The Next Pariahs: Loudness, Too Much Exercise and Tans

Civilizations have always had their pariahs: Lepers, lunatics, liars--they change with the times. Today, our culture seems to focus its disdain on matters of health. Here are a few types whose habits may make them the next objects of social scorn:

The Loud

Loud noise hurts your hearing, audiologists warn. A 24-year-old Canoga Park woman is suing rock star David Lee Roth, claiming that his high-decibel music caused acoustic trauma, and her attorney contends that such suits soon will flourish. Meanwhile, cities around the country are limiting airport noise and restricting the use of leaf blowers. Before long, chronic bellowers and the boom-box crowd may find themselves shunned.

The Excessively Active

Immoderate exercising has been linked by researchers to hormonal irregularities, temporary infertility, joint and muscular problems and even heart attacks. Some psychologists speak of compulsive exercising in the same breath as eating disorders. While, so far, most forms of exercise have been looked upon favorably, how long can it be before society turns on the fitness fanatics and labels the hyper-aerobic as cultural outcasts?

The Tanned

After surgeons removed a cancerous growth from his nose recently, President Reagan called the bandage covering the incision a “billboard that says . . . stay out of the sun.” Dermatologists and cancer specialists warn that the deadly skin cancer melanoma has reached epidemic proportions in the Sun Belt, and they’ve launched an aggressive publicity campaign to get people to reduce their exposure to sunlight. If their predictions are correct, the days when bronzed skin is seen as healthy are numbered.