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The weaponisation of classical music

Mozart_portrait Over at Reason.com an interesting article by the ever-thoughtful Brendan O'Neill – How Britain is using classical music as a form of social control.

Of course, we all know about the use of Beethoven & friends to deter young people from spending time in train stations – the new story is the decision by schools to subject

badly behaved children to Mozart and others. In “special detentions,” the children are forced to endure two hours of classical music both as a relaxant… and as a deterrent against future bad behavior (apparently the number of disruptive pupils has fallen by 60 per cent since the detentions were introduced.)

… some of the children who have endured this Mozart authoritarianism now find classical music unbearable. As one critical commentator said, they will probably “go into adulthood associating great music—the most bewitchingly lovely sounds on Earth—with a punitive slap on the chops.” This is what passes for education in Britain today: teaching kids to think “Danger!” whenever they hear Mozart’s Requiem or some other piece of musical genius.

Sounds familiar? It should -

Anthony Burgess’s nightmare vision of an elite using high culture as a “punitive slap on the chops” for low youth has come true. In Burgess’s 1962 dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange, famously filmed by Stanley Kubrick in 1971, the unruly youngster Alex is subjected to “the Ludovico Technique” by the crazed authorities. Forced to take drugs that induce nausea and to watch graphically violent movies for two weeks, while simultaneously listening to Beethoven, Alex is slowly rewired and re-moulded. But he rebels, especially against the use of classical music as punishment.

Pleading with his therapists to turn the music off, he tells them that “Ludwig van” did nothing wrong, he “only made music.” He tells the doctors it’s a sin to turn him against Beethoven and take away his love of music. But they ignore him. At the end of it all, Alex is no longer able to listen to his favorite music without feeling distressed. A bit like that schoolboy in Derby who now sticks his fingers in his ears when he hears Mozart.

By Alex Deane

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Alex Deane Posted in Overbearing state
  • Mike

    This doesn’t suprise me at all really, when I think back to my days at school the educational establishment seemed to do their damned hardest to do the same thing with great literature spoon feeding pre-chewed, tasteless of literature from apathetic teachers giving rise to a generation that prefer X-factor to any form of reading…now they’ve removed the pretence of education and made the same thing into punishment pure and simple.

  • http://ampers.wordpress.com Andrew Ampers Taylor

    I remember reading, a long time ago, that a country gets the government it deserves. Not sure who actually said that first but it might have been Alexis de Tocqueville in the 19th century.
    If this is, indeed true, then whoever gets into Government in May will be the government that the British people truly deserve.
    Andrew Taylor

  • Purlieu

    This is the Guantanamo Generation.
    Now Mozart … next waterboarding ….

  • Redacted

    It’s too tempting to observe that teenagers have been weaponising music ever since loudspeakers became generally affordable, as many adults know who have lived next door to one.
    But of course music was weaponised from the earliest times. Armies have long used sound to reinforce morale and demoralise enemies. Religious ritual – here considered as a vector of social cohesion – has probably also used music from prehistoric times. The church bell was once the regulator of communities. The things that are new in our era are sound recording, electronics, the loudspeaker and mass behavioural psychology. These constitute the delivery systems of audio mass destruction, which together create the practical option of imposing coercive sound on bodies of people against their will.
    I carry earplugs everywhere I go. It’s still legal to use them as far as I know.
    The fictional Alex in Clockwork Orange is a dodgy example in my view. He was one nasty malchick. His kick was ultraviolence, ideally to a Beethoven soundtrack. Not a nice chap.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/alexdeane Alex Deane

    In the USA, some Judges are sentencing offenders to such punishment:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3513135/Noise-polluters-sentenced-to-listen-to-Barry-Manilow.html
    Hat tip: KO

  • Acheron

    Classical music keeps getting slammed. The fact that it’s be used to deter young people from loitering is sad. Truthfully more hip people should start coming out of the closet with their love of classical. I just saw this video of Jason Bateman (one of my favorite American actors) ‘confessing’ his love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cchvU2L6qf8

  • anonymous

    It is cruel to abuse people in this way. But what is even more cruel is the fact that music is a source of enjoyment and healing as well as being something precious and universally and frequently enjoyed in everyday life, and so it is a form of torture to do this – and any so abused and traumatised in this way will have little means to avoid reminders/triggers to their trauma/pain, and will not be able to use music to relax in everyday life or when trying to cope with/recover from/heal from such sadistic/cruel abuse of music.
    As a Christian I also choose to say the following: God knows who promotes this kind of sadism knowingly, and who knowingly does not step into speak out or stop it, including any unethical, incompetant and/or criminally sadistic psychologists, psychiatrists or similar experts or advisors. It is a grievous wrong-doing and totally immoral. Those who promote such torture (and other similar “activities”) have a deficit of conscience at the least – at worst they are sadists. I hope their victims heal and I hope they stop doing this or get exposed and punished – I also pray they repent this is not a small sin, and in my opinion some of the worst punishments in hell will be reserved for torturers, especially those who are arrogant and hide behind respectable public reputations or get others to do their dirty work, and whose sadism is hidden from the public. When those who would not be reasonably expected to see the cruelty or sometimes purposeful and methodic methods to these “activities” (let alone the potential for long-term harm to the victims)are used by such people to harm others, they also will, I assume, also ruin the lives of those whose consciences are hardened/taunted and whose well-being is jeapardised when they later realise what they have done to others.
    My heart goes out to those who are suffering becuase some people are sadistic and like “punishments” to be more like torture – especially since the general public often does not understand why such “activities” and methods can harm people, and also given the generl stigma attached to mental suffering. My heart also goes out to any suffering who have been used by the sadists to harm people.

  • bluelove

    This is based in brain science. Classical music balances the brain and even enhances learning. It might be more effective to play it at an almost inaudible level during class. That enhances learning. I am sure that people will have emotional issues and anger at “being forced” to listen to music. Maybe their brains will integrate and that will disipate. The school is using a beneficial therapeutic program to deter bad behavior. Kudos to the school! That’s impressive.

  • bluelove

    When I read these comments, it sounds as if “Alex” was raped and sodomized while listening to classical music. This kid has some deep need to play victim and exaggerate his suffering. Let me guess…he wants financial compensation for his “suffering” and “life long damage”? And you folks are going to support his victimhood? Are there any adults out there?

  • bluelove

    http://www.mozarteffect.com/MoreOnTME/FAQ.html
    I am a teacher who uses Mozart and my students are way ahead of all of the others! I have used it since 1995 to enhance learning…along with many other 21st century learning technologies. I am also a huge conspiracy theorist, thus my interest in your site, which is wonderful, by the way. Thank you. I think this particular story may have a dimension which is unfamiliar to most people, so I share this. I wouldn’t want my children in any public school. I hate the way they condition and brainwash them. I am on your side…but still think this might be a bit of an over step. I apologize for the repetitive comments. I don’t have any Mozart playing in the background…LOL. Love your site!

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