I’d been planning on writing on this topic for a while now, although with recent current events, I’ll be expanding this topic somewhat. What’s my topic? Words! Didn’t you read the title?
The first thing I want to talk about is profanity and the use of pseudo (or faux) profanity. You know, saying “darn” for “damn” or “shoot” for “shit” or “frigging” instead of “fucking.” There are innumerable examples of faux profanity, and plenty of reasons to avoid actually uttering (or typing) a four letter word. Back in high school, I had a good friend who frequently uttered the phrase, “Oh fudge!” instead of “Oh fuck!” In tenth grade I stopped using (American) profanity entirely, and replaced all cuss words in my vocabulary with the British cuss word “sod.” When you’re still a kid, and subject to regulation of your speech by parents and teachers, use of such faux profanity is certainly understandable.
But what about as we grow older? A couple of years ago, I received some rather unpleasant messages from another blogger with regards to my views of feminism. She provided a link to her site, and I visited it. It was full of a lot of quotes from the Bible used to stress the importance of the wife being subordinate to her husband. I used to blog a lot about feminism back then, and was pretty accustomed to getting such nonsense in my inbox. The thing that stuck out about this woman’s site (which sadly is no longer online) was that while it was chock full of religious messages of the “right” way to live in accordance with the writings of the Bible, it was also chock full of profanity. Well, faux profanity at least. She substituted words such as “beeches” for “bitches,” “focking” for “fucking,” “sheet” for “shit” and so on.
I’ve thought about that woman’s site periodically ever since. If you refer to someone as a “focking beech,” you’re not actually using any of those “bad” words, but the meaning is still the exact same. Likewise, if I say something’s “fucking awesome” that’s obviously a compliment, but if I say someone’s a “freaking idiot” that’s definitely an insult. A lot of people out there go to great lengths to avoid the use of a small handful of words that are, for whatever reason, deemed “bad.” However, words are just random collections of letters; it’s the meaning that we assign to those words which makes them good or bad.
FCC regulations prevent the use of certain words on the airwaves. However, faux profanity is an easy way around that problem. While it’s certainly easier to make a list of banned words in order to keep offensiveness from radio and television, hate can be delivered without a word that’s considered profane.
This brings me along to how this topic of words relates to current events. See, as of a little over a week ago, I’d never heard of this Don Imus chap. But then again, shock-jocks are hardly my cup of tea. On the off chance that by now you somehow haven’t heard the thing that Imus said which led to him being fired, here’s the clip:
The first thing I want to talk about is profanity and the use of pseudo (or faux) profanity. You know, saying “darn” for “damn” or “shoot” for “shit” or “frigging” instead of “fucking.” There are innumerable examples of faux profanity, and plenty of reasons to avoid actually uttering (or typing) a four letter word. Back in high school, I had a good friend who frequently uttered the phrase, “Oh fudge!” instead of “Oh fuck!” In tenth grade I stopped using (American) profanity entirely, and replaced all cuss words in my vocabulary with the British cuss word “sod.” When you’re still a kid, and subject to regulation of your speech by parents and teachers, use of such faux profanity is certainly understandable.
But what about as we grow older? A couple of years ago, I received some rather unpleasant messages from another blogger with regards to my views of feminism. She provided a link to her site, and I visited it. It was full of a lot of quotes from the Bible used to stress the importance of the wife being subordinate to her husband. I used to blog a lot about feminism back then, and was pretty accustomed to getting such nonsense in my inbox. The thing that stuck out about this woman’s site (which sadly is no longer online) was that while it was chock full of religious messages of the “right” way to live in accordance with the writings of the Bible, it was also chock full of profanity. Well, faux profanity at least. She substituted words such as “beeches” for “bitches,” “focking” for “fucking,” “sheet” for “shit” and so on.
