Reader Response Responding II

Anonymous said...

For the record, yes you are a noisy raucous bunch. But it's not so much the noise I'm blocking out, as it is the noise I'm tuning in. CocoRosie, The Flaming Lips, Fiest or Vinal Café just to name a few of my favorites. Obviously you've never had the pleasure of making your daily trek to wherever it is you need to be, while your favorite beats become the soundtrack to your life. Think about it..... Early morning, 20 minute trek across the commons to get you to your hum drum job in the cold wet snow - cause it's NS in the winter - with Mush-a-boom playing in the background. Or how about watching the local crazies come and go on the bus (talk about a raucous bunch) yelling at the driver, drunk and mumbling to themselves, while Yann Tiersan’s playful La Noyee plays in your ears reminding you that life is beautiful! (See what I'm sayin?)
This is not to say that mp3 players don’t detract from getting to know your neighbor or flirting with the cute girl in the café -which are both equally important to a thriving community- but so does msn and yahoo and facebook and txt messages etc, etc, etc….. In my not-so-humble opinion, we’re all becoming/are cyborgs by way of laptops, mp3s, prosthetic limbs and even pharmaceuticals consistently pervading our bodies and our lives.
Don’t take it personally Mr. blogger, but sometimes the noisy world needs to be shut out for the sake of some beautiful music ;)

-Defensive Mp3 cyborg354785377

Dear Defensive Mp3 cyborg354785377,

I take it very personally. I take it very personally, indeed. Indeed, so very personally I take it, I shall compose a reply. I beg - please take off your headphones for long enough to read it.
My major beef with headphone-wearing walkers is that as a member of their community and - at least for that moment - a presence within their personal space, I feel ignored and jilted, like some kind of insect or shapeless lump of dog feces, to be ignored at best, but most likely sneered upon. Defensive Mp3 cyborg354785377, you call me crazy, drunk and mumbling, to that I declare, sure...perhaps I am. But am I also so low that you would consider me such a nuisance that your only defense against my crazy, drunk, mumbling presence is to shut me out?

I also must point out, that to be truly defensive, one needs to have ones senses about oneself, so one can react if another one preys upon one! Yann Tiersen blaring loudly in your headphones may distract you from the sound of a lurking stranger, terrorist or Jehovah's Witness! These truly are the evils which one must avoid, and you may not be prepared. I need not remind you that the Great Zombie Apocalypse will be coming soon, and you must ready yourself...not absorb yourself in the evocative soundscapes of French neo-classical composers! (Not to make any mention of post-disco folk revivalists!)

You argue that we are becoming cyborgs, and that while MP3 players may perhaps detract from the cognisance of our community fellows, so too does the use of internet tools, mobile phones and the like. I argue that we need to welcome these brilliant and clever human advances. We need to exercise their use with reckless abandon. MP3 players are no doubt the very beginning of sound storage and transmission, like the vinyl press to the CD, but we must not use these tools to shut one another out when they are being created! They must be used responsibly. We live in the Information Age, and what could be more important than information of our neighbours and community members? The snarling, raucous drunk that passes by you may be there one day to help you in some way, if all you would do is smile and say 'Hello!' to him (or her, but statistically, him).

You cannot fight the course of human technological progress, Defensive Mp3 cyborg354785377, but with the help of me, and God and our love for our great nation, we can create a society built off love, and trust, and fellowship and love again. We can make a society that is safe for our babies and kittens and butterflies; where we can all share and make music together, as one family.

And how can you argue with that?