“Noise and odor”: when Jacques Chirac, then former Prime Minister of France but still Mayor of Paris, uttered these words in a June 1991 speech, the politically correct crowd cried racism. And yet, he was right: nothing is more invasive and annoying than parasitic noise and unwanted odors. Especially when they are not our own.
Unlike trash that a fence is enough to hide from our eyes, noise travels far, over party walls, at the speed of sound. Odors also cross hedges to invade collective spaces or even stagnate under our windows.
That neighbors are dirty is ultimately their business, but there is no question of their stench bothering the entire neighborhood. People listening to music at home is fine. But this music, which becomes “noise” and “noise pollution” as soon as it exceeds the limits of their house, their garden, or their karaoke, should not invade the neighborhood.
Where do my rights end and where do others’ begin? It is in the Code of common sense and good manners. The most surprising thing, every time, is having to explain such elementary obviousness over and over again.
A municipal code can do nothing if there is a fear of enforcing it. And it is incivility and impoliteness that are being spared. We, who ensure that no incongruous noise or inopportune odor bothers others, are seen as intolerant “tsy azo iaraha-monina” (unsociable) and extremist “sarotsarotiny” (fussy).
Do not stigmatize the Other who has no manners. A delay or lack of education that no Code, however pedantic, will fill. In the abdication of these articles with useless paragraphs, the ultimate idea of civilization wavers while barbarism is already setting in.
Nasolo-Valiavo Andriamihaja
Captured & Published at: 2026-10-13 05:39:07 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.lexpress.mg/2026/10/les-bruits-et-les-odeurs.html