Last weekend, two attendees of New York’s “Electric Zoo” music festival died from an overdose on molly, the pure form of ecstasy.
In case you’ve been living in a cave for some time, demand for the drug has skyrocketed.
Popularity of the drug is perpetuating the decadence of our culture.
Even worse, it is being endorsed by household names.
Despite negative publicity, the electronic dance music — commonly known as EDM — community isn’t entirely culpable for the new drug of choice among young people.
Other genres of music have provided an outlet for those who don’t listen to EDM but still want to experience dehydration, sweating and heart failure.
For instance, Miley Cyrus speaks of dancing with molly in one of her songs.
Both Trinidad James and Kanye West have referenced the drug in their music.
Rapper Rick Ross has recently lost endorsements for a line he wrote, claiming that he “put molly all in her champagne / she ain’t even know it.”
Aside from an inability to spell, Ricky Rozay’s choice of words represents many problems that plague our culture, including the fact that we listen to a man who calls himself Ricky Rozay.
The lyric represents the increased popularity of a drug that, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, can result in loss of consciousness and seizures.
The most troubling implication of Ross’s lyrics, however, is an issue that doesn’t get enough attention: rape.
As if the thought of my peers sweating profusely at a Madonna concert wasn’t demoralizing, the thought of a popular musician condoning rape is just sad.
The emergence of rape culture must be combated by our generation, or it will be here to stay.
Don’t believe rape culture exists?
Recall the Steubenville case, where two Ohio high school football players were convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl.
According to The New York Times, many of the student’s peers assisted in the humiliation of the victim, by distributing and sharing photos of her naked body as she slept.
This sad trend isn’t unique to our country.
In India, four young men beat and raped a woman on a bus last year in New Delhi.
A report published by ABC News stated that the verdict will arrive next week.
In addition, harsher punishments have been instituted for rape in response to a massive uproar across India.
Can we, then, act as the catalyst for such change here in the U.S. as in India?
Of course we can.
In a CNN online report, a Montana judge may be retracting his sentence on Stacey Rambold, who was convicted of raping her 14-year-old student.
The judge is re-evaluating the legality of the sentencing after he was publicly scrutinized for only giving the self-professed rapist 30 days in jail.
Although this is important, it is only the first step.
We must see that it’s not OK for musicians to glorify date rape or for popular football players to distribute nude photos of a minor.
We have to re-examine our culture — including the music we listen to and the people we respect.
Richard Vieira is a UF political science senior. His column runs on Fridays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 9/6/2013 under the headline "Drug, rape culture need to be examined"
