Chamblee54

By now, the fuss about the Michael Dunn trial has mostly faded away. This is where the man shot some people, after a dispute over loud music. The piece that follows will not try to justify this act, it will not discuss the second amendment, nor will it consider the verdict of a Florida jury. This bit of text is about the way people act about their music.
There are problems about loud music every day. People are way too quick to take the matter personally. It becomes a matter of duelling egos. Anger is expressed, people talk louder and louder, and threats are made. People are showing their neighbors how bad they are. With the wide availability of firearms, and alcohol, it should not be surprising that people get killed.
Between April 1998, and January 1999, PG had two run-ins with co-workers about radios. In the first one, a store manager played a music station at low volume. PG could barely hear it over the noise of the machines. The radio became one more source of unpleasant sound. It was like listening to rice crispies going snap crackle pop, all day, every day.
One morning, PG told the store manager “I do not enjoy your radio.” The lady went into hysterics. A week later, PG was given the choice of going to another store, or being laid off.
A few months later, PG came out of the bathroom one day. A radio was playing on a table beside the entrance. A religious radio station was playing. A lady was praying for entertainment. “The blood of the lambs has cleansed my heart.” PG was grossed out by this confrontation with bleeding lambs. The owner of the radio was listening to something else, using an earplug.
Three weeks later, the radio was still being played. The owner of the radio was still listening to his earplug. PG asked him to turn down the speaker radio. The person went into hysterics. A lawsuit was threatened. The dispute continued, off and on, for the next six years.
In the Florida incident, one party was black, and the other party was white. In the two work related incidents described above, one radio fan was white, the other black.
What happened in the Florida parking lot seems to depend on who you talked to. If four young men had a hysterical reaction to a radio volume request, then Mr. Dunn might have felt threatened. When you are armed, and possibly intoxicated, it is a formula for trouble.
Once again, this feature does not try to justify what Mr. Dunn did. You just don’t shooting people over loud music. What we would like to suggest is that people show some consideration for their neighbors. Not everyone enjoys your music. If someone does not like your music box, turn the damn thing down. You never know when that person is armed and drunk. You do know that they are your fellow human beings, and deserve respect.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.