Re: Question

["David Staudacher" <quiet@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 16 Dec 1997 01:14:34 -0800, 
Risk Control Technologies, Inc.  <rctinc@erols.com> wrote:

>Re: boom cars

>(1) Does it actually bother people but they simply assume there isn't 
>anything that can be done, and thus try to ignore it ?
>or (2) Do they simply not notice the noise at all, so they can't begin to
>understand what the fuss is all about?

   I think anyone who seeks and enjoys quiet will find random and 
repeated exposure to boom car noise annoying, and I also think a lot 
of people _do_ try to ignore all kinds of noise believing that nothing 
can be done -- "Sure it bothers me, but what can you do about it?" is 
something I hear a lot.  But, of course, such defeatist thinking is 
self-fulfilling too.  When you _expect_ nothing, that's what you're 
likely to get.

   I think there are also people with perfectly good hearing who just 
don't think of noise as a problem, who wouldn't even call it noise to 
start with.  This sort of person has probably never developed any sort 
of aesthetic appreciation for sound and probably considers music (if 
at all) more in terms of lyrics than melody and harmony.  Such people 
may well be in the majority for all I know.  Keeping music education 
alive in schools seems like a good way to help keep this sort of 
"audio-apathy" from growing.   

   David Staudacher - quiet@igc.org

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