Don't Understand It

Last night at 11:15pm I had to scream at a neighbor on the next block to turn down the mega stereo in his pickup truck blasting that guttural bass sound so familiar here in the hood and just about everywhere in Tampa. He was standing beside his truck, drinking a beer, listening to this violently loud noise, and he had probably being doing this all evening because I could hear that bass in my house all evening. Why? Did he have no notion that his neighbors, especially those that live close to him, would be inundated with this noise thundering through their houses? Why do people (and they're mostly men) like him think this is okay? Why doesn't anyone in authority do anything about this noise pollution? Two years ago some people in Boston formed an organization called NoiseFreeAmerica because the city and its environs were being deluged with booming car stereos. They wanted something to be done about it along the lines of what Chicago was doing. If I remember correctly, in Chicago if you're caught blasting music or bass that can be heard more than 50 feet away from your vehicle, you get a fine of more than $600. If you're caught a second time, your car is impounded. Sounds a little extreme but maybe extreme measures are needed for extreme people without any notion of consideration for other people's right to be in their own cars and homes without being subjected to such an invasion of privacy. I hate being forced to listen to someone else's music in my own house. How did this happen? Even as I write this blog in my house, I'm being blasted by a car thundering through my neighborhood destroying the evening with pounding rap music...for the 5th time tonight. I don't understand it. There is absolutely no reason for it, other than to be obnoxious as far as I can figure. No one needs to listen to music so loud it can be heard for two blocks in every direction. No one. And what's gonna happen is these guys will become increasingly hard of hearing and will need to turn up the volume even louder.

Is there anyone out there who can explain this fixation with such incredible loudness to me?