I go to the gym in the basement of my apartment building. There is a TV there. I find it curious that someone can come in to the room, where everyone is ear-plugged into their own electronic devices, and turn on the TV with the volume way up. They do not ask whether it is OK to turn on the TV, but it would clearly be rude to just go up and turn it off without asking. It is interesting the asymmetrical nature of personal preference here.
I am an amateur potter, and take classes at Britannia community centre and am also a member of the UBC pottery club. During the latest class at Britannia, a young woman noticed that there was a stereo system and asked whether she could play some music on it for everyone. I say "asked" but she clearly did not expect any objections because she was already hooking up her phone. One woman said "as long as it isn't heavy metal". Sigh, if it were heavy metal I might have enjoyed it. It was the kind of emo hipster music you would expect from a young woman in the Commercial Drive area. Against all odds, the music they have played occasionally at the UBC studio I have quite enjoyed. I made a CD entitled "old man music" that I surreptitiously left there. I wonder if anyone plays it.
I have excellent taste in music and spend quite a bit of time putting together interesting playlists. However, it is clear to me that to the average listener, my music sucks. We are all allowed to have specialized and personalized tastes now in this era of digital music availability. Let's all bring our own music (audiobooks, podcasts) and earphones to the gym and studio and turn off the TV sound and put on closed captioning.
