Submitted by Alex Birch on Sat, 10/11/2008 - 20:24.
In what has got to be the best piece of news this week, a Court Judge in America sentenced a rap fan to an unusual "punishment":
Andrew Vactor was facing a $150 fine for playing rap music too loudly on his car stereo in July. But a judge offered to reduce that to $35 if Vactor spent 20 hours listening to classical music by the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.
Vactor, 24, lasted only about 15 minutes, a probation officer said.
"I didn't have the time to deal with that," he said. "I just decided to pay the fine."
When you've listened for too long to one-dimensional music consisting of a monotonous beat, a simple 8-note non-narrative melody, and jibberish ego-monologues in pop format, Beethoven and Chopin will strike you as threatening. This judge clearly understood not only the annoyance of playing loud music in public places for no apparent reason, but also the art of embracing new perspectives, in this case a superior art form developed by musical geniuses.
Corrupt champions classical music and would suggest all of you to fill your living rooms with the grace of Brahms, Beethoven and Bruckner. While at it, drop the Honorable Susan J. Fornof-Lippencott a message here, in support of the classical tradition against suburban commercial trends.
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Chipmunk
See Blood_and_Ashes' comment.
:)
20 Consecutive Hours or a Breakdown?
Ha! Whoops.
Well still though, we don't know if he had to listen to the music for 20 hours *straight* (see SteelDragonFly's comment) or if he could break it down into chunks throughout the week. In all honesty, not many of us would be too likely to be even capable of sitting through 20 consecutive hours of music, and the judge probably knew this, so it is likely that some arrangement was made whereby he could do, like, 4 hours a day for five days or somesuch. But in any case, I think the point of Alex's article more or less stands.
Rap as a genre of modern music is an interesting case. It is pretty awesome to behold the shallowness and ugliness of much of the music from this genre, but you can also find some musicians that are nifty and insightful. I don't know of any offhand, but I know they exist. A creative mind will express itself regardless of the particular form it takes. At any rate, it is difficult to compare any kind of modern music, for which meaning is personal, ambiguous, and often transient, versus classical music, for which meaning is definite or at least usually quite deep. They were designed for such different purposes that it is almost difficult to imagine them existing as products of the same art form.
Slightly Inaccurate Summary, but Still Interesting.
Did he have to listen to it for 20 hours straight, or in total? Also, did he have to be in a specific place to listen to the music? He might have just decided that he'd rather not give up the 20 hours.
With that said, giving him the option was still a smart move on the judge's part.
Right Track, but Inaccurate
Nice post, but read the article carefully:
"It wasn't the music, Vactor said, he just needed to be at practice with the rest of the Urbana University basketball team. ......
Champaign County Municipal Court Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott says the idea was to force Vactor to listen to something he might not prefer, just as other people had no choice but to listen to his loud rap music."
1) The judge made him listen to classical music in order to "give him a taste of his own medicine," not as a gesture of cultural edification.
2) He left after 15 minutes because he had to be somewhere else, not because he couldn't handle it.
my high school played
my high school played classical music over the loudspeakers every morning...wonder if that is why.
Music to deter yobs by
Some years ago it was found that playing classical music publicly has an effect on anti-social youths - they go away or are generally deterred from causing trouble.
Quote:
They introduced classical music at Tynemouth, Whitley Bay and Cullercoats stations.
"It has completely eliminated the problem," says Mr Yeoman. "The young people seem to loathe it. It's pretty uncool to be seen hanging around somewhere when Mozart is playing."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4154711.stm
Of course it is only "uncool" in the same way that intelligence and consideration for others is "uncool" - an attitude that our society embraces and promotes in the media in an attempt to create an equality through dumbing down.
To be fair
As a preemptive notice, some people are undoubtedly going to criticize the editing of the article excerpt, namely the removal of the passage that the young man quit listening for basketball practice, not the music. This is a valid point to bring up. However, in defense of the message being presented here, he could have just as easily listened to the music in segments during the week or so, or made some other reasonable agreement with the judge. Since he had time to listen to music in the first place, regardless of the genre, the practice argument doesn't entirely fly. He took the easy way, not the better way, out, and will probably not change his lifestyle because of it. Regardless of what he told the press, the facts presented so far here back up Alex's claim, of the mentality that mediocre music and culture breeds and endorses.
Its also interesting to see that this judge has a habit of this kind of treatment, giving people the option of waking the hell up instead of simply punishing them with fines that go unnoticed.