Opinions About Noise over Culture

Noise is a thing people never like. According to the definition in physics textbook, 'noise' is non-periodic, irregular vibrations, in contrast to the periodic soundwaves of musical tones. However, in real life, most people only consider 'noise' as sounds they don't want to hear, which leads to the diversion of classification of what is noise.

The argument over the noise can be dated back to 1900s. During that time, the intellectuals had most complaints about noise. They considered noise to be a brute assault on their mental refinement. In their perspective, those who are not sensitive to noise are also the ones insensible to more intellectual pieces, such as arguments, ideas, poetry and art, due to the tough and rude texture of their brains. The Australian anthropologist Michael Haberlandt made a good conclusion over this: the more noise a culture could bear, the more 'barbarian' it was.

At first impression, this statement is quite true, since noises were mostly produced by laborers working with their hands while intelligent brainworker usually worked quietly. If one society was full of people who could bear the noise, they must be living in an environment where noise was common. However, when people approached the era of technology, this statement seems illogical. The higher class, which was more refined and self-control, was thought to be threatened by the mechanical and non-mechanical sounds emitted by the lower class. But in fact, technology, such as automobiles, was the privilege of the higher class rather than the mass. As a matter of fact, this is to say that people belonging to higher class were bothered by the sounds they made on their own.

One obvious solution can be raised: why can they just stop using those technologies? According to Theodor Lessing and Dan Mckenzie, technology itself is not a bad genius. Things like automobiles, motorcycles and airplanes are the vehicles of the future, which will facilitate people a lot. Instead of giving up those things, people should be educated and new technology should be invented. From the example given by the author, campaigns in Hague actually did have effect on the reduction of the noise. 'Use your eyes instead of your horn'. This slogan indicates that noise can be prevented as long as people pay more attention to the traffic and follow the rules. In such sense, noise can be considered as a consequence of people not obeying the rules.

Nowadays, the production of noise is inevitable. People cannot go back to the time when the pastoral ideal could be restored by using technology to create a cultivated garden, since we do not have any virgin land or tranquil village left. The only approach is to educate the public through campaigns, traffic control, city planning and new transportation construction. For the Ithaca's proposal to add specific decibel levels to the noise ordinance to prevent disputes, it is