I’ve thought about that woman’s site periodically ever since. If you refer to someone as a “focking beech,” you’re not actually using any of those “bad” words, but the meaning is still the exact same. Likewise, if I say something’s “fucking awesome” that’s obviously a compliment, but if I say someone’s a “freaking idiot” that’s definitely an insult. A lot of people out there go to great lengths to avoid the use of a small handful of words that are, for whatever reason, deemed “bad.” However, words are just random collections of letters; it’s the meaning that we assign to those words which makes them good or bad.
FCC regulations prevent the use of certain words on the airwaves. However, faux profanity is an easy way around that problem. While it’s certainly easier to make a list of banned words in order to keep offensiveness from radio and television, hate can be delivered without a word that’s considered profane.
This brings me along to how this topic of words relates to current events. See, as of a little over a week ago, I’d never heard of this Don Imus chap. But then again, shock-jocks are hardly my cup of tea. On the off chance that by now you somehow haven’t heard the thing that Imus said which led to him being fired, here’s the clip:
(If you can't get the video to play, click here.)
I agree, that’s pretty damn offensive. Of course, from all accounts, this fellow was frequently pretty damn offensive. What is it about this incident in particular which sets it apart from all previous offensive comments made by this man? Is it the choice of words? The choice of targets? And why is it no one is discussing the fact that whomever it is Imus is talking to also called the Rutgers girls hos? (Or is that spelled "hoes"?) On NPR all this week, I’ve heard a lot of different commentary on this. I’ve heard some black women decry this as terribly offensive, while other black women said that they found this funny and didn’t see what the big deal was. I’ve heard people say that the firing of Imus is censorship, while others champion the decision. And I’ve heard that had those remarks been made by a black commentator, no one would have minded. This in turn has led to a discussion on misogynist rap lyrics. (There's an excellent post on this topic over at Pandagon, which I definitely recommend checking out.)
I, for one, am glad that Imus is off the air, because I am opposed to hate speech of any kind. Of course, there are many people out there who disagree with me.
So… What do you think about Don Imus? FCC Censorship? Profanity and faux profanity? Hate speech? Rap lyrics? Anything else pertaining to words?
So… What do you think about Don Imus? FCC Censorship? Profanity and faux profanity? Hate speech? Rap lyrics? Anything else pertaining to words?
5 comments:
I am always uncertain about the term hate speach as I find the President of this country spouting hate everday as well as many of the religious right or even the conservative right shock jocks and yet it is all socially acceptable. Its strange that Imus remarks are seen as racially motivated. I have not heard the clips before. In lightt hat Tennessee has black players on their team, and he says that Tennessee players are cute, does this undermine what was perceived as his previous raceism. In this light, if one team is a group of hoes as he puts it and the other cute, yet both teams are of similarly mixed origins, then are those comments raceist or simply descriptive and hurtful which seems to be the role of shock jocks. No one seems to be angry that most corporations use segmented advertiseing to sell their products in different markets and use differing language and images to sell their products. Is that not somewhat insulting as well. I am always confused by people both on the right and left who make things too clear cut. I am also confused by hypocrits such as our "go fuck yourself" vice president" in the family values administration. Everyone has moments when they want to be heard and feel times in which they believe that average words simply do not sufice so they use profanity to highten the message as in that was fucking awsome and not simply awsome. Its really strange because at least within my white trash family as those words become more commonly used, they also become more profuse to the point that they are common adjetives and verbs. As far as censorship goes, the moment upon which you prohibit or fire someone for saying any comment then that is what we call censorship no matter how derogitory that we say it is. I personally do not believe in political correctness though I dobelieve in trying to be good to as many people as possible and try to live a life that I do not hurt or insult someone though I am sure that my heathen ways are hurting some Christian conservative somewhere as they pray for my wayward soul. With that said, everything seems to be open game and while Imus's remarks were sexist with some racial undertones infused within, they were his reactions at the moment. Now, C.B.S. is a private corporation and can do what ever they please, but think of it in a different way. Malls