BarkingDogs.net

What Not to Say

When noise is force-fed into someone's home for a prolonged period of time, devastation is sure to ensue. People begin to fall ill, symptoms that are consistent with psychological disturbance develop, and conflict within the family grows daily as everyone becomes ever more exhausted.

In an attempt to convey the severity of their suffering, noise victims often make the mistake of confiding deeply personal information, either to their neighbors or to the authorities, in the extremely optimistic hope that, when the depth of their suffering is understood, those with the power to correct the problem will step in and do the right thing. However, it is much more likely that you will find that the personal information you reveal will be thrown back at you, as the symptoms of your abuse are misinterpreted, and cited as evidence that the real problem is not noise and the failure of the authorities to protect you from it, but you and your troubled family: "You admit that everyone in your family fights all the time. You yourself just told me that half the people in your family are suicidal, and you further admit that you, yourself, have recently begun using drugs. On top of all that, you admit that you hate your neighbors and their dogs. Well, you better get professional help and stop blaming all your problems on a little noise coming from the neighbor's house, because there is obviously a lot more wrong with you than just a little upset about some noise coming from next door. So first, you go get some psychiatric help. Then, I'll explain to you about the realities of urban life."

You can expect them to try to frame things in those terms if you give them the necessary information to work with, because remember, the last thing in the world the authorities want is for the focus to remain on their failure to protect the public health. Therefore, given the slightest opening, they will quickly try to turn things around by switching the focus over to you, and to any shortcomings or foibles that you were foolish enough to tell them about.

That's why you always need to be careful what you say and extraordinarily cautious about what personal information you reveal, especially when you are distraught and/or exhausted, both of which are common among noise victims.

What You Must Never Say

You must never ever tell anyone that you intend to harm yourself or anyone else, or even that you think that there is some possibility that such a thing might happen. If you make a statement like that, especially to someone in a position of authority, you are likely to find that before the day is out, you will be committed and locked behind the doors of a closed mental institution for seventy-two hours of observation. And when you get out, you will be presented with a hospital bill in the tens of thousand of dollars.

After years of abuse in which you watch your loved ones suffer, it is easy to get carried away and say something that you don't mean, especially when you are speaking to one of the negligent public officials who stood by and did nothing while the damage was inflicted on those you hold most dear. Nonetheless, regardless of your emotional pitch or the severity of the provocation, you must not ever utter the forbidden words about harming yourself or others, because that's all it takes for the authorities to hit you where it hurts, and discredit you in bargain.

This page is part of Section Two:
the Your Neighbor's Dog section of barkingdogs.net