WWotD - 6 March 2012

Recently a story has popped up about cell phone vigilantes who use cell phone jammers to silence loudmouths on their cellphones. The FCC is looking into possible regulations (although some cities and states already have laws on the books about blocking cell phones).

The language that I keep hearing somehow transmits the idea that a cell phone is a right (as per the argument made that BART infringed on people's free speech when  stopping phone service during the riots) or even a necessity (since transportation and emergency services use the same cell phone frequencies as personal cell phones).

I call bollocks.

First of all, before cell phone usage became ubiquitous in the late-90s people got along just fine without cell phones. Parents left their children at home with a babysitter and somehow we all survived. Spouses didn't call each other on the way home from work to tell the most painfully dull minutiae to the annoyance of everyone else on the bus, and yet somehow those couples still managed to stay married.

Second point: if there are emergency services that need to be maintained at all times, then put them on another frigging frequency. In fact, I contend with as many times as regular service goes on the fritz, emergency services should already be handled differently. Failing that, see my first reason: we've already lived without these services just fine.

Third point: I don't buy the argument that someone is being "passive-aggressive" or "playing God" when using a jammer...or at least, they are not any more passive-aggressive or Godlike than the person deciding to indulge in noise pollution in the first place.

Of course, there's always the free option of faking an even more obnoxious cell phone conversation to counteract the cell phone terrorist (cellorist?). But that feels like it exacerbates the problem more than it ameliorates it. Unless you keep it entertaining, because long bus/train rides could use better entertainment.

ca·coph·o·ny

 noun \ka-ˈkä-fə-nē, -ˈkȯ- also-ˈka-\

plural ca·coph·o·nies

Definition of CACOPHONY

: harsh or discordant sound : dissonance 2; specifically :harshness in the sound of words or phrases
from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cacophony