever.
Sexual assault by any gender to any gender is about the predisposition of the perpetrator not the environment. To pin the blame on the location of that assault is a red herring. Anywhere that large numbers of people are in very close proximity to each other has an inherent possibility of an individual taking advantage of the situation.
It can't possibly be the right thing to "ban" moshpits because a very very small minority of individuals have a vile mindset. The answer to the problem has to be the vast majority calling out such actions and bringing any perpetrator to account. Contrary to perceived wisdom there is such a thing as society and by joining a communal event we all accept the rights AND responsibilities that go with it.
I firmly believe and have trust that after knocking on 30 years of NMA gigs that anything unacceptable occurring in the pit and coming to light will be dealt with by the "pit community" . I would also sincerely hope that should something be clocked by the band from the vantage point of the stage that it would be called out. No music no matter how much we love it is worth an assault.
For what it's worth I've been on both sides of this argument. In both my old and new life I have by accident touched people in an inappropriate place, FFS ping ponging about like a little silver ball on a pinball table it's impossible not to (I'm not tall and I'm not big) however in my new life there has been a new dimension and maybe, just maybe, a certain sense of entitlement is something that some of the 50% part of the population need to think about.