Edit: Oh shit, I got badged!
Jesus fucking christ. 1) Entropy always increases. That's the second law of thermodynamics. 2) Noise is an expression of entropy in mechanical systems. 3) The world has been getting noisier since the invention of the horse. It will continue to do so. I did acoustics for a living for five years. I'm a professional expert on "quiet." And lemme tell ya - some heel bitching about someone else typing too loudly on a MUTHERFUCKING TRAIN is somebody spoiling for a fight. The reason libraries are louder is because they serve primarily immigrant populations with children and children are loud. I suspect our author hasn't been to a library in a while; the books are no longer front and center, the community outreach is. The reason restaurants are louder is that silence is excruciatingly expensive and masking is not. If you play a song you hear the song, not the traffic. The reason people talk more and talk louder in public is that we now carry our own little bubbles of environment with us, and those bubbles often include people on the other end of a cell phone. Assholes that think you're typing too loudly on an Amtrak car aren't looking for a communal environment of silence, they're looking for a solitary environment of silence. Buy some fucking QC2s and shut the fuck up. Communal silence is readily and freely available in church. In reading rooms. In meditation centers. That available on an Amtrak car runs about 55 dBA fast, or roughly as loud as the front seat of a Cadillac. Typing too loud for you? Fucking move over a seat. Sparking a confrontation because someone is typing too loud is just a dick move... and anyone who celebrates dick moves is adding to the entropy that increases the noise that makes shit like this happen.
Yeah, but name one thing an old person won't complain about. Everyone had the get-off-my-lawn geezer living down the street when we were kids. Complaining about typing is way over the top, for sure, but I have no problem with a rule that bans talking on the phone in designated areas. Hearing one half of a conversation can be maddening, because it is background noise, but its also coherent. So it grabs your attention in a way white noise doesn't. Having one car where cell phones aren't allowed seems like a good compromise to me, but the limitations should be reasonable. Maybe my typing bothers you, but you shifting in your chair bothers me; where do you draw the line?
>Yeah, but name one thing an old person won't complain about. And I'm totally cool with that. There is, however, quite a difference between "humoring" the old coot and celebrating the old coot. If the "quiet car" bans cell phone conversation, cell phone conversation should be discouraged and forbidden; that's pretty clear. Thing is, if "typing" isn't on the list of proscribed activities, getting up in someone's grille for typing IS NOT AN ACT WORTHY OF CELEBRATION. This article is a lament for a world that never existed reliant on a code of conduct that should not be encouraged. That's my objection.
My mom is a librarian and trust me the loud people are native Americans talking on their cellphones with no regard for the fact that they are in a place where they should probably take their conversations outside. It's a daily battle to try and get people not to announce what they had or will have to for lunch to every one in the place. The common every day conversations aren't event he worst of it, my mom has had to ask people to please talk about the sex they had last night out side, or in the lobby rather then sharing it with every patron in the place. Yes kids are loud in the library, but I think most librarians are ok with that within reason.
To add to this: Modern libraries are one of the few remaining places where you don't get thrown out just for loitering. They're free wifi-enabled, air-conditioned spaces. I worked at one, in an extremely affluent area, for several years. Our problem was, partially, with children, as kleinbl00 says -- though that was mitigated by the partitioning of the children's section -- but overwhelmingly with homeless people who had nowhere else to be. We couldn't throw them out until /after/ they had already disturbed the supposed inherent quiet of the library, and most did, inevitably, because the majority had mental illnesses and no family. I talked to dozens of them. My point with all this is that a large part of kleinbl00's post above is overly general. (Silence is freely available at reading rooms? We had a reading room, even though I was under the impression that libraries really were reading rooms anyway, at my old job -- and people went in their to make calls. What can ya do.) I side with the article on this one.
