The Tyranny of Anonymity
I’m going to veer off-topic a little today, although the conversation will start with a connection to drums.
As I’ve mentioned before, with help from my son I started a YouTube channel to discuss drums, drumming, and related subjects. It’s been a lot of fun, and with over 750,000 views I would call it a success.
I knew no matter what I did on that channel there would be some negative comments, and therefore wasn’t surprised when they began showing up.
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One of the subjects which drew the ire of many a drummer was whether or not to muffle drums. For those of you uninitiated in the fine art of drumming, drums have a natural ring to them as well as overtones specific to the type of drum shell, drum head, and other factors. Back in the ’60s and ’70s it wasn’t uncommon to find drum sets with the bottom heads removed from the toms, and quite a bit of cloth, tape, or other substances on the top head to deaden the sound and minimize (or eliminate) overtones and sustain. That type of sound was common through the early ’80s and is occasionally heard of some music even today.
What I didn’t realize as I discussed this subject on one of my videos is that the issue of whether or not to muffle a drum is almost a religion to some folks.
It didn’t take long for viewers of my video to begin weighing in on where they stood on the muffling debate. As for me, I sometimes muffle and sometimes leave the drums “open” with all the resonance unmuffled drums produce.
Being agnostic toward muffling is, apparently, similar to trying to be both a Democrat and a Republican at the same time — both sides end up hating you! The negative comments don’t really affect me since only about 5% are critical and as I said, I was expecting them. 95% of what people say is constructive, positive, and uplifting. Still, it is a bit disturbing that some people will become so vicious over something as insignificant as to whether to put tape on a drum head.
One comment, for example was simply two words; the first started with an F and the second word was “you.” I replied to this viewer asking if his mother had ever taught him not to use foul language. OK, so I might have been a little passive-aggressive in my reply, but he deserved it…
Reading comments, not only on my YouTube channel but on so many internet videos and blogs, reinforces my belief in the Christian doctrine of “original sin.” In other words, people tend to gravitate toward bad behavior because it takes effort to be good. I think that’s true, because if you think about it, when a person experiences a frustrating experience the first reaction is usually to get angry. People have to work to calm down. Some people have trained themselves to react in a gentle manner to almost all circumstances, but that’s the thing — they had to train themselves to behave that way. People who just do what comes naturally with no self-control don’t make model citizens. They become internet trolls!
