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Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

nautil.us

31–40 of 121 posts

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#31
post #15
post #11

American culture of making noise and hyping is tiring and annoying at times. Sports events are the most prominent example. Going to popular sports matches in the US: football, ice hockey, basketball, etc. and you'll be bombarded with ads, noise, hype from the loudspeakers and flashing lights from the huge screens -- every single second you're there. When you watch the Super Bowl, you watch more ads than you watch the…

One thing I didn't understand when I visited the US is that people applaud in American cinemas. I don't understand why that's seen as appropriate.

You've never shouted at the TV then?

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#32
post #11

American culture of making noise and hyping is tiring and annoying at times. Sports events are the most prominent example. Going to popular sports matches in the US: football, ice hockey, basketball, etc. and you'll be bombarded with ads, noise, hype from the loudspeakers and flashing lights from the huge screens -- every single second you're there. When you watch the Super Bowl, you watch more ads than you watch the…

What you said reminds me a lot of what David Foster Wallace once said in an interview:

"No, it's um... I mean, there's a difference, though, I think, between being mildly bored and but then there's another kind of boredom that I think you're talking about which is um: reading, reading requires sitting alone, by yourself, in a quiet room. And I have friends, intelligent friends, who don't like to read because they get - it's not just bored - there's an almost dread that comes up, I think, here about having to be alone and having to be quiet. And you see that when you walk in. When you walk into most public spaces in America it isn't quiet anymore; they pipe music through. And the music's easy to make fun of 'cause it's usually really horrible music. But it seems significant that we don't want things to be quiet, ever, anymore. And, to me, I don't, I don't know that I can defend it, but that seems to me to have something to do with when you feel like the purpose of your life is to gratify yourself and get things for yourself and go all the time, there's this other part of you that's the same part that can kind of, is almost hungry for silence and quiet and thinking really hard about the same thing for maybe half an hour instead of thirty seconds, that doesn't get fed at all. And it makes itself felt in the body in a kind of dread, in here. And I don't know whether that makes a whole lot of sense. But I think it's true that here in the US, every year the culture gets more and more hostile - and I don't mean hostile like angry - just, it becomes more and more difficult to ask people to read, or to look at a piece of art for an hour, or to listen, to listen to a piece of music that's complicated and that takes work to understand, because - well, there are a lot of reasons - but, particularly now in the computer and internet culture everything's so fast, and the faster things go the more we feed that part of ourselves but don't feed the part of ourselves that likes, that likes quiet, that can live in quiet, you know, that can live without any kind of stimulation. I don't know."

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#33
post #15
post #11

American culture of making noise and hyping is tiring and annoying at times. Sports events are the most prominent example. Going to popular sports matches in the US: football, ice hockey, basketball, etc. and you'll be bombarded with ads, noise, hype from the loudspeakers and flashing lights from the huge screens -- every single second you're there. When you watch the Super Bowl, you watch more ads than you watch the…

One thing I didn't understand when I visited the US is that people applaud in American cinemas. I don't understand why that's seen as appropriate.

This happens every time I go to Japan Society in NYC to see an old Japanese film.

I guess it's because it takes effort to get some of those films in good quality or because someone that represents the restoration company is sometimes present, but I don't understand why we're clapping after seeing Yojimbo or some other common film that has been easily available in HD for quite a long time.

Anyway, "Americans clapping after X" has been a meme for some time.

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#34
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the yell-talking is trying to hear each other over the stupidly loud music and TVs in our restaurants. But I've noticed that even abroad Americans are louder than most nationalities when eating out.

Speaking of the national stereotypes and loudness, just put together more than 2 Italian tourists and they're guaranteed to be the loudest in the room, they're just unbeatable... but they do it with a lot of charm, I have to admit...

This.

Full restaurants in Italy are a deafening cacophony. It's an arms race amongst people already accustomed to yelling at eachother on a daily basis.

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#35
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you go? The only time I have heard applause at a movie is when the credits roll.

Yeah, but why? "Good job, projector. You shine ever so brightly among us. and you never missed the screen once during the whole movie!" Or perhaps the crowd applaud themselves for successfully going to the movies again. The possibilities are endless.

A social urge to show appreciation, even when the intended recipients couldn't ever possibly hear it. I've mostly seen it in cases where excitement was already high, like the first night of a highly-anticipated movie, where something exceptionally amusing just happened.

People sometimes express emotion in ways that don't really make sense.

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#36
post #11

American culture of making noise and hyping is tiring and annoying at times. Sports events are the most prominent example. Going to popular sports matches in the US: football, ice hockey, basketball, etc. and you'll be bombarded with ads, noise, hype from the loudspeakers and flashing lights from the huge screens -- every single second you're there. When you watch the Super Bowl, you watch more ads than you watch the…

What you said reminds me a lot of what David Foster Wallace once said in an interview: "No, it's um... I mean, there's a difference, though, I think, between being mildly bored and but then there's another kind of boredom that I think you're talking about which is um: reading, reading requires sitting alone, by yourself, in a quiet room. And I have friends, intelligent friends, who don't like to read because they get…

This is why I love to escape for 1-2 weeks every 3-6 months to go camping and hiking, preferably around Olympic National Park. It's like a complete refresh except you get back from it and there's a serious chance of post-camping depression. Just don't listen to Lord Hurons Meet Me in the Woods for a few months.

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#37
post #27
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but why? "Good job, projector. You shine ever so brightly among us. and you never missed the screen once during the whole movie!" Or perhaps the crowd applaud themselves for successfully going to the movies again. The possibilities are endless.

Or maybe the audience enjoyed the movie?

[deleted]

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#38
post #15
post #11

American culture of making noise and hyping is tiring and annoying at times. Sports events are the most prominent example. Going to popular sports matches in the US: football, ice hockey, basketball, etc. and you'll be bombarded with ads, noise, hype from the loudspeakers and flashing lights from the huge screens -- every single second you're there. When you watch the Super Bowl, you watch more ads than you watch the…

One thing I didn't understand when I visited the US is that people applaud in American cinemas. I don't understand why that's seen as appropriate.

Must be regional?

The only movie I've ever heard people applaud for was a very political movie (Fahrenheit 9/11). That's also the only time I ever had to stand in line for a movie as well. If it wasn't opening weekend, it was close to it.

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#39
post #15
post #11

American culture of making noise and hyping is tiring and annoying at times. Sports events are the most prominent example. Going to popular sports matches in the US: football, ice hockey, basketball, etc. and you'll be bombarded with ads, noise, hype from the loudspeakers and flashing lights from the huge screens -- every single second you're there. When you watch the Super Bowl, you watch more ads than you watch the…

One thing I didn't understand when I visited the US is that people applaud in American cinemas. I don't understand why that's seen as appropriate.

I found that weird, too. Along with using the term “theatre” for a projection event.

Re: Peace and quiet is all about the noise in your head

#40
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the yell-talking is trying to hear each other over the stupidly loud music and TVs in our restaurants. But I've noticed that even abroad Americans are louder than most nationalities when eating out.

Speaking of the national stereotypes and loudness, just put together more than 2 Italian tourists and they're guaranteed to be the loudest in the room, they're just unbeatable... but they do it with a lot of charm, I have to admit...

There are cultures in the world that are more obnoxious and more "impolite" than American in my humble opinion (and I'm not implying anything about Italian culture here). However, I think the distinction of noise in America is that it's a cheap way to make people excited, and it wears people out over time.
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