Party Vibe

Hi georgina..

Whilst taking into account your own personal privacy/safety and security if you are aged 16-18, would you be able to give just a bit more info about your college and the course? the reason I ask this is also that you share your name with a prominent journalist and also a senior manager in a University in the West of England.

Whilst this is hopefully just a coincidence and it might be simply be a popular name in that part of England, for both these women there would be professional advantage is posing as a younger woman and gaining forward intelligence on drug users – any ethical misgivings about doing this overriden by a often heartfelt and genuine belief they are making the area safer and preventing crime. They wouldn’t be compiling individuals’ details as that is potentially against the current UK law, but after a bigger picture of who might be a drug user so they can assist authorities in identifying them or screen them out for employment or University courses.

I am sorry to hear about your friends passing too but the sensitive way in which you wrote about this, the very intelligent way you write and what you are studying also hints that you are in a faith based place of education. I’ve got no problem with that especially if you are younger (I was put through similar from childhood to mid teens) – but your profs are going to be religious and perhaps more conservative in their views than you are. The reason they often tolerate and may even encourage your project (though they disagree with drug taking and hedonism overall) is because they are looking to identify and target “lost sheep” (such as drug users who are suffering addiction etc) further down the line and get them “back into the herd” (i.e organised religion).

its also a way of getting intelligence on you as there is a tradition of religious girls becoming a bit rebellious in their teens – faith groups nowadays outside those which are clearly extremist are much more tolerant than even 10-20 years ago but often only begrudgingly so.

I’ve noticed this with all the main faiths of the UK (both Anglican and RC Christians and Islam). Even so I don’t have a problem with it but what I would like to see is honesty and fair play from everyone involved.

I don’t use facebook due to its privacy concerns, but everything else matches up. bear in mind a site like this (and similar ones in continental Europe) are regularly targeted by cops, journalists and faith groups/political groups – we’ve had the lot over the last decade or so.

Plus the college course you are doing would also be a similar level to the the sixth forms of faith based schools which are now rebranded as “colleges” – hence why we have to be a bit careful here.

Indeed the reason why so many Americans say they have had “spiritual” experiences at raves (I remember them discussing this back in the 90s when the net first went online) is because faith groups and spirituality clearly has more power in the USA than increasingly secular Britain, even away from traditional Abrahamic religions and going into the New Age sorts of religions.

My own personal experiences (in spite of a relatively spiritual/religious upbringing, I am a baptised but no longer practising Roman Catholic) are that that raves have only ever been about music and fun to me.

They certainly have been a great deal of fun but to me something “spiritual” is a lot more self disciplined/organised than the hedonism of a rave, and I’ve never had anything vaguely spiritual from taking drugs either including hardcore psychedelics. (never had any bad trips, and also a great deal of fun). Someone with a more secular upbringing might peerhaps have had different experiences.All that said, what little remains of my faith has often “kept me on an even keel” and stopped me overdoing it with stuff like drugs/partying!