Reggaeton on the beach: the lost battle for peace and quiet

Reggaeton at full volume: the beach conflict that raises tempers

A swimmer was looking for peace on a nearly empty beach. He settled ten metres away from the only other person nearby, went into the water, and on coming out found a couple two metres from his belongings, with their phone blasting at full blast: «I'll leave you soaked, the sun will dry you off». The scene, told in the first person, sums up a tension that grows every summer: the invasion of public space by portable speakers and the helplessness of those who just want silence.

When the beach becomes a battleground

The man chose to confront the couple and ask them to turn the volume down. To his surprise, they agreed without arguing. But the experience left a bitter taste: «I can picture them one day stabbing me with a knife», he writes, recalling previous incidents. Other users point out that the only real alternative is violence or resignation. «Few options are left that don't require using violence and that don't end in prison or death», they lament. The perception that society has lost its civility is unanimous: «Civility has been completely lost», they conclude.

The profile of the noisy: bad manners or deliberate provocation?

Some observers distinguish between the clueless who are unaware and those who act with intent. «Perversos people kick you when you're down, they head towards you as if they can't stand seeing someone at peace», they point out. The discussion rises to a sociological diagnosis: a society where respect for others is conspicuously absent and where apologising is interpreted as weakness. Loud music in public spaces is only the symptom of a deeper ill.

Be that as it may, summer goes on and the beaches fill up. All that remains is the reflection that, perhaps, the war against reggaeton at full volume is lost from the start. Or, as one comment jokes, «if you die fighting because you didn't want to listen to reggaeton, God forgives all your sins».