Your oblivion is not my shame

Building our sense of value for a new democracy

vol. 2 issue 38

Greetings,

In an era when leaf blowers fire up all around the block before breakfast, when every vehicle has a bleating “back-up beep beep” mechanism that can be heard blocks away, when muscle cars with mufflers that sound like rockets roar down residential streets, and when nearly every mechanized everything is manufactured with zero regard for how much noise it will create, my reflexive response to being so assailed is to feel angry and then immediately defeated. At that point, I shut down emotionally so I won’t get upset, find my white noise solution or my little ear plugs, and carry on. It takes monumental effort on some days, especially when the leaf blowers just don’t seem to go away.

These are not occasional noises. In my lifetime, they have become so regular, I would bet good money they constitute at least a portion of the daily soundtrack of virtually every neighborhood in this country.

I also suggest they are a classic reflection of chauvinism.