Let's Talk About the Travis Scott Concert

Before we get into the post, I would like to issue a trigger warning for claustrophobia, human crushes, and anything related to the Travis Scott concert.

On Friday, Travis Scott was performing in Houston, Texas, for a charity event. During the performance, a surge of people rushed towards the front row, causing a human crush. Eight people are confirmed to be dead, and several more are injured. The reasoning behind the surge is still unknown, and investigators are looking into the cause now.

I want to make it clear that I am not an expert in this field. I wanted to write about this for a myriad of reasons. Human crushes are my biggest trigger and worse fear. Unfortunately, I see history repeating itself here like I've seen in other cases. The response to this tragedy has garnered several reactions across the internet, and I wanted to add a few thoughts before the case progresses.

First and foremost, what is a human crush? Crushes like this are due to poor crowd management that drives people into close proximity, inducing mass panic. Consequently, people suffer horrible injuries from suffocation, being trampled, and more. I'd prefer to not get too detailed, but I need you to understand how gruesome this experience can be for its victims.

Although these events are tragic, they are preventable. A majority of the time, it is the authorities' fault for not managing a crowd correctly. It is the responsibility of the event coordinators to make sure the area is safe. It is their job to make it possible for people to escape, have plenty of space, and defuse situations that arise. It is a fire hazard, and it is obviously a human crush hazard. Corners were cut. People got hurt, and unfortunately, people died. For whatever reason, the crowd was not being responsibly monitored by the people tasked with doing so.

In these cases, victim-blaming runs rampant among authorities and spectators. This is seen in past cases like the Hillsborough Disaster. To summarize, police in the Hillsborough Stadium neglected their job as crowd management, leaving 96 men, women, and children dead in a human stampede. This event occurred in 1989, and to this day, authorities still lie about the character of these victims. Claims were made that they were being hectic for hectic's sake. The narrative that these attendees were responsible for this event is false information and morally reprehensible, in my opinion.

It frightens me to see this behavior in regards to the Travis Scott concert. As mentioned above, it is the management's job to ensure guest safety at events. Some patrons tried to stop emergency vehicles from getting to patients, but that doesn't mean that every victim was an uncontrollable, chaotic bystander. Plenty of people chanted for the show to stop, yet it continued even after being called a mass casualty event.

Briefly, I would like to Mention Travis Scott's involvement or lack thereof. I don't know the details behind the organization of the event. I imagine it was someone else's job and that Travis was the head and talent for the event, giving him little say on crowd management. However, Travis has been known to stop concerts for things like losing a shoe. To my knowledge, he had been made aware of paramedics arriving and the fatalities in the crowd and still continued. He knew his influence over his audience. In a life-or-death situation, he didn't use it. It's possible he wasn't aware of the weight of the tragedy at the moment, but he still had the influence to pause the show to make sure his fans were okay. He did not.

This is a horrific event that has struck a chord with people worldwide. It's the morbid lack of empathy and gross negligence that has shaped the event. This is a disaster that could have been avoided, and at the very least, handled differently. My deepest condolences go out to the victims and their families. It is my brightest hope that they receive the justice they deserve; and that cases like this never happen again.