From Wired. Tom Long has had enough, and I don’t blame him:
The car alarm has become just another part of the cacophony of city life; if anybody notices it at all, it’s out of irritation, not concern. If I were stealing a car and the alarm went off, I’d just continue doing my thing until it was time to drive away. If a cop happened by, he’d just threaten me with a ticket for noise pollution anyway.
I was just talking with someone about this very thing the other day. I think we were outside Dick’s Sporting Goods and heard this obnoxious car alarm (is that redundant?). This insistent bleating followed us on our walk down to Target, nearly 10 minutes. I think I remarked, “You know: all car alarms have succeeded in doing is making us more immune to car alarms.” This is one piece of technology that can get stolen, as far as I’m concerned. Really, does anyone care? We’d probably applaud if the thief would be a bit speedier.
Long also takes aim at annoying cell phone rings (Nokia’s default tone is the worst!) and other noisy gadgets that contribute to increasing “aural pollution.” I’m with you, Long.
GRL Archive 