In the noisy music vein, it's probably an understatement to say that the entertainment business gives quite a bit of help and encouragement in promoting nincompoop-ism. I'm personally aware of extensive efforts to help educate and protect people from the dangers of loud sound (music, recreational, occupational noise, etc etc). Suffice it to say that thousands of person hours, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, including from big commercial entities like Shure Microphones, have gone into this public awareness effort over the last 25 years or so. And many thousands of professionals in the music and recording industry have received free annual hearing testing as part of this hearing-preservation effort.

So, I'm driving to work a few months ago, and I get behind a bus that has a big ad on the back and sides that says "LIVE LOUD! YOUR MUSIC, YOUR WAY!" It turns out that these ads were all over our metropolitan area--on billboards, bus-stops, etc., some even outside a large medical center that specializes in treating hearing problems. The ad featured some cute, hiply-dressed young kids standing in front of some very large, colorful loudspeakers. The sponsor of the ad? Here's a hint: their trademark is a cartoon mouse with big ears, a wide grin, red short pants, big yellow shoes and white gloves with only 4 fingers.