I scream, you scream, we all scream for common sense

In the words of your mother/grandmother/nana “You better act like you got the commonsense God gave you.”

All iterations of this phrase have seemingly left the public as we enter nearly a year of being clear of global pandemic restrictions. In the wake of the rise of living in delusion, romanticizing your life or just the general, ya know, rise of losing our civil rights every day, the world seems to find a new level of “unhinged” to reach every season. This time around, as the summer welcomes us and festival season is in full swing, fans are losing their damn minds just from the taste of being back outside.

Let’s get into it.

TLDR:

From human ashes to cell phones, sex toys to water bottles, concertgoers have been hurling objects at their favorite performers, sometimes injuring them in the process. Did we all just forget concert etiquette altogether post pandemic? Or is this part of the hyper individualistic, made-for-Tik-Tok fame, world we’ve created? Whatever the reason, it’s not cool. Let’s act like we’ve been here before.

Here’s The Thing:

Fandoms aren’t new; neither are parasocial relationships with celebrities or expressing your love through gifts thrown on stage. But it’s getting out of hand and points to a greater problem facing post-pandemic life: it’s all about me.

The screaming during acoustic sets, shouting during a quiet introspective interlude, distracting the artist for your own moment in the spotlight— it’s as if the concert is for the proverbial “you” and not the collective “y’all” brought together by a common music interest. But what is the end game? For some, it’s the off chance their moment detracts enough from the collective experience to star in their very own viral moment. For others, it’s their once-in-a-lifetime moment for a personal one-on-one with the artist.

The pandemic highlighted Americans’ selfish tendencies, like the anti-mask movement and our resistance to vaccines and basic community…