what do the utah powers that be, have against dancing?

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/3 ... tail=email

this is like something out of "footloose."

Sorry but this needs a better source before I read it.

http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archiv ... FOOXlZvUpH

Ah better.

Hehe. That's Utah!

Seriously, all the media is getting it wrong; not that the local government is correct, either.

Like most states, Utah has a history of "rave" dances which used to attract thousands of kids and others (including all the drugs and overdose deaths that they involved). Utah isn't immune to various party drugs like GHB, meth and ecstasy (think Breaking Bad meets Big Love). Utah is the state with the most prescription-drug abusers in the nation. Several elected officials have lost careers after being arrested with illicit drugs or infamous DUIs.

In an effort to solve the abuse and deaths, especially at typical locations (special-event dances with or without alcohol permits), local law-enforcement agencies have been delegated certain authorities by the state to review and police such events. No doubt, some communities like St. George, Utah, enjoy local elected officials and law-enforcement agencies which are too enthusiastic about this authority and have overacted in their reviews and policing.

Remember that about 80 percent of Utah's population is urban. The remaining 20 percent live in areas where people could drive two hours just to visit their nearest neighbors. This kind of anonymity is attractive to the kind of people who would introduce the risky products and services that cause the problems. The combination of these facts and local leaders just trying to keep a lid on legalities, makes for the occasional national headline. But, most of the time, these small communities are a lot like 21st century versions of Mayberry.

I suspect that there will be a race between the Utah Office of the Attorney General and the ACLU of Utah to see who remedies the situation first. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn't appreciate this kind of governance, either, for obvious reasons. Some careers might get threatened over this, but I sense that it will blow over and apologies made.

Because, as Robert Frost once said, "Dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire."

Those swaying bodies moving in synchrony ... the proximity of those bodies ... the physical contact ... the accelerated heart rate ...

Is it getting warm in here?

in America at least, it seems a never-ending battle between those who say "live and let live" versus those who scream "NOOOOOOO!! !"

I get the feeling that government authorities and politicians are usually anti-fun. They want to ban or limit everything the people like.

the problem is they usually have willing civilian accomplices to do their dirty work for them.

Ah, gotta love the fun police. Figures that they'd be in Utah.

These are the same kind of people who would rat out their neighbours to the Nazis.

I have to agree, they are per Stanley Milgram et al, "willing agents of authority." they don't care what kind of authority.

"Befehl ist Befehl."
Also, the idea that something is right just because the law says so is scary. Dictatorships are founded on "law abiding citizens", basically decent people living in a sh***y place.
Strange, while I'm typing this there's a remembrance ceremony for the fall of East Germany.

I wonder what proportion of aspies are prone to "orders are orders"? in the army I saw LOTS of that. blind obedience. when a majority of the populace sees thing find just the way they are, that is a recipe for societal stagnation and decline. it is happening all around us.

I'm not sure. I think there are also quite a few who are more or less blind to hierarchy. As a kid I would correct adults when they said something that was incorrect, not realising that would often annoy them. I see a lot of people on WP complain about rules that are inconsistent.
The military is to some degree based on blind obedience or hierarchy. Hospitals function much the same way (no one can do or say anything without permission from the higher-ups).
And often blind obedience goes out the window: the regional government in Catalonia just held a referendum on independence from Spain even though the national government told them they couldn't do it, but they did it anyway. And the majority of people voted for independence.

They should make a protest dancing-march.

like a conga line or somethin' -

Yes, a dance on City Hall. That's the kind of non-violent protest I could get into.