u/Darkhemispheres

yesterday I saw a post in the Lane 8 subreddit about his waterfront park performance in SD over the weekend and someone was asking a few questions. One of which was if they should bring a totem. The top response was "Don't bring a totem." without answering any of their other questions sitting at 40 upvotes.

I can see some utilitarian applications of Totems, but in the best case scenario, a Totem wielder is fully aware of the way they are inconveninencing those around them but do their best to minimize the impact to others by turning it sideways or laying it on the ground.

If you're already aware that people will be annoyed by it, why do you value your own desires/needs over other people? How is that in the spirit of PLUR at all?

"But", these assholes say, "How will I find ALL of my friends if I don't have a twenty foot flag 8 feet in the air at all times?"

and my response would be: you come up with literally any other solution to find each other, including the buddy system, hanging back, utilizing landmarks, paying attention to your surroundings, coming up with designated meeting spots, etc.

Also, there's no point in trying to stick with more than 4-5 people at an event. If you are with a group of 20 people, DO NOT be those people that constantly push and shove their way so that they can all stand together.

This is just a further symptom of the larger issue where PLUR has been bastardized to mean "let me do anything I want" in the name of self-expression while totally forgetting the RESPONSIBILITY and RESPECT elements of pluR.

More venues should ban totems.