Saturday, June 25, 2022

The Same-Old-Shit Playbook

 So it's 4:49 in the morning as I begin typing this.


I have spent the last nearly 2 hours trying to put 

an end to the next-door neighbors' incessant radio

playing which has been going for about 13 hours now.


It's a country station, and every 'twang' and reverb 

and bass note goes straight through my house.

From a distance, even music you like is obnoxious to 

listen to: Everything reduced to a mewling chorus of 

the distorted parents' voices from Charlie Brown 

cartoons.


My dogs and cats are on edge, their ears being so much 

more sensitive than ours. They just sit staring off, unable

to relax with this annoying sonic torture. I can't calm them

and that is where my real rage comes from--that a psycho

is being given free reign to harm me and mine, and nothing 

will be done about it.


I recorded the music, but recordings don't pick up 

all the shrieks and dull-roars from hearing it live. I

yelled over at them to turn it off. That doesn't work 

for two reasons. First, they aren't outside because they're

asleep. Second, they aren't 'unaware' that the radio is on.

The music isn't for them, it's to harass me and my

animals and my elderly mother. 


After hollering didn't produce anyone, I honked my 

car horn. Still nothing. Then I set off a series of 

blaring car-alarms. Still nothing. 


I didn't call because she's a new mother who can claim I 

was harassing her by calling in the middle of the night.

He never picks up his phone when I call.


The sheriff's department sent someone out. They pulled

into the drive, set for about 10 seconds, and pulled back out.

The dispatch said the officer couldn't hear anything except

an air conditioner. I explained--just as I had a dozen times 

over the course of last summer--that you have to pass all 

the structures out front into the back yard. That's where

the noise is, where it reverberates and reflects over to my 

house which is also back from the road.


The officer did not return. He did not return my call.

The history here is that they really don't think it's a big 

deal, and that they don't like having to come out here, and 

really aren't I just either hearing things or making stuff

up or being too sensitive? Why am I involving the police 

in 'our' squabble?


'Our' squabble is that a right-wing zealot gun-nut and

Trump supporter moved in next door and came with the 

express purpose of 'teaching that faggot a lesson.' From 

the minute he moved in, there's been ongoing targeted 

harassment and abuse.


It all culminated with an awful summer last year where noise

torture was carried out with radios that played outside

24-7, high-pitched frequencies aimed at my home, days 

and days of illegal fireworks that deafened us and literally

shook our home, and on and on.


The visits from police didn't work. Talks from neighbors

didn't work. I can't go over there because that would be 

the excuse he desires to shoot me. (Oh yeah...high-powered

rifles and shotguns and AK-15s being shot right outside my

home were also a part of the intimidation and terrorism.

Also things the sheriff doesn't care about, it turns out.)


I also contacted every conceivable agency, organization, 

individual, representative etc that I could think of for 

assistance, all to no avail.


Many of you are probably thinking what I have: "There's

only one way to handle somebody like this." And you're

probably right. But he has an arsenal, cameras everywhere,

the place lit up like Christmas, and all the backing of every

other good-ol'-boy in the area. 


He's in it for the conflict. He's in it because he thinks he 

picked an easy target that won't fight back. He thinks he's 

golden because police and local government don't appear

at all concerned about what he's doing, mostly because they

all share the same political view.


It finally did die off. It subsided. Things were still tense

and unpleasant, but the most obvious and aggressive 

damage was over. And then, just like that, it all started up 

again.


It's a hell of a thing to not be able to relax in your own

home. To not be able to attain quiet and peace. Not 

sleeping has a host of health problems related to it. And

all of these issues have a cumulative effect...which is the

desired impact of all terrorism.


It is terrorism. Maybe a watered-down version of it:

Passive-aggressive. Deniable actions. Wishy-washy childish

nonsense done from a safe distance. Intimidation tactics.

Most people have lives they focus on: This guy has made me

his one-and-only obsession. An outlet for all that quiet

incel rage and upset over false-oppression. He wants a

feud because nothing else gets him hard.


All I want is to be left the fuck alone. 


Their absolutely-stated objective is to make life here so

unliveable that I will up and move from my home. And no

one in authority seems to have a problem with that.


So much for the false promise of welcoming small towns,

law enforcement that cares, 'all citizens created equal,' 

and the American Dream.



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