Noise in the Service of Nation: Race Cars and Sound Torture in the Fossil Fuel Political Economy

Abstract

Subjectivity is formed and also destroyed through overwhelming sound. In the stadiums of the NASCAR auto racing circuit, it is invigorating to witness powerful machines moving over asphalt at speeds of up to 290 kilometers per hour. Combine this experience with close flyovers by fighter planes, religious hymns and national(ist) anthem(s), and a soundscape dominated by gas-powered generators, and one begins to grasp the relationship between sports, nationalism and war in the United States. Based on a personal experience as a spectator at NASCAR races during a solemn national holiday dedicated to the fallen in battle, I propose here that noise, sound and music converge in the ritual formation of a particular complicity with military interventions in the Middle East. I emphasize the contrast between the construction of subjectivity through sports and ceremony, and its destruction through sound torture, perfected in military prisons in recent years. As fossil fuel is increasingly coveted, its use is increasingly ritualized, in a process that cultivates fascination with the noises of motors and explosions. Ironically, music has become a tool of torture, indicating new developments in the relationship between noise, music, subjectivity and war.