Adam Blatner

It seems to me that the consumerist, competitive, marketing-oriented thrust of our culture has been upping the intensity of stimulus, towards excitement, towards “full flavor,” adding salt, sugar, alcohol, hot-pepper-spices, loudness of music, brightness of colors, degrees of whirling, and vertigo not just with roller-coaster-rides, but by extension, even simulated rides in theme parks or scenes in movies, 3-D movies, falling, swirling, dipping, exhilaratingly “whee!” but sometimes “too much” for sensitive nervous systems. Some kids can’t handle too much noise, firecracker explosions, fright, disorientation; others love it, crave it. Ditto with young people and what people become accustomed to. Much of contemporary dance music is far too noisy for my tastes, which were developed in the 1950s and 60s.

An interesting addition to the annoyance is the overlay of innocence of the perpetrators, as if they’re all surprised that there are those who don’t appreciate or accept how loud they are, how spicy is their food, how over-stimulating their whatever, parties, events. They’re naively entitled to feeling that sure, because we like this, so too will everyone else. Right? Yet I know that there are those—and not just the elderly—who treasure peace and quiet, simplicity of tastes, avoidance of concentrated sweets and fats and other intensities. Well, we’ll see where this heads.