Hed: The white ear buds of oblivion

I had my aunt, uncle and cousin over for chili and card games last week — I am blessed to have the sort of aunt who falls distinctly into the “cool” category, and her husband and stepdaughter follow suit.

During our witty, chic conversations and dinner-partying, my iTunes library added the perfect background noise. It attracted the attention of my uncle when the playlist randomized onto “Bliss,” by Muse.

He had recently noticed and taken a liking to this — my favorite ­— band after hearing “Take a Bow” used in the trailer for the upcoming Watchmen. The necessary course of action he pursued was buying the album, Black Holes and Revelations. I offered to let him check out my entire Muse library; this band has never let me down and is frequently blaring from my iPod.

If I have a devoted fan base, they might recall last quarter when I wrote on strategies to assure oneself a good day. I recommended listening to a single song on repeat and at ludicrous volume all day long. While this is an excellent thing to do with one’s day, I feel I must clarify a misconception regarding this use of an iPod.

Our talk of music, iPods and such led my uncle to relate a story: Some random college student walked in front of his car in a blatant act of jaywalking earlier in the week, and it was the fifth or 12th time he had something like this happen since 2009 began. The connective trait between these people (who I imagine run the length of demographics, ages 3 to 106 and fit every description of being) is that they were each listening to iPods — or were at least wearing white ear buds, as the iPods themselves remained unseen in all five or 12 events of near-pedestrian-hitting.

What is it about iPods that makes people oblivious? At times, I use mine to force myself into oblivion — when Barcelona or the Dandy Warhols plays so loudly I can’t focus my eyes, it’s nearly impossible to care about the mundane and stressful details of the world. But even listening to music more reasonably — and with less inevitable hearing loss — dulls the senses through over-stimulating the part of the brain seduced by musical bliss.

It’s almost as if people listening to iPods wear a sign that says, “I am not a responsible party to the location of my body in space. Proceed accordingly.”

Not everyone roams about in a haze of self-endangerment, but there’s really no excuse for anybody to carelessly run amiss for the sole reason that their music is so excellent. Nobody is going to give you a carte blanche to run in front of buses because you’re forcing a good day to happen, as per my previous instruction.

One afternoon, I was walking down the Ave, listening to my iPod; I expect that the song I was listening to was “Modern Guilt,” by Beck. A crowd of unmotivated individuals frustrated me with their aimless meandering along the sidewalk. Being a person who believes there is no point in moving from one location to another without speed and purpose, I passed them along the side. Though I remained on the sidewalk, I seem to have scared a bus driver to death — he blared his horn and hit the brakes as I walked past the tiresome people, jarring me out of my Beck coma.

I had no intention of running out in front of the bus, but he must have noticed my iPod ear buds. It probably signaled to him that I didn’t consider myself responsible for the location of my body in space, and he acted accordingly, jarring me harshly.

Listen to your music as loud as you want — or as loud as your ear doctor allows — but pay attention. I can’t bear many more drivers honking at me because they are conditioned to expect audiophiles to dart out in front of their cars like squirrels.

Reach columnist Matt Jackson at opinion@dailyuw.com.