and buissnesses are private corporations as well, and they can block or prohibit protesters from their property as well as encourage the removal of unsemley kids from their proerty. This is different but the same vien. I really am not a fan of many of these private entities but that is my own personal belief. In another veign, this is a strange moment in popular culture. From the perspective of a white man especialy in light of the last superbowl advertiseing campaigns, white men have emerged as the bafoons and clowns of socirty. We are the bud drinking cavemen. Now, this makes sense in light that youcan now have derogitory images of women or blacks without the threat of some respnse or backlash, so they seem to have turned to the only group that one can use as a comedy prop without offense- the white man. This type of duality is everywhere in culture. Blacks can perform whiteface in comedy but the vice versa is not true. Blacks can be derogitory in their music without major social backlash but white metal or rap i seen as socially insensitive, raceist, and sexist. I do not believe this is reverse raceism or whatever they call it, I simply believe that it is part of the time in which we live in which we are striveing to overcome the horrors of segregation and colonialism but we are not doiing it by opening up economic avenues of attainment but allowing people to be raceist and oppresive in return while stifeling those emotions on the previos oppressor. Its an intresting pressure gage. Minorities still on the bottom rung of the economic latter. I have become increasingly cynical in the last few years as we point out little raceism yet fail to see the larger structural picture. Within this light, words are everything and neither the conservative nor liberal lingo seems to be able to come up with the vocabulary to adress those issues. This is sad to me and has completely destroyed my faith within this country in general and most people at learge. Oh well, time is short. Must go....
I think the evolution of "swear words" is interesting. It used to be that the worst words had to do with sex, defecation and associated body parts. Those words are still impolite, but you hear them in many social situations.
The most objectionable words are now race-based. While you'd sink yourself in either case, I think using "the f-word" would go over better in a job interview than "the n-word". Overall, I think this is a net positive for society.
Random other thoughts:
1. Re: Censorship/bad words on TV: the CBC will let the occasional f-bomb get to air, and it's always amusing to see Caitlin flinch at that.
2. I'm guessing Imus was let go not only because of what he said but because he's long past his prime and the timing was convenient.
3. Bababooey has more talent in one of his massive teeth than Imus has ever shown.
I think profanity is a really spectacular phenomenon. It shows that we are superstitious to our very cores: we are afraid of words, but not sentiment. As you pointed out, Jane, most people would object to "fucking bad" as much as they object to "fucking awesome." That's ridiculous. It is clear evidence that humans believe that certain strings of phonemes (sounds) in certain languages are inherently bad. Of course, you could say "ficking bad" as an English speaker with little or no problem, even though "ficken" is just "fuck" in German. As we learned in high school, those British words have meaning, too, but only to Brits. I remember an Australian exchange student being scandalized by the term "fanny pack."
I curse. I also drink, eat, defecate, and do a whole lot of other things that are either just fine or simply terrible depending on the circumstance. I think cursing comes down to time and place and I think that decision should be made by the inidividual doing the talking. I don't think the vulgarity is inherent in the words themselves, but the sentiment behind them.
My opinion is informed by the Bullshit! episode about profanity and the forthcoming book by Steven Pinker.
(Surprise, surprise) I completely agree that "faux" profanity is no less offensive than the "real" words they sit in for. My sisters (both christian) are always correcting me when I (very atheist) say "god damn." As if god is less offended if I say "gosh dern." This makes no sense to me.
On Imus...Personally, I'm glad that this event brought light to all the offensive things he's been saying for years. I think he should have been let go a long time ago. Also, one of my co-workers was until recently the manager of the Rutgers women's basketball team and is still very close with the women on the team. This is what she told me about their reaction: "they aren't as pissed as everyone thinks they are."
Note to Sean: I totally met Bababooey at my office Christmas party. Right before I met Howard Stern.
There's a lot I want to say on this, but I'm going to hold out until my day. I've been talking about Imus lately with anyone who would listen to me (including lenghty emails to closer coworkers)! Basically, though, I agree!
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