I don't mind interacting with others in public, but I very much dislike inconsiderate people who decide to monopolize public spaces at the expense of others being able to enjoy them in their own way. I don't care about someone listening to the radio with their friends at a reasonable volume while they chill and talk. The reality is more often rival clusters of people with massive speakers, each turning their stuff higher because they can't hear their crappy music over the other people doing the same thing up and down the block. Me being unable to sleep at 4AM on a Wednesday because I can hear your terrible choice in Dembow and Rap that you choose to accompany your domino games and hookah sessions from my apartment on the seventh floor isn't us having an interaction, it's you being a nuisance.
I hear you. I agree with you, it's just hard for me to condemn the loud music and domino games because, from my perspective its people practicing their culture.
I understand that it's inconsiderate and a nuisance to most. I just have really good memories of that kind of culture at that volume. I'm bias.
Personally, I hate this line, because I only ever hear it trotted out to excuse bad behavior that people know they shouldn't. Saying that being a loud nuisance in public is people practicing their culture is just as absurd as saying Irish men getting drunk and beating their wives is practicing Irish culture. It might be a negative cultural stereotype some of them actually live up to, be it doesn't mean it should be tolerated.
Even if you want to accept that it's a valid argument, one's right to practice their culture ends where it limits the rights of others to do the same. People don't get carte blanche to make everyone else change their lives to accommodate a culture with no sense of appropriate volume or consideration for others.
Beating your wife? I could not see as a cultural thing.
That's kind of exactly my point, though. I see claiming being loud and inconsiderate to others as people practicing their culture to be just as disingenuous an argument as saying wife-beating is a part of Irish culture that just has to be accepted. It's just brought out to defend bad behavior, often with the implication that if you continue to criticize said behavior, you're automatically in the wrong, having revealed yourself as bigoted against whatever group you're criticizing.
And yeah every September a portion of my country takes up a chunk of a lot of cities for a weekend to get drunk because Germany. Every March they do it because Ireland. Every June because gay. That adds to cultural vibrancy and in its absence communities can become unpleasantly sterile.
People should play their rap, but remember some of their neighbors are sleeping. Community festivals, and night gatherings are beautiful and wonderful expressions of culture. And also I swear to the gods some of us work really early in the morning.
I miss the vibrancy of places that had such things like my college dorms. But I don’t miss trying to sleep through it when people got too loud.
I think it would be fine if it was that one night a year that your local city has their local festival but it is different if every other event has a local copy all year around.
I can sympathize with both sides. On one hand it’s great to have a sense of community in public and it can really add to everyone’s life. But on the other hand having just had a migraine in public and regularly having conversations and thoughts in public I very much understand the desire not to.
I think it comes down to understanding the space you’re taking up with your sound. On public transit, people are stuck with you, so try to be minimally disruptive. On trails and such, we’re all here for nature, let some people enjoy its serenity. On the street, sure enjoy sharing your music but have a decent speaker for it.
It's incredibly rare that I've had positive interactions with random people. Sure there's a "thanks" for opening the door or whatever but I wouldn't count that. I mean prolonged engagement though even short conversations can turn on fight or flight. Especially at night, or at a liquor store gas station. "Hey brother..." "Yeah nope"