This. I would have just driven off and parked somewhere else.
In my mind, the advantage of those beaches is that when you get there, you find 90% of other people were too lazy to walk it, or at least their loud, obnoxious kids were. 
People should be reasonably cognizant about who is in earshot of their music. If not, mention it to them, and then if they still refuse to fix it, you can complain about them without calling them nice, because they’re not.
I listen to offensive music in public all the time (at work) but I try to adjust the volume or pause it or change the song when necessary. If I messed up, and someone who wasn’t a total asshole themself (I mean like someone who is causing their own huge noise disturbance) mentioned it to me, I would certainly apologize and adjust my behavior.
It was so crowded because it was a holiday that there were few and far between spots. Plus, we didn’t feel like moving and shouldn’t have to.
It’s normally not crowded. It would be weird for someone to park near you. Normal weekends people are about 50-100 feet apart. I’ve been there days where I Couldn’t see anyone on either side. But this was the first time we’d been on a holiday weekend.
Don’t come to the Texas gulf coast then. The vast majority of it is what we call a free beach, meaning drivable. And it’s not laziness. It’s just the way the roads and beach houses are set up. The people in the houses don’t want you parking next to their house. So there is a sand beach road that runs parallel to the waterline, in front of the houses, and they want all the beach goers to be there instead of in their “neighborhood”. Plus at these beaches you can bring camping gear, tents, canopies, BBQ grills, and chairs aren’t provided so you’re hauling chairs, umbrellas, kids toys, and recreation equip like RCA cars, kites, floats, windsurfer boards, jet skis, fishing rods, buckets, coolers, etc. It’s much more than a towel and some sunblock. There are some private beaches where there’s a big parking lot off the highway and then you walk a half mile to the beach. But they are more crowded because they’re smaller, there are showers, they sell food and drinks there, some have water slides. There’s something liberating about cruising down the beach with your windows open. It’s just fun. Some places you can go miles without stopping or seeing other people.
Why didn’t you say anything?
Just explain to them that “nigger” is an ugly, hateful word linked to hundreds of years of oppression, a word so offensive that it must be abbreviated in public use, no matter what the context, so toxic that uttering it even once may have catastrophic consequences on their reputation, career and livelihood. And that it’s also thrown around casually by some as a term of endearment and ubiquitous in some types of popular music, in which cases it’s totally fine. And be ready for some tough follow-up questions.
It’s not worth the chance the people could be violent in addition to inconsiderate.
Something we joked about, what if we’d started to sing along? :eek:
Is there any particular reason why you think these people would become violent over such a trivial matter?
My kid might just be a genius, but she loves asking tough questions and she still never had any problem differentiating the meanings of that word and its offshoot.
(And she might not be a genius either, because yesterday she asked me how one was supposed to eat a breakfast sandwich. Like logistically, how.)
Hmm. I would be more annoyed about hearing the music super loud than the content. Waylon Jennings or Joey Bad Ass, that would have bugged me.
I think genuinely fans of certain genres are desensitized. I am a big fan of early '90s Ice Cube and I occasionally forget that some of the lyrics are filthy… I wouldn’t play it at a beach, but occasionally I’m in the car with a four year old and I’m like, “oops, I should probably not be playing this right now…”
I probably wouldn’t say anything though. I would move to a quieter spot and give 'em a dirty look. I’m not big on confrontations in places where I don’t know the mindset of who I’m engaging with
Yes, because we didn’t feel like chancing getting into a fight, verbal or otherwise, with people who already showed us they ignore social appropriateness.
You’re asking if it’s because they were black…no.
If I may ask, I sense that you have specific thoughts about both sides of this, beyond what you’re saying – do you? But I don’t know what they’d be. Do you have specific tough questions in mind, and perhaps the answers? Do you think the OP is missing something? I ask because, if so, I’m missing it too. It seems to me a difficult situation.