Vuvuzelas making World Cup unwatchable
Tradition not reason enough to allow incessant, annoying horn blowing
If the best thing you can say about an annoying and medically dangerous device is that using it is a tradition, it’s time to throw it out.
Someone should’ve told South African soccer authorities. Then we wouldn’t have to listen to the
incessant buzzing of vuvuzelas — which is making the World Cup a torturous event for viewers.
Instead of doing the right thing and banning the horns, FIFA and South Africa are saying it’s a national tradition and must be allowed to continue so that we can fully appreciate this bit of local color.
I can only assume these people take their lead from Bud Selig, the baseball commissioner who is the world leader in defending stupid traditions.
Tradition is never a good excuse to do anything. If something makes sense or is fun or touches some primal emotion or advances the cause of humanity, then it is worthwhile. If it makes no sense, is offensive to large numbers of people, is fun only to those who do it, and advances nothing except adult hearing loss, then it is not worth continuing.
Civilization is built on such reasoning. When traditions are exposed as harmful, we abandon them. Wife beating, slavery, public floggings, caste systems, human sacrifice, institutional bigotry and all other manner of evil stuck around because they were traditions. But common decency and justice prevailed in civilized societies.
A silly toy trumpet isn’t the same in order of magnitude. But the idea is the same.
Vuvuzelas are stupid. They ruin the viewing experience for fans who paid to see a live World Cup match. They are so loud they can damage hearing. They serve no useful purpose other than fulfilling man’s primal need to make loud noises. (Women are generally lacking in this regard.)
boys with vuvzela (source)
p/s well, i dunno about you but i'd change the channel once i hear the 'langau' noise from the vuvuzela.
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