I guess I watch the wrong channels. I've
heard the odd soldier in Iraq or the odd fire fighter in British Columbia use
"shit", but that's about all. I rarely if ever watch sitcoms because I
find them contrived and phoney. Movies perhaps? I only watch those
that I really want to see. But I do know that porn has moved from
something that, a few decades ago, you might get to see in Copenhagen or
Stockholm to something that is now universally available and becoming totally
available with the internet.
What may be happening is a split in western
society between those who favour an openess, even if this means the acceptance
of profanity, on the one hand and those who favour a tightening down on the
other. The acceptance of abortion and common law and same sex
marriages, and the increased tolerance of porn may be examples of the
former. The growth of the religious right and evangelical churches, which
attract young as well as older followers, may be examples of the
latter.
Is this split dangerous for those who believe in
constitutionally guaranteed freedoms? It would seem to depend greatly on
the ability of the religious (or even secular) right to get organized
into a movement capable of seriously attacking the foundations of such
freedoms and influencing legislative and judicial decisions. Personally, I
think we have a long way to go before we are in that position.
Ed Weick
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 5:34
PM
Subject: RE: [Futurework] social trends:
Profanity
Swearing and profanity at home or the schoolyard is one thing. It
is quite another when TV and radio ups the ante with simulated sex and lavish
use of profanity. This is a trend that is not self-limiting, it will
only be changed (I think) by some form of censorship, probably coming from a
religious angle.
arthur
I think this kind of thing comes and
goes. My older daughter, very bright kid and high achiever, turned the
air blue everywhere she went when she was a teenager in the late
1970s. One of her daughters is about to enter here teens and her
mother is very conscious of her daughter's vocabulary (the
hypocrite). My present teenage daughter (second marriage) who has just
entered university is very different. She will occasionally use a four
letter word but is almost mortified at doing so. Maybe she's hung out
with the wrong crowd?
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003
1:50 PM
Subject: RE: [Futurework] social
trends: Profanity
There will be a reaction to these trends. What form will it
take? Is the fundamentalist movement now underway part of that
reaction?
Arthur, although I have a handful of
"cuss words" in my vocabulary, I try to use them selectively, as one
does very hot spices, appropriately and
sparingly.
But I have noticed that my grown
daughters use profanity much more than I do (or like). I've also noticed that one of
them uses it more around certain males, as if to say, don't mess with
me, even if she is not discarding that one to romance purgatory.
Should we blame television and rap
music entirely? I think
there is an epidemic of abusive language that has to include sports,
where tough talk and mean looks are often considered necessary to the
game. Profanity has shock
value. That's why it's so
prevalent on dumbed down television and in music. I believe linguists still track
slang as a juvenile phenomenon, and perhaps there is a link to slang and
profanity in pop culture.
Much of TV seems to be written for juveniles by juveniles,
anyway. Mostly, however, we
may have more profanity because we have less great vocabulary being
spoken
I tried to influence my girls that
"potty mouths" have poor vocabularies, obviously not with great success
it seems. However, I also noticed that my daughter who curses more
around men her age does not do this in front of her young son, her
father or her grandparents.
She will, however, purposely annoy me, and then twist the knife
by using a good vocabulary word I haven't heard her use before.
Sigh.
-
KWC
What we already
knew. Wonder why its happening? http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/23/tv.profanity.ap/index.html
Study:
Use of profanity increasing on TV "During the 2002-2003 season, the
broadcast networks attempted to rewrite the book on language
standards for television," the Parents Television Council, a watchdog
group, said in a report released Monday. The council said it studied
all primetime entertainment series from a two-week period in 1998,
2000 and 2002 and found a jump in profanity on "virtually every
network" and in every time slot. The group called on the TV industry
to "get serious about reducing the flood of vulgarity. ... Barring
that, the FCC needs to get serious about enforcing broadcast decency