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lady_songsmithReading one of my blogs today, and was tempted to comment on a post about CBS airing 9/11 unedited/unbleeped and the kerfluffle that it's causing with "decency" groups and FCC regulations. But halfway though typing it out, I realized I was going to derail the thread. So I'm moving it here. :-)
So here's my question - what makes profanities and obscenities profane/obscene? And how can we classify some words as mild and some as hardcore? I mean, 'damn' and 'hell' show up all the time in prime-time TV... but frankly those are the only common ones I can come up with an objection to, and then only if you're a) Christian, b) very serious about it, and c) not distinguishing between someone who's really calling down God's wrath and someone who's just blowing off steam by using a common word.
Which is exactly the point -- they're just words we use when we're pissed, shocked, scared, etc. We use 'em all the time, in all sorts of circumstances... why are they 'offensive'? And how did they get to be offensive in the first place? Why is shit any worse than poo? Fuck worse than screw worse than have sex?
I wonder what would happen if, instead of telling little kids who ask "Oh, that's a bad word; you shouldn't say it", we told them "that's a word people use when they are very, very upset"? Or even add something like "some people don't like it; they think it's rude to say"... But how can a word be 'bad' by definition? It's just a word.
Stopping now, before I get to Sassure and Core. I'm sure Suite 9 3/4 will be grateful for that. :-)
So here's my question - what makes profanities and obscenities profane/obscene? And how can we classify some words as mild and some as hardcore? I mean, 'damn' and 'hell' show up all the time in prime-time TV... but frankly those are the only common ones I can come up with an objection to, and then only if you're a) Christian, b) very serious about it, and c) not distinguishing between someone who's really calling down God's wrath and someone who's just blowing off steam by using a common word.
Which is exactly the point -- they're just words we use when we're pissed, shocked, scared, etc. We use 'em all the time, in all sorts of circumstances... why are they 'offensive'? And how did they get to be offensive in the first place? Why is shit any worse than poo? Fuck worse than screw worse than have sex?
I wonder what would happen if, instead of telling little kids who ask "Oh, that's a bad word; you shouldn't say it", we told them "that's a word people use when they are very, very upset"? Or even add something like "some people don't like it; they think it's rude to say"... But how can a word be 'bad' by definition? It's just a word.
Stopping now, before I get to Sassure and Core. I'm sure Suite 9 3/4 will be grateful for that. :-)