February 03, 2004
Judge sentences man to listen to opera
I find it interesting that an opera lover would impose it as a punishment on someone else.
"Punishment" should have been for him to sit through the 17+ consecutive hours of Wagner's complete Ring Cycle.
It's quite a common sort of sentence, really...
with good behaviour, he'll get released before the fat lady sings
No one should be forced to listen to Wayne Newton's Greatest Hits.
When I want to punish my boyfriend, I have a full compliment of Barry Manilow, Nelson, Debbie Boone, and Pat Benatar songs to sing for him. And those are just the top 4. Mwooohahahahahahaha!
Sounds like a good way to introduce the kids to the classics.
*bananas in ears*
LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LA LA LA LA!
I think this was a relatively good sentence. One of the reasons, I believe, for crimes of disruption is the lack of appreciation for meaning in other people's cultures and values, and a lack of understanding of the world as a whole. La Traviata is a good step in this direction, although the judge should not 'impose' the music, rather offer it as a valuable oppotunity.
naxosaxur, I think the Ring Cycle might make things worse!
Re: introduce kids to the classics
Hmm, good idea, but if we do it too much with juvenile delinquents, we could get some Clockwork Orange associations going on.
Unrelated question: Do you suppose the judge just had La Traviata in his chambers at that time....or has he used this type of sentence before?
There's something so ....parental.... about this decision.
In Toronto there used to be a problem with gangs hanging out at Kennedy subway station. They started playing classical music there, and the gangs cleared out.
The ruling just seems so weird to me: "You played your music which I hate really loud and we don't like that. So to punish you, I'm going to play my music which I hope you hate for you."
It's so eye for an eye. Because lets be honest, this was not in the spirit cultural education.
No, it's a good thing.
The punishment was cheap and presumably convenient to deliver. Nobody went to jail; nobody paid a fine that could be better spent elsewhere. The perp got an opportunity either to experience what he was dishing out -- and so, to understand why the community might have noise ordinances -- or to experience a little culture outside his own. Either way, it could seed empathy for his neighbors, in a way that no term of reluctant community service or writing "Sorry 2 b jammin 2 loud" 500 times could seed. And a lack of empathy, I posit, was the factor underlying the infraction.
I don't want to live in a country where my judges are polka and Wayne Newton fans.
Orange Swan - I remember that, and they played classical music in Bathurst station as well. But all it did was make my teenage friends and I stand around wishing they would play the Vivaldi a little bit louder so that we could hear it properly. Okay, maybe we weren't the rowdy type.
« Older Things Skippy Can't Do in the U.S. Army | VOTE!: Who Has The Messiest Desk? Newer »
To post comments to a thread you must login or create a profile.
