Going by the news and movies, the “deep south” of America seems like a very religious and uptight place. Mississippi is Klu Klux Klan headquarters and Alabama is full of Bible bashers, yet Florida seems like a fun, sunny and festive place. Perhaps Miami is, but not all of it, certainly not the town of Weston at least.
In an effort to eliminate crime and nightclub violence in Weston, its city council have flat out banned nightclubs, dance halls and even skating rinks (so they can’t be used for dances). That’s right; no clubbing! This isn’t something that happened years ago in more conservative times either: this happened in April 2012! Yes, in this day and age, “the man” has felt it necessary to be party poopers and ruin it for young people. Granted, Weston partygoers could simply go to nearby towns to party, but what a hassle that is!
This act is in response to nine shootings that happened near nightclubs in southern Florida the year before (not in nightclubs, just near them!). It is also because the council believes nightclubs cause traffic and noise problems for residents and businesses nearby and strain city resources. But isn’t that just a negative way of explaining “tourism”, a great resource of revenue for any town?
If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s very similar to the plot of the 1984 dance movie Footloose, which itself is loosely based on how another small American town once banned music and dancing. Talk about life imitating art! (If you can call Footloose “art”). Considering many American teen and college comedies portray young people as hard core partygoers who raise hell and their shenanigans can be dismissed as them sowing their wild oats, it is odd to believe there are parts of the same country that are the complete opposite of this. If anything, having a town outright ban nightclubs or dancing seems more like something out of a Hollywood screenwriter’s imagination than the over the top cinematic fraternity parties are. Only in America, as they say.
Just think, if you’re ever on a night out and are complaining about how there aren’t any good clubs around, just be grateful there are any clubs at all!
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