Search ACAAt a Glance |
There is nothing quite like it when you let your fingers touch a well made arm, first picking it up and then allowing it to turn on the grooves of an LP. The first sound you hear is the infamous needle touching the vinyl. Everyone knows the sound, everyone either shrieks at it or adores it. There is no middle here. The question I want to ask here is whether or not we believe that this ritual, might be a habit which is quite indistinguishable compared to any addiction that man has at his disposal. Nobody ever says that speed is NOT an addiction, or for that matter not a norm amongst many in the population. But in the DSM V, (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, version 5) has new addictions which have been added to what a long time ago we would never have thought to be called an illness or an addiction. Remember when food was thought to be a matter of self control? Now it is a full fledged disease killing millions of people worldwide. Young and old. Who would ever think that sex would be an addiction which would be dubbed hypersexuality in the most prestigious manual in the world for physicians? But it is. Or rather it will be in the Version V coming out next year or the next. Now does that not make you think twice about what we call normal and what is not? Norm is what people consider to be behavior which is acceptable and inherently allowed, or at least, tolerated within its constructs. Abnormal is something which is not good or bad, but rather what is not within the norm. Thus Audiophiles are Abnormal if we look at it scientifically and within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals. I had written close to a decade ago an article named “Welcome to Insanity” where I go through a list which if you had an X amount of symptoms from the list, you were called an audiophile, thus insane. After all, it wasn’t the first time I have been called crazy! But ten years later, vinyl and high end Dac’s are in almost everyone’s home and it seems being addicted to music and machines is not insane any more. Could that be because people have found out that listening to music is about the best habit forming addiction you can have, or is it because we audiophiles have left our closets and have come out to show that we are a group much larger than previously imagined. I can’t stop to think about car enthusiasts, gay rights or even the fact that women are now part of the workforce as men are. Can you imagine a time when women couldn’t even vote? On the one hand we are viewed as individuals with idiosyncratic attractions and large pockets, but on the other is there a basis for neurosis within this behavior at large? If you’re asking why I would care if I am diagnosed with Audiophilemania or not, the simple and most honest answer would be, so that I could finally excuse my insanity as a health problem!! This way I could go get therapy while listening to another system, or even yet go to a therapists home and talk things over. In either case is there a tangible problem within this addiction? Has mankind finally found a medical condition which is healthy? Are audiophiles the new savoir vivre of the 21st century? Could it be that audiophiles are creating the basis for healthy addictions other than exercise or health related physical activities? Can we actually listen to music rather than take a pill or binge on carbs when in time of need or when we feel our soul empty and in need of fulfillment? Tell me what you think on this matter, and I will work on a new updated questionnaire which will be distributed to a sample of the population. Who knows, it could be contagious and then drugs could be given one day to fight the uncontrollable urge to listen to good quality recordings and music in general. Wouldn’t that be a tickle indeed? |