The buzzing from people's headsets can be really annoying, so I'm not surprised by the typing being irritating -- but these things are not irritating to everyone. We do not all hear the same way or the same things. There's a subtle hearing condition that I have whereby I find it difficult to select out some background noises. I don't know what it's called, but I've read about it and have been increasingly meeting people with similar preferences. Consequently, it's really really hard to find a restaurant quiet enough to have a good conversation. In a noisy restaurant, I can hear the person I'm with, but I have to focus so much that it is exhausting. Teaching is difficult because if people whisper to one another (and why shouldn't they?), I tend to lose my train of thought. Awareness of hearing differences helps, but I can't seem to get my current husband to stop biting his nails in the opera. -- You'd think that would be pretty quiet, right, compared to the opera and the orchestra. But it totally rattles me. All this AND no sense of smell. We all perceive differently.
I've ridden on Amtrak trains many, many times. You are right, the train itself is naturally extremely loud. If you're looking for peace and quiet on a train?? You're insane!The reason libraries are louder is because they serve primarily immigrant populations with children and children are loud. I suspect our author hasn't been to a library in a while; the books are no longer front and center, the community outreach is
This is true. I am becoming increasingly aware of what the modern Library is as my daughter gets older. Although I am not an immigrant, I do take my daughter to the library for story time once a week. There, books are read aloud to children in common areas. Also children sit at computers and play games and watch videos. I find that many people visit the library to get DVDs. While the modern Library is not a loud place, it certainly isn't a place where someone quickly snaps you and mean glance if you're talking. Those days, thankfully, are over.
I love riding the train. On the West Coast it's kind of a patchwork of reasonability, though. Seattle to Portland is $45 and can be done quicker than driving while Seattle to Vancouver is $30 and an absolutely lovely (and quick) ride... so long as BNSF isn't running freight on the rails that day in which case your $30 ticket becomes a bus ticket and I shit you not, our driver got lost on the way to the station once and we had a miniature mutiny as everyone argued about how to get there. On the other hand, LA to Seattle costs more than flying and takes three.fucking.days. LA to Lompoc costs $18 but they only run the train once per day so you can't go up for a launch unless you plan on camping. They're actually quieter than jets, but they aren't quieter than libraries. And, psychoacoustically speaking, "speech" is something that cuts through quite nicely because we're tuned to listen to it. "Typing" on the other hand is background noise and vanishes completely unless you're seeking it out. Libraries are a great place to access multiculturalism. So are community centers. I had no idea how many Russians we had in our neighborhood until I hit the swimming pool...
I love trains too. Check out this piece I wrote about how to take the Empire Builder from Whitefish to Ann Arbor. -It's a 36 hour trip. Wonderful as a college student, perhaps not so much now?
I weigh in around 220 lb. My wife weighs about 120 lbs. She makes more noise crossing a room then I do. It's not a matter of shoes, I make less noise shod then she does barefoot most the time. She (until fairly recently at least) is just totally unaware of how loud she is as she goes about her daily routine. It's unfathomable to me how anyone can be unaware of how loudly they walk. I don't know if it's growing up in apartments, being sneaky, or just paranoia that makes me aware of how much noise I make. Most people seem generally unaware of some aspect of their sound profile. At it's most garish this unawareness is nothing but astounding and profane. This unawareness is a quality I loath in people. I feel something like relief to reading "The Quiet Ones" I am not alone in my preoccupation. I think there are many other things that I find offensive which go unmentioned in our society, things like TV's in public social spaces. I like that someone has named one of the accepted evils of our time.
Great read. and I appreciate your comment my coworker is a loud breather.
a guy I go to church with smells so bad it triggers my gag reflex.
my daughter walks louder than any human I've met - and she's 5. I'd like to think it's just me being overly critical, but I'm pretty sure these are all bonafide. It makes me wonder what things I'm unaware of. Am I loud breather or have I gotten so used to my own stench that others secretly want to be as far away from me as possible?Most people seem generally unaware of some aspect of their sound profile.
I'm typically aware of my sound profile. My father used to take me hunting when I was very young, and he was very quick to praise me if I could tramp through the forest quietly. Sometimes I still find myself rolling from the outside of my foot just for the heck of it. I think this has extended into other things that I do. Sometimes I am just conscious of moving through my environment without much disturbance. That said, I like a bit of activity around me when I work, especially the mix of music and conversation in a coffee shop. I don't think I'd enjoy the quiet car. It would just amplify any noise that did occur.
Ha! My god, I thought I was the only one. I also make ridiculous attempts to lower my sound profile for no reason at all, although I suspect it comes from an as yet unextinguished childish desire to one day become a ninja.
I'm right there with you guys. I walk a little quicker and a heck of a lot quieter than most of the people around my town, and I find that I tend to sneak up on people a whole lot. It can be weird but I try to just ignore it and keep walking. And when it comes to climbing stairs, I try to be as nimble and soft as possible. Total ninja. Speaking of a bit of activity during work, mk, I love working in coffee shops myself.
This piece sounds a bit like people trying to out quiet one another. I think that I would have to hear this man typing to make a decision as to who was and who was not in the wrong. My favorite bar and place to see music in Ann Arbor used to be a place called Leopold Bros. The new green had our first CD release party there and I was able to see some fantastic shows there too. I recall seeing Andrew Bird play there with his "bowl of fire". -Fantastic show, great room! Although Leopold Bros was in downtown Ann Arbor, there were some residential properties nearby. Some of these residents complained that the noise was too loud. Unfortunately, because a couple of houses complained a fantastic venue never played live music again. From talking to the owners, I was to understand that it was really just one house that had issue with it. When does the comfort of one outweigh the enjoyment of many? Should it?
Short answer: No Long answer: We have long since reached the point in our population where the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few on small scale problems. Bear in mind, this is a limited viewpoint since "the many" does not constitute entire races, populations, or even groups within a city. You can generally get a good idea of what will outweigh what by answering a few questions about it. 1. Is the activity endangering the few's personal lives and safety to an extreme degree? If there are people setting off fireworks below 20 feet, and they are SERIOUS fireworks, then yes, the few do outweigh the many. If its a group of kids skateboarding in a cul-de-sac, not really. 2. Is the activity endangering a person's health and well being? If so, then the needs of the few should be addressed, and depending on the scale this might not mean getting rid of whatever is endangering their health. If a factory has an exit near a group of homes, and trucks constantly drop gravel - accidentally - by the homes, then the roads should be rerouted or made to prevent gravel droppings, but the factory itself should not be moved. 3. Does the actual benefit provided to the many outweigh the suffering of the few. Let's just use human testing for a second. If you have a new drug that could potentially cure say, sickle-cell disease, but if it fails will kill the person involved, then is that cure moral? Well, yes. Sickle-cell is widespread, and the people who voluntarily take the drug and die are doing so with known risk. It is not the preferred outcome - everyone living - but the payoff is worth much more than their lives. If you avoid bullshit and hate, such as people who say that racial diversity is bad for a nation, then the "many over the few" actually isn't a terrible idea. Like all things, it should never be carried to its logical conclusion since its logical conclusion is usually moronic.
Hehe, I didn't even like the piece, I just posted it here because it was so snobbish (Not quite the exact word, but close enough) it made me laugh! It does at least spark a fun discussion of courtesy I guess. Edit: I should clarify that's because of the way he describes the people of the quiet car as a community fighting against the evil tyranny of noise. It's just a place to do a thing, just like how there are other cars for people with kids, and anything-goes cars for drunk and drugged people wandering back from the city in my area.
Am I the only one who found it odd that he goes on and on about the values of silence and rest on the Quiet Car from all the background noise and distractions, then proceeds to listen to music on his headphones on the Quiet Car? P.S. I liked the article, actually came in here intending to post it. Thanks.
The irony strikes a bit close to me as I'm also a very loud typer and tend to screen out my own noise with headphones and music, too.
For this reason, I hope they never allow cell phone use on planes. There was a study that showed that its safe; there is no other reason to disallow cell phones other than they're annoying. Imagine a trans-continental flight where someone is talking next to you the whole time. It would be unbearable.