The Tyranny of Major Key Music

Tiffy works in the private sector (as I used to), and one thing about corporations is that they are always more eager to tap into the zeitgeist than to actually change anything, so the way her company dealt with all the social injustice issues currently on everyone's minds is to give them all Friday as a paid day off of work to "think about how to improve the climate in our company." Tiffy said she did this by hanging out in her pool all day, but just to feel like she actually did ponder the issue, she asked if I had any thoughts on it. Boy, did I ever, as my regular readers will no doubt expect.

I said, let's start with a little thing: music. In Door County, all music is white music, and I notice this as a person who much prefers "black" music. It's the tyranny of major key and boring beats! When we went on the boat ride, the guide blasted classic rock, because he said, "Everyone loves classic rock!" I told Tiffy that the reality is the average white man likes classic rock, but women tend to prefer dance music, and black people prefer hip hop, and Latino people prefer Latin music, but we don't feel like we can speak up. I said the whole world is set up for the preferences of white males, and all we are asking is that they play a little Tupac along with the AC/DC, but white men wouldn't like hearing other kinds of music, so there's a lot of push back. She gasped, "Oh my gosh, you've hit the nail on the head! Everything is set up to make white males feel welcome!" I have always noticed this, as a person who has tastes that are less "white" - I like fast-paced, minor key music with a syncopated beat, bright colors, and spicy food, and people are always complaining about my tastes. I've had more than one person say I'm not really "white" inside. But if you look at me, you wouldn't immediately know I have the "wrong" taste, so people don't treat me badly until they get to know me. However, if you are a black woman who goes on a boat tour where they blast "white male" music, wouldn't you feel somehow that this tour wasn't really meant for you? I did too, but nobody suspected. All we are asking for is a variety of music, food, and aesthetic details, not that everything has to be our way, but sometimes it seems that is too much to ask. I really should have spoken up after the boat tour, but as a woman, I am primed not to cause too much trouble, and honestly most people who go on the tour are probably white inside and out. Still, would it kill the white men out there to acknowledge that not everyone loves their tastes?? I feel like it would, and this is some of the reaction we are getting to the racial justice protests. When everything is set up with you in mind, you don't want to change things even a little bit to give others a chance too.

One note on this: at basketball games, I notice they will play equal amounts of "white" and "black" music, because they know so many fans are not white. How do we get the rest of the world to acknowledge that other races with other tastes exist?

Famous Hat