Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Cursing Is So Good for Society

Amanda has her thong in a wad over this Bill Murchison column defending the FCC's fight against profanity on network television.

Amanda's arguments are as bizarre as usual. It boils down to this: conservatives don't want profanity on TV because then people can't talk about certain subjects on the networks. And we can't have that because we really need to discuss in graphic detail gay sex, drug use, or other subjects. Ok, she didn't say the last part, but I assume that's what she means when she says

The FCC’s power to censor is basically made with this model; the fear of being shut down for using a naughty word cows people and makes them afraid to address certain issues that uncomfortable to authority lest they come under closer watch by those looking for an excuse to shut them down.

I'm not sure exactly which "issues" Amanda thinks can't be addressed without using profanity. Knowing Amanda and the way she writes, she couldn't discuss the weather without the f-word thrown in.

I started out at the local paper in the sports department. There's no place in civilian life where you'll learn how to cuss faster than the sports department of a newspaper. And I did cuss like a drunken sailor, sneering at anyone prudish enough to think my language usage was a problem (including one boyfriend who was embarrassed by it).

But a funny thing happened on the way to maturity. I discovered that curse words have a much stronger effect the less you use them. Oddly enough, I discovered that when I wasn't using f*** for every part of an English sentence (except for preposition), I found a whole host of words to use instead. Amazing!

Murchison brings up Vice President Cheney's admonition for Patrick Leahy to go f*** himself. Amanda thinks this is an example of "the rich and powerful" having a different set of rules.

I don't think Amanda is stupid enough to actually think this is a good argument. The reason Dick Cheney's retort to Patrick Leahy is different from, say, Keifer Sutherland is that Vice President Cheney wasn't saying it to millions of people, most of whom wouldn't be expecting it. There is, whether Amanda likes it or not, a difference between one person speaking to another and one person speaking on broadcast television.

But given Amanda's obtuseness when it comes to profanity, I don't expect her to notice such a subtle difference.