no.25 - The Mirror

A few years ago, at a gay rights rally, I witnessed an incredible thing. Among the many protesters there was this nervous-looking twenty-year old kid who was vehemently complaining about how awful and disgusting gays are because of their choosen sex act.

The brunt of his complaint was being weathered by a single, sleepy, chain-smoking young gay male who was clearly annoyed, but managed to weather a lot of insulting and ignorant questions with a calm, even demeanor. (more...)

The anti-gay protester shrilly asked, "how could you put your... you know... there!"

He really wanted to make it clear how disgusting he thought the gay sex was. He had obviously put many, many hours into imagining it.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it." The gay man said.

The kid burst into an overzealous fit of nervous laughter. "No way. Not uh! Ha ha. No thank you."

The gay man took a deep last drag, crushed out his cigarette and shrugged.

The kid's face turned beet red. "It's... it's sodomy!"

The gay man lit his next cigarette and nodded.

The kid's nervous laugh grew louder and more staccato. I was sure the kid was going to lean in close, and ask:

"Ummm... What's it like?"

He did not, but he continued to probe his gay adversary for as much information as he could. I like to think the confrontation ended with the kid putting down his hate sign and walking off, hand in hand with the gay smoker - committed to getting his new gay friend off cigarettes and not other men.

That day I was shocked at how closely this kid conformed to the stereotype of the repressed anti-gay protester. And it was not just him, there were scads of them out there with signs and bibles all desperate too prove how very, very not gay they were feeling. It is disappointing, but sometimes stereotypes turn out to be true.

Seemingly unrelated to any of this, I published a rant the other day about the "arrogant audiophile", decrying their arrogance and their dim view of science. When I was finished, I went to the biggest audiophile site I could find on the web and posted a link in their forums so they could read what I had written and respond.

The reactions, unsurprisingly, were not positive. Some were over the top, complaining that the audiophile is a suffering, put-upon minority in society. Some surprised me with their even handed response, suggesting that I was perpetuating an annoying stereo-type and perhaps I should take a look at why I was posting.

I still think it's ridiculous and telling that Michael Fremer* and Adam Blake refuse to have their assertions tested about the so-called amazing quality of the outrageously over-priced Pear cables. The CD marker thing was absurd and has been quietly and conveniently forgotten. And Dolby 5.1 sound? Well, I don't really know anything about the numbering system, so it's not too surprising to find myself in error regarding it's cryptic specifics.

But...

I also linked directly to one forum, referring to it's contributors as "these guys" who I was claiming to be sick of, when in actuality I knew nothing about them. My post in their forum was labeled "Hello Audiophiles - You've been demonized."

Yes, I wanted to generate a little traffic to my fledgling blog, but perhaps this title was a little on the inflammatory side.

If there is one thing that aggravates me about human nature it is our persistant refusal to admit when we are wrong, often at the expense of all good logic and fairness.

So, I admit I was wrong.

I also need to remember that I am the guy who could not enjoy Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire because the projector was too dim and played the movie in freakin' mono. I am the guy who once had everyone on my floor in college to play the same summer sound effect CD simultaneously so one cold day in our dorm would really sound like summer. I am the guy who demanded iTunes refund my dollar for Bexar Bexar's song "Pay Attention" because it contained an errant click and a pop. (It should not have.)

And perhaps in posting my rant, I had concerns that my own album might suffer under the scrutiny of trained and polished ears. (I know little about audio engineering and I am sure this has resulted in somewhat lo-fi experience)

So in thinking about all of this, I have a question for the audiophiles out there about the audiophile experience.

"Ummm... What's it like?"


I don't expect that we will go off now, hand in hand, but perhaps someone could recommend a decent pair of moderately priced bookshelf speakers?




* It has been brought to my attention that Michael Fremer is still pursuing the challenge.