
Weaponizing Mozart - markbnine
http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/24/weoponizing-mozart
======
gjm11
The author of the piece seems to mix up three extremely different things,
which resemble each other only in that they involve teenagers and classical
music. [EDIT: spurious word left over from an earlier version of the paragraph
removed.]

Playing classical music in places where you don't want teenagers hanging
about: obviously harmless, no? It harms no one; any teenagers who actually
like classical music will just go there if they want to and not be
traumatized; it's no different from choosing the music and decor in a shop to
attract a particular demographic.

Using classical music as a form of punishment in school detentions: unlikely
to do any very grave harm, but certainly bad for the cause of classical music
since it encourages the pupils to think of classical music as bad.

Using classical music to accompany Pavlovian conditioning to break the will of
a teenage criminal ("A Clockwork Orange"): obviously vile, though the main
badness is in the conditioning itself; also, curiously enough, _not something
anyone is actually doing_.

There's plenty to dislike about "ASBO Britain", but this is just bullshit.

~~~
DougBTX
_resemble each other only in that they involve teenagers and classical music_

And crucially, _punishment of teenagers using classical music_. In the first
case, for being where they are not wanted, in the second, for not behaving as
they are told to, and in the third, for liking classical music.

~~~
gjm11
In the third (fictional) case, I think the punishment was more for being a
violent psychopath than for liking classical music.

------
swombat
Well written, but still stupid. I'd like to see less of this kind of stuff on
HN.

Choice extracts:

 _Anthony Burgess’s nightmare vision of an elite using high culture as a
“punitive slap on the chops” for low youth has come true._

 _The weaponization of classical music speaks volumes about the British
elite’s authoritarianism and cultural backwardness._

 _Britain might not make steel anymore, or cars, or pop music worth listening
to, but, boy, are we world-beaters when it comes to tyranny._

------
JoeAltmaier
Its not "indiscriminate" as the author claims - its whole point is to
descriminate between people and sort them out. And its not just the UK - half
the shops in the local mall play loud music which I can't stand, because they
don't want me (50yrold) in their shop, they want teens.

~~~
jessriedel
I think the author means it doesn't discriminate between misbehaving/loitering
youth (a small fraction, which the stores are trying to drive away) and all
other youth.

------
tdoggette
From an outside observer, Britain seems pretty clearly to be creeping toward
an authoritarian state. Why is there no pushback to things like ASBOs being
used to criminalize everything and omnipresent CCTV cameras?

EDIT: Not that this topic in particular is anywhere near the most serious
example.

~~~
marshallp
Britain has a serious problem with its youth, more than any developed country
in the world, including gun crime america. In america the rough spots are
confined to certain sections of town. In other european countries youth are
generally well behaved. In the uk though, many youth are just simply out of
control, I wish there were a lot more cameras (and people looking at them).
Droves of the middle class are simply choosing to leave the uk and settle in
france,australia,spain,canada because of this.

~~~
aka-
I'd love to see some hard evidence of that claim.

It's a tragedy of the commons. Daily Mail readers like parent poster are
convinced the country is going to the dogs. Since many of them have the power,
money and/or influence to do some small thing such as set up private CCTV
surveillance of public land, or deny public space to a disenfranchised group
(only by ageism of course - watch for a proper fight if they try this on a
race-related basis), between them they can damage our public spaces and
society. The same people will write the council demanding double yellow lines
outside their house, and write to the council bemoaning lack of on street
parking near their favourite shop.

Eventually you end where we are now - with local councils using anti-terroism
laws to create mini intelligence agencies for the school admissions system.
That is not a joke. Google it.

~~~
marshallp
If that's the case, daily mail readers overreacting and having power, how come
it hasn't happened in other countries, why aren't there daily mail type people
in those countries. There's got to be some truth to a 'youth problem'
otherwise asbo's wouldn't have been created.

~~~
philwelch
Maybe the problem is that Britain has more "Daily Mail readers" than other
countries, and THAT is the great British problem (not antisocial youths).

Actually, American "Daily Mail readers" worry more about terrorists and
pedophiles (and 10-20 years ago, drugs). We've had this problem forever. This
is the country that _declared war on Spain and conquered their overseas
empire_ based upon agitation from the newspapers. I can't speak for other
countries, but Britain's not alone in using tabloid-generated memes and moral
panics to chip away at civil liberties.

------
julius_geezer
Unless detention is to be reclassified as weaponizing time, agreed, this is
pretty stupid. It does look like a fine way of giving children who might
otherwise be indifferent to it a lifelong disgust for classical music.

------
msluyter
Of course, in A Clockwork Orange, the an/protagonist actually _liked_
classical music. England will now be ravaged by classical loving hellions.

------
rincewind
I wonder whether the headteacher who invented this got the idea from "A
Clockwork Orange". He must have seen it before.

------
impeachgod
This will only cause me to loiter even more - free music!

~~~
queensnake
But if you can't hear yourself think, you and your friends can't create your
own psychic 'space', well, it's no good for hanging out in.

~~~
Luyt
Gangsta Rap would have that effect on me.

------
cturner
The tone of this was all wrong, but I still laughed right through it.

I look back to situations where I was put into detention when I was a kid -
devastated, of course. And now I see parts of it as funny - either in the
trump "you're fired" sense, or in the manner of the humiliation.

Imagine the wry smile in ten years' time when one of those kids hears a tune,
recognises it, realises why they recognise it and comes to like it.

Shining bright lights at tipsy kids from helicopters so they'll stagger home?
Only the British could think of this stuff. It's funny - laugh!

~~~
stuaxo
Surely kids will just get sunglasses?

------
yason
Disregarding the means, who are these teenagers and why are they — as opposed
to other people of different ages possibly behaving badly, or "badly" —
considered so unsuitable for many places?

In thirty years or so it's these same teenagers who will be making and
governing the new rules. I wonder if, upon their time, they will appreciate a
more free acceptance of people themselves.

------
albertcardona
I am disturbed by the creepy similarities to "A Clockwork Orange" (which the
article refers to, as well).

The concluding paragraph is plain scary. I hope UK's situation is not entire
like that.

~~~
pvg
What exactly are the 'creepy similarities' beyond the authors' tenuous grasp
on reality? Is anyone at all being "forced to take drugs that induce nausea
and to watch graphically violent movies for two weeks, while simultaneously
listening to Beethoven"?

~~~
albertcardona
The movie (and the novel) portrayed an active-aggressive policing of citizens.
What is described in this article (even if perhaps exaggerated) is not unlike
what the movie portrays, but in passive form.

The concluding paragraph--on adults trying to educate/entertain/police
youngsters from afar, without engaging with them--is scary for the recognition
it evokes. Not only the UK is pretending that giant masses of uneducated
citizens are to be dealt with sticks and stones, instead of books.

~~~
pvg
At that point you might say 'the movie/book and the article were both about
people'. That makes them easily comparable to Beowulf or Chaucer. Suggesting
they are substantially similar is armwavy wankery, unless you can actually
describe a way in which they are substantially similar.

------
mkramlich
I wonder how long it will take for someone to comment on.... there, that was
fast. A Clockwork Orange. brilliant movie/book.

