Living Out Lout
Friday, it was wonderfully quiet during the day, as I guess people were mostly a plane ride away, comatose from stuffing themselves, or beating each other senseless in Best Buy.
And then, it was evening and some rudesters decided we needed to hear some tunes. In our bones.
Car playing that horrible boom-boom music that shakes our houses. Woman in passenger seat says I came out because she & driver are black. (Like my ears have race sensors!) Um, no, I came out because you're an asshole. #everythingisnotaboutrace
— Amy Alkon (@amyalkon) November 25, 2017
More:
Had a similar exchange a few nights ago - with a guy. I think people grab for "the race card" so they don't have to reach for the "accountability card."
— Amy Alkon (@amyalkon) November 25, 2017
Of course, nobody has the right to change the environment in your home. I wrote about this in an LA Times op-ed a few years ago:
In Los Angeles, you can call 311 to get a stack of old mattresses removed from your alley; I don't see why there isn't some number to summon aliens with a giant ray gun to pop down and vaporize the guy marching back and forth in front of my house, yelling into his cellphone.And sure, as he helpfully pointed out, "It's a public street!" -- but there's a reasonable presumption that the sounds you hear inside your house will be house sounds: the tea kettle whistling, bacon frying and your dog biting his toenails. Basically, another person's right to have a cellphone yell session outside your home ends where your living room begins.
PS "Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck" makes a fabulous Christmas present. Science-based, funny, and who doesn't love getting a book with a picture of a fork flipping them the bird on the cover?
Yeah, but that thump-thump-thump rattling your house, your bones, and your dog music is generally performed by black people.
You should get an air horn. When you're accused of raaaaaaaacism!, tell them that you're going to share your music with them hoooooooonk.
I R A Darth Aggie at November 25, 2017 8:10 AM
This illustrates interesting things about race and culture. I grew up in a quiet home with readers. Noise bothers me.
In the homes of most of my African American students, it is loud both day and night. There are more people living in tighter quarters and noise is expected. People become numb to the sound. It affects babies brain development and cognition. They have more trouble distinguishing individual sounds which in turn affects language acquisition, reading, and writing. It is very difficult to carve out quiet spaces in many urban centers.
Sometimes it is a fight to get the classroom quiet. We must have time for students to talk and share as well as time for quiet, focused concentration.
There really is a cultural aspect to noise and the expectation of quiet.
Jen at November 25, 2017 10:36 AM
The tragedy of the commons.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at November 25, 2017 5:21 PM
While it isn't really race - it is really cultural - I've noticed this a lot when going hiking; middle-class whites and East Asians are generally respectively quiet when out hiking while many blacks and Latinos are tramping through the woods making all sorts of noise, often accompanied by a "boom box" and not giving a sh&t how much the are disturbing the "peace and quiet" of other's hike in the woods.
When hiking with just a few friends who are also "quiet" we come across all sorts of wildlife - mainly deer - who otherwise are chased away by the noise-makers. It is those assh@les who lose out on seeing and experiencing more on their hikes because of their noise.
charles at November 25, 2017 7:34 PM
You're not black?
Donald Hump at November 26, 2017 5:19 PM
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