The Culture of Loud

This is a subject which I have been interested in discussing for some time (and may have touched on in past conversations with friends), but have only now decided to tackle via blog/brief essay. One reason I have not gotten into it much before now is that my first inclination was that I was treading in some dangerous waters, as far as cultural sensitivity is concerned. But I no longer think that's the case.

I have long considered myself a proponent of diversity; the idea that all of our different backgrounds and worldviews can combine to make a more interesting and, ulimately, better whole. What that presupposes, however, is that we all have a common vision of good. Of course, good-hearted people all DO share values of personal safety, low crime, etc. But I have only recently begin to really realize just how many aspects which I consider part of the "quality of life" equation are not necessarily common at all. In terms of where you actually make your residence, the title of this piece becomes quite an issue.

I suspect I'm not alone in this, but I have a tendency, when hearing a "boom car" (of which there are many in my neighborhood), to visualize the driver as someone "marking a statement." Sort of a "tell me to turn it down, I dare you!" sort of attitude. Maybe some rebellious act by a teenager, or some nose-thumbing by someone who thinks they've been done wrong by society. But I'm not so sure that's the case anymore. People like me (affiliated very loosely as, say, the "Culture of Quiet") may consider these "offenders" as as deviants to this general consensus of societal decorum. But I gotta say-the noise from these cars is so regular that the concept of them representing only a disaffected segment of society is just not one I buy anymore. At what point does a behavior become so prevalent as to become the cultural norm; or, if not the norm, as least an accepted backdrop to everyday life? These people cannot be judged as deviants, or even as people with some purposeful intent to invade my space. I know some of my neighbors personally who fit right in the "loud" category, and they are not particularly bitter or angry about anything (in fact, often quite the opposite) And it's not just the cars. We hear phone conversations through the walls of their house and on in through the walls of our house. Walk out their front walk talking loudly on cell phones. They come home loud, late at night. They leave loudly in the morning. And when their friends come to visit, they stride out into the middle of the street and greet them loudly while blocking traffic in the middle of the street, and revving their engines loudly. This is the city. You wouldn't expect to live without the buzz of people or the constant drone of cars if you lived in a New York City condo. Sure, Minneapolis ain't NYC, but it is a city. I simply live on a urban, residential street. At what point do I actually just up and realize that those sounds ARE the background sounds of life if I choose to live in a neighborhood like this?

Do I have to like it or even learn to live with it? Hell, no! It's the old "if you don't like what's on TV, turn the channel." I can choose to live in a place where others share my values, provided I can find one. In my ideal environment, neighbors know one another, genuinely like & trust one another, and greet each other with a smile. They also have an appreciation of a blessed quiet drifting on the breeze through an open window on a summer evening.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I was a little afraid to tackle this subject-racial overtones or undertones? God knows the white-dominated suburbs have their own "Culture of Loud": blaring gas-powered lawn care devices and the drone of power tools from every garage. I've been reasonably content in my neighborhood for seven years, but I don't think I could last one week in Woodbury without beginning to climb the walls, so great would be the cultural differences. So actually the COL correlation probably has more to do with socio-economic status. In any event, I'd rather chalk it up to lifestyle. People that are content to live like that simply have a different notion of what constitutes quality of life. No longer feeling as though there's a problem that needs fixed, or as though I have a duty to judge what it going on around me has led to a certain peace about this whole subject. I've been saying along that I prefer to move because of what opportunities are there in the new locale, not because I am running away from anything. If I am, indeed, going to take my leave of the city (the direction to which I am now-and perhaps finally-leaning), I wish to do it in peace and without any resentment. I definitely feel as though this is a bold step in that direction.