Another of Shaw’s Maxims come to mind. “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” The question in this example begs - who is the unreasonable man?
It's a gas station. Fill up and leave. I see public displays that offend me periodically--bumper stickers, truck nuts (glad they aren't a thing). Some find the way others dress, style their hair (hence the CROWN laws) or adorn their bodies with tattoos and piercings offensive. Yes, sound is harder to ignore, but there are many stores (almost all) that play Muzak. Or music, if you happen to like it.
Bottom line is that if these young men were white, blasting country and line dancing, they'd be alive. People might have stared, but not killed them. I have never heard of a white kid getting shot for playing their music too loud; please correct me if I'm wrong. If I am wrong, I bet that music was rap.
The idea of voguing as protest is the same as wearing an afro as protest, or a dashiki. Merely peeling off the mask that white, straight, cis society imposes is protest, just as being a woman who wore pants was seen as protest. Is my natural hair rude? Some would say so. Should I wear a wig, then?
But sound is more "in your face." I agree that loud music can be annoying. If they were my neighbors at 1 a.m., I'd request that they turn it down (note: I called the cops on anonymous neighbors because they loved firecrackers so much, they set them off on even April Fool's Day. My kids were trying to sleep. I let them do it for half an hour first).
But at a gas station? Fill up and drive away.
Btw, my choice was a. And I probably would have marveled at their skill, even though loud music of all kinds quickly gets to me. I wear earplugs when I sit in an orchestra, for example.
Your point about the voguers' race is well taken. But let's remove race from the equation. A few years ago, at 2 a.m. in a Philadelphia rowhouse, two gay white men got into an argument. One of them stormed out of the house and stood in the middle of the empty street shouting obscenities at his partner. He was shocked— shocked!— when several neighbors emerged from their homes and beat him up. Were these neighbors homophobes, or just trying to get some sleep, or both?
There is never a good excuse for a group of people to beat someone up. I suspect both, but I don't know if the violence would have resulted if he hadn't been gay. To be clear, people beat each other up all the time. So many stupid reasons. I understand being so frustrated that you want to hit someone. But blaming the person who was yelling for getting beaten up...are you implying that just trying to get some sleep is justification for this?
To be fully transparent, though, I understand why people would react violently to collaborators with oppression--the necklace, in South Africa, for example. I can't excuse this, because humans can be wildly convinced of their own righteous cause (hello, January 6) and that anyone who isn't with them should be dispatched from this earth.
Either way, a loud lover's quarrel isn't anywhere NEAR this. Should we beat down anybody who strikes us as inconsiderate, then? Who decides how inconsiderate? Is it whether or not a lot of people think we're being inconsiderate? Is there a decibel level at which the beat down becomes justified?
From reader Myra Chanin:
Still thinking about this. How much fear, and how much anger are involved.
Another of Shaw’s Maxims come to mind. “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” The question in this example begs - who is the unreasonable man?
I should add that my comment wasn't edited...the reader can hopefully grant me some grace!
It's a gas station. Fill up and leave. I see public displays that offend me periodically--bumper stickers, truck nuts (glad they aren't a thing). Some find the way others dress, style their hair (hence the CROWN laws) or adorn their bodies with tattoos and piercings offensive. Yes, sound is harder to ignore, but there are many stores (almost all) that play Muzak. Or music, if you happen to like it.
Bottom line is that if these young men were white, blasting country and line dancing, they'd be alive. People might have stared, but not killed them. I have never heard of a white kid getting shot for playing their music too loud; please correct me if I'm wrong. If I am wrong, I bet that music was rap.
The idea of voguing as protest is the same as wearing an afro as protest, or a dashiki. Merely peeling off the mask that white, straight, cis society imposes is protest, just as being a woman who wore pants was seen as protest. Is my natural hair rude? Some would say so. Should I wear a wig, then?
But sound is more "in your face." I agree that loud music can be annoying. If they were my neighbors at 1 a.m., I'd request that they turn it down (note: I called the cops on anonymous neighbors because they loved firecrackers so much, they set them off on even April Fool's Day. My kids were trying to sleep. I let them do it for half an hour first).
But at a gas station? Fill up and drive away.
Btw, my choice was a. And I probably would have marveled at their skill, even though loud music of all kinds quickly gets to me. I wear earplugs when I sit in an orchestra, for example.
Your point about the voguers' race is well taken. But let's remove race from the equation. A few years ago, at 2 a.m. in a Philadelphia rowhouse, two gay white men got into an argument. One of them stormed out of the house and stood in the middle of the empty street shouting obscenities at his partner. He was shocked— shocked!— when several neighbors emerged from their homes and beat him up. Were these neighbors homophobes, or just trying to get some sleep, or both?
There is never a good excuse for a group of people to beat someone up. I suspect both, but I don't know if the violence would have resulted if he hadn't been gay. To be clear, people beat each other up all the time. So many stupid reasons. I understand being so frustrated that you want to hit someone. But blaming the person who was yelling for getting beaten up...are you implying that just trying to get some sleep is justification for this?
To be fully transparent, though, I understand why people would react violently to collaborators with oppression--the necklace, in South Africa, for example. I can't excuse this, because humans can be wildly convinced of their own righteous cause (hello, January 6) and that anyone who isn't with them should be dispatched from this earth.
Either way, a loud lover's quarrel isn't anywhere NEAR this. Should we beat down anybody who strikes us as inconsiderate, then? Who decides how inconsiderate? Is it whether or not a lot of people think we're being inconsiderate? Is there a decibel level at which the beat down becomes justified?