# This shit has got to stop **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 2, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408 "2008-12-02T21:57:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/101 "2008-12-04T17:19:37Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Bit of hijack but.., > Well I was gonna cite dictionary to show how you were wrong, but in this case I was wrong. > > However a past report and accusation of trolling of another poster by me was infact trolling. By dictionary definition. > > I shall keep that cite handy in case it comes up again. Super. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/102 "2008-12-05T02:24:02Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#): > > I can agree to an extent about different situations…you do (or should) act differently at work, or when meeting clients, than you would relaxing at home, watching a late night movie. > > It may sound corny, but the golden rule still applies, IMO. If you don’t care how you’re treating other people, they won’t give a shit how they treat you. No matter what you do, you’re affecting other people. It may be in big ways (crashing your car into a crowd could be an example of that), sometimes in small ways (just holding a door open for someone else), but just about everything you do affects someone. Thats what I meant about consideration. when you don’t show it to other people, they won’t fpr you. It was in the late 80’s but I had a friend that did the stereo blasting stuff. I could hear him coming to my house a mile away. But not for long. I honestly told him that if he was going to do that not to come to my house anymore. I knew another guy in college, that carried a boom box around doing the “ **so loud everyone can hear it** ” crap. Hell, we weren’t kids, then it was college. Both of us were over 21 yrs old. I really kinda liked that guy, but our friendship shrivelled and died fast because he didn’t understand how fucking annoying he was to everyone wiith that shit. I think its partly an attention getting device. Whether its “_ **Look and Listen! I have the baddest stereo in the Milky Way** _!” or " _ **I’m so cool everyone must know it therefore I’ll announce it by blasting their eardrums to dust!** _" its something to do with having it have some kind of spotlight. Maybe they all have tiny dicks, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/103 "2008-12-05T03:49:00Z")
Someday I’ll have my revenge on the really loud bass people. Something goes wonky in my ears when I’m exposed to really loud bass. It leads to nausea. Usually not intense nausea, but enough to get the job done when the job is barfing in someone’s car. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![slime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@slime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slime)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/104 "2008-12-05T16:57:27Z")
When I was in college Ilived a block away from the local high school and every afternoon you knew when class was out cause you could hear all the stereos fire up. Well on day I was driving my little Grand Am w/ the stock radio playing it at about 1/4 volume when I saw the "lights " go on behind me. All I could do was laugh when the officer gave me a warning for playing my music to loud. I did tell him that if he really wanted to do some good all he had to do was sit outside the highschool parking lot and he would be able to write as many tickets as he wanted. So yes on occasion they do actually pull someone over for “loud” music. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/105 "2008-12-05T17:44:03Z")
Can you even ever hear sirens or anything with your music up that loud? Normally you don’t see them until they are close unless it’s dark and they are coming at you on a flat straight road. Seems assholish enough right there, to have your music up so loud you can’t hear anything else around you. I like loud music. But I keep it normal unless I’ve had a bad, silent day at the library and it’s not too late (my drive home is mostly through commercial areas), or if I’m cruising down highway 70 between STL and Columbia in the middle of the day because that drive is boring and not many people are on the road. My brother used to play his music incredibly loud. His speakers in his bedroom would knock off mom’s ceramic and glass stuff from the shelves in the kitchen, and getting into a car with him was fucking ridiculous, it was so loud you couldn’t really hear it anymore, it was just bass. Nevermind trying to TALK to each other or anything, I literally could yell and not hear myself at all. If I’ve got my music up loud, it’s never in residential areas. I turn it down before I pull into a neighborhood in the evening. And it’s never that damn loud anyway because doing that is fucking retarded. And I’m not a show off douchebag asshole asking for hearing loss. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/106 "2008-12-05T23:47:46Z")
> [@myskepticsight](#): > > Can you even ever hear sirens or anything with your music up that loud? Normally you don’t see them until they are close unless it’s dark and they are coming at you on a flat straight road. Seems assholish enough right there, to have your music up so loud you can’t hear anything else around you. Thats the reason in many places you can’t speak on a cell phone while sriving unless you have a hands off device. Or wear earphones will driving. Its just a bad when you have loud music. > [@](#): > > I like loud music. But I keep it normal unless I’ve had a bad, silent day at the library and it’s not too late (my drive home is mostly through commercial areas), or if I’m cruising down highway 70 between STL and Columbia in the middle of the day because that drive is boring and not many people are on the road. A lot of people at some point might crank it up after a bad day or when they can be reasonably sure no one is going to be bothered. At least you bother to try not to be a jerk. The folks I’m talking about in the OP aren’t even trying. > [@](#): > > My brother used to play his music incredibly loud. His speakers in his bedroom would knock off mom’s ceramic and glass stuff from the shelves in the kitchen, and getting into a car with him was fucking ridiculous, it was so loud you couldn’t really hear it anymore, it was just bass. Nevermind trying to TALK to each other or anything, I literally could yell and not hear myself at all. I knew a guy like that. After on trip together I never rode anywhere in his car again. It was completely ridiculous. It was so loud we could not speak to each other as you say. I was ashamed to think that anyone we passed by would think I was an ignorant pinhead like the driver. > [@](#): > > If I’ve got my music up loud, it’s never in residential areas. I turn it down before I pull into a neighborhood in the evening. And it’s never that damn loud anyway because doing that is fucking retarded. And I’m not a show off douchebag asshole asking for hearing loss. But many people are. If any towns or cities with this happening were to crack down on the idiots with heavy fines they might be able to ride out the recession. Well, maybe not, but I would at least be happy to see it happen. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/107 "2008-12-06T00:54:49Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > Thats the reason in many places you can’t speak on a cell phone while sriving unless you have a hands off device. Or wear earphones will driving. Its just a bad when you have loud music. [nitpick] No, that’s not the reason for hands-free device laws re: cel phones. It’s because without both hands on the wheel and with your attention on the cel phone, accidents are more likely. Not because you would be less likely to hear an emergency vehicle. [cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_and_driving_safety) > [@](#): > > Mobile phone use while driving is common but controversial. Being distracted while operating a motor vehicle has been shown to increase the risk of accident. Because of this, many governments have made the use of a cell phone while driving illegal. This report from the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration, [An Investigation of the Safety Implications of Wireless Communications in Vehicles](http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/wireless/) (1997) was instrumental in helping states pass laws banning the use of cel phones while driving. Go ahead and be mad at people with loud stereos in their cars if you want, but don’t make claims that aren’t accurate. Your moral righteousness falters otherwise. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/108 "2008-12-06T01:05:27Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [nitpick] > > No, that’s not the reason for hands-free device laws re: cel phones. It’s because without both hands on the wheel and with your attention on the cel phone, accidents are more likely. Not because you would be less likely to hear an emergency vehicle. [cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_and_driving_safety) > > This report from the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration, [An Investigation of the Safety Implications of Wireless Communications in Vehicles](http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/wireless/) (1997) was instrumental in helping states pass laws banning the use of cel phones while driving. > > Go ahead and be mad at people with loud stereos in their cars if you want, but don’t make claims that aren’t accurate. Your moral righteousness falters otherwise. > > [/nitpick] I worded it badly, but I meant that among the reasons for that law is that its not safe. If you can’t hear a siren because of insanely loud music you aren’t being very safe. Ypu also put others at risk. You don’t hear the ambulance and pull over right away? Those few scant moments could mean life or death for someone else. You don’t hear the cop sirens? Same thing. You could also run the risk of being hit by an emergency vehicle. I won’t pretend that those are the only reason or likely things to happen, but they are possible. Even if they weren’t it still doesn’t excuse the future Miracle Ear buyers with their supery-duper speakers from being rancid piles of inconsiderate shit. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/109 "2008-12-06T01:14:56Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Yeah, I always wanted to get one of those setups - take out the back seat of the Volvo and put in a big rack of sub-woofers. Wire in some pre-amps, amps, and post-amps, and amp-amps. I’m not just talkin’ mega-watts, I’m takin’ BTUs! > > And then I would roll down the road, pull up next to one of those deaf fuckers in a Fast & Furious wannabe, and crank it up to eleven with Prairie Home Companion, All Things Considered, and This American Life!! > > Sweeeeet!! Um, I do that. I don’t have have the three foot sub-woofers (what _is_ a subwoofer?), but when one of those … fools, with the teeth-rattling base pulls up behind me, I roll down the windows, turn the Fade all the way to Rear, switch the SSP (?) from “Hear” to “Feel”, and crank the volume “up to 11”. People four blocks away could record Carl Kasell for their home answering machines. If my ears are going to bleed, I at least want to be listening to something entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/110 "2008-12-06T01:19:30Z")
> [@j666](#): > > what _is_ a subwoofer? Underdog. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/111 "2008-12-06T01:57:35Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > I worded it badly, but I meant that among the reasons for that law is that its not safe. If you can’t hear a siren because of insanely loud music you aren’t being very safe. Ypu also put others at risk. You don’t hear the ambulance and pull over right away? Those few scant moments could mean life or death for someone else. > You don’t hear the cop sirens? Same thing. You could also run the risk of being hit by an emergency vehicle. > > I won’t pretend that those are the only reason or likely things to happen, but they are possible. Even if they weren’t it still doesn’t excuse the future Miracle Ear buyers with their supery-duper speakers from being rancid piles of inconsiderate shit. I understand your point. I was just saying that cel phones were being inappropriately maligned. They are a menace while driving, just not for the reason you stated. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/112 "2008-12-06T02:00:19Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > I worded it badly, but I meant that among the reasons for that law is that its not safe. If you can’t hear a siren because of insanely loud music you aren’t being very safe. Ypu also put others at risk. You don’t hear the ambulance and pull over right away? Those few scant moments could mean life or death for someone else. > You don’t hear the cop sirens? Same thing. You could also run the risk of being hit by an emergency vehicle. I believe it’s legal to drive while being completely deaf. However, I would be strongly inclined to believe that a loud radio is a distraction for most, if not all, drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/113 "2008-12-06T02:00:38Z")
True enough. I turn my phone off when driving. Voicemail works well enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/114 "2008-12-06T02:14:56Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I believe it’s legal to drive while being completely deaf. > > However, I would be strongly inclined to believe that a loud radio is a distraction for most, if not all, drivers. It is. I frequently try to get away from cars with booming music. Maybe not always being safe about it. UGH…the worst thing happened once, and I have to admit that if I could have reached them without you know, getting arrested, I would have phhysically assualted these assholes. I was on recruiting duty in NJ, which is as close to hell as I ever hope to come. It was summer, a really hot day, and a pretty bad one for me. But it was friday, and usually they let us go home around five on Friday. So I’m on my way home in my POV (personally owned vehicle) which was a '94 jeep wrangler. I took the top down since it was hot and humid and jeep owner will tell you, the 94 wranglers don’t have AC. I hit a light and was in a bit of long line waiting to go through, but in an underpass. Enter jackass teenagers in a car, windows down, music loud enough to be heard in the next county. (A bunch of white kids too, blaring rap…yeah, they were real gangsta in daddy’s new car) The echo made it unbearable. I could feel myself hulking out. I wanted so badly to jump out of my car cross three lanes and yank them one by one out of the car and well, really, beat them near to death. The light lasted a long enough time, probably felt longer because of these morons, but when it changed I made sure to put distance between me and them. Despite what anyone can say of my angry feeling of wanting to hurt these kids…and in my opinion they still kinda would have deserved it, but I’m a cranky guy at times…I didn’t. But as I said consideration for others is what makes life bearable sometimes. They had none. I hope someone kicked their asses since that day just on GP. Not proud of feeling like that, but they kid of earned it. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/115 "2008-12-06T02:28:08Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > Underdog. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/116 "2008-12-06T20:26:09Z")
Coming in late to the thread to bitch about the FUCKING MORONS who were thumping their music. Directly outside my house for several minutes, judging by the fact that sound did not vary in intensity or appear to disappear in the distance. Then it evidently moved to the other end of our street (double-ended cul-de-sac) where it sat for the remainder of the “song”. There is no safe place for someone to stop a car on the main road behind our house, so it _must_ have been on our street itself. Oh - and and did I mention this was at 2:30 in the morning??? When I hear cars really cranked up when they drive past me, it hurts my ears. When I’m stopped behind such a moron at a traffic light - i.e. a captive audience - it sets up a major-time panic / anger response. Fortunately I’m civilized enough to not _act_ on that, but hell I do fantasize. There’s never any opportunity to politely request that the offender turn it down, either, though I suspect the sort of people who do this would be delighted to reailze they were annoying people and would respond by turning it up louder. I’ll have the last laugh though, when they need hearing aids and I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Ersatz\_Shmoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ersatz\_Shmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ersatz_Shmoe)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/117 "2008-12-06T23:58:56Z")
I like loud music. I’m in a rock band, I like feeling the music. Having said that, I rarely, if ever, listen to anything at pain threshold or anywhere near loud enough to be heard outside the car (although I would like a better system to improve clarity). There’s a line between enjoying your music and disrespecting others. I record in my apartment, and while I was working on an acoustic CD, a few times I had to stop recording because the bass from cars parked at a closed gas station literally a quarter of a mile away were making too much noise. When my windows are rattling from your music that far away, it’s gone beyond enjoying your music. ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408/118 "2008-12-08T23:16:29Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Yep. Thanks. I was just clarifying the part I bolded, and apparently I was more clear the 2nd time around. > > For the most part, tho, I do play my music loud without consideration etc. etc. But my aim isn’t to annoy people. I realize it prolly happens at times, I just don’t care usually. > > I mean, I don’t go around giving people shit about the crappy outfit they left the house in (okay, once I did, but she had it coming), their hairstyle, chewing gum, or any of the other bajillion annoying things that people do in public. They’ll be oos/oom soon enough, so why sweat it? Just like I’ll be down the road as soon as the light changes. Speed up or slow down, you don’t have to drive next to me. > > I mean, why not try a different attitude, and smile at someone who is out enjoying themselves immensely, rather than trying to piss on their parade? Maybe because you are “pissing” on their “parade”? Why is it ok for you to enjoy yourself at another person’s expense in public? It doesn’t happen often, but really loud bass actally makes me feel physically queasy. If the bass is so loud in someone’s car that the whole car is making a metallic vibrating sound and I’m at the stop light next to them, I feel like I’m going to throw up. I wish that were hyberbole but it’s not. I LOVE music, but I also love the fact that I have pretty damn good hearing. Also, what if I want to enjoy my damn music at the stop light but cannot hear it over YOUR stereo? It’s rude and inconsiderate, and saying you just “don’t care” is a selfish, childish thing to say. That doesn’t make the other people in this thread “pricks” but it does make you one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-shit-has-got-to-stop/475408.md?page=5)