Opinion: How do you solve a problem like the vuvuzela?

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It’s a swarm of bees! No, it’s a dying goat! No, it’s a ... vuvuzela.

A what?

The 2010 World Cup is being held in South Africa, and it’s forcing soccer enthusiasts around the world to face the vuvuzela — a long, ear-splittingly loud plastic horn favored by South African soccer fans, in particular, and irritating to most of the rest of us.

Vuvuzelas have been in the news because many soccer players and viewers are complaining about the deafening noise.

Players say the shrill, droning honk emitted by the horn makes focusing on the pitch next to impossible; fans watching the games from home mute the television or simply refuse to watch because of the annoying sound; broadcasting networks such as ESPN and Al-Jazeera have been receiving nonstop complaints about the ruckus from viewers watching at home, inviting the question: Should the vuvuzela be banned from the games entirely?

It seems that the vuvuzela adds nothing to a soccer match besides a headache, so why let the fans bring them along?

Despite incessant requests to ban the noisemaker, FIFA president Sepp Blatter remains steadfast in his belief that fans in South Africa should be allowed unlimited blowing rights. They’re the hosts and it’s their country, after all.

In an article on Goal.com, Lucas Brown quotes Blatter as saying, ‘It is African culture, we are in Africa and we have to allow them to practice their culture as much as they want to.’

Do we really?

Imagine you were making a pros and cons list for the vuvuzela. What could the pros possibly be? Allows fans the opportunity to play a musical instrument with one shrill, deafening note during a soccer game? Promotes the South African game-time tradition of attempting to blow out the ear drums of the patron seated in front of you at a soccer game?

You don’t have to reach too far for the cons. They burst eardrums (figuratively, anyway), distract players and give fans (espeically American ones) even more reasons to ignore soccer. They’re a nuisance. So call me closed-minded, but I just don’t see vuvuzela honking as a tradition that needs to be upheld at the expense of the worldwide soccer community.

Updated, 3:55 p.m.: Consumer Reports magazine’s electronics blog offers some tips for dealing with the World Cup buzz, as well as the following instructional video for those who simply can’t take it anymore:

-- Emilia Barrosse