College Times

Issue date: 5/8/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Photos.com

Despite what hoards of students milling around college campuses everywhere with iPod ear buds firmly implanted would you have you think, the sounds of both the outside world and one's own inner-dialogue aren't known to cause any substantial harm.

When, then, did the sound of nothingness get such a bad rap?

The signs of the soundless-stigma are everywhere.

Turn on a playoff basketball game in the next month, and you'll be bombarded with artificially-created sound. Snippets of hit rap songs play while the home team has the ball, a digital drum beat will pace the "defense" chants for the visitors and a stadium soundtrack will blare during the pre-game, timeouts, halftime and post game.

Hell, go to any pro sporting event nowadays and they even play sound-laden commercials on the jumbo screen during TV timeouts.

Michael MacDonald tracks greet you through your telephone every time someone places you on hold, and muzak fills the unbearable awkwardness of 10-second elevator rides.

But riders of ASU's free inter-campus shuttle bus service are now facing the terrifying prospect of traveling in silence and suffice it to say, some are freaking out.

Coach America, the company that ASU contracts to operate the buses that run between the Tempe, West and Polytechnic campuses, has instituted a Quiet Ride policy that prohibits its drivers from listening to the radio in response to several complaints from students who were offended by KTAR 92.3 FM programming heard on one of the buses.

Beyond the inevitable over-blown, never-ending First Amendment debates such an incident is bound to ignite, what's the worst that a quiet bus ride could cause?

Productive, introspective thought?

A new sense of calm?

Or, God forbid, a pleasant conversation with a stranger?

As "awkward" as these possibilities sound, especially when compared with the broadcasted drone of idiotic political banter, adult contemporary hits or the witty stylings of College Times' favorite lite rock DJ Marty Manning, I think a little bit of silence in a world of perpetual noise could do us all some good.

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