I was in the Boston a few days last week.
One thing that really annoyed me were all these cars that were playing their music much louder than anyone could possibly need to hear it.
At some point I got to questioning myself. Shouldn't I be used to this? I live in a city. Shouldn't this be the norm I am used to?
Well, no. I have paid more attention since I have been back home, and it isn't as common -- at least in the areas I tread (14th St, U St, H St). I mean there are a few people who had there radios louder than they needed to, but not comparable to the numbers in Boston, nor to the volume in Boston.
So I needed to look at it from another direction. I don't really think noise problem was an issue in downtown Boston. The issue was when I was out of the heart of the city, and in the suburbs (or so it seems to the best of my memory) And that really could be the explanation. If you were in some horrible environment like a suburb (and the main suburb I was in was really bad) wouldn't you want to turn up the volume? It would be a great way to drown out some of the unpleasantness, as something you enjoyed overpowered the negatives that were all around you. And if you r music upsets others in the area, who cares? It the suburbs so they are probably miserable anyway.
If I really wanted to test my theory, I would go back to
College Park and see if cars are blasting music. But I would like to avoid having to ever go out there again.
Please pass on any insight you might have. Am I missing the loud music in DC (even in the areas I mentioned?) Are the suburbs worse when it comes to loud music? Am I just a curmudgeon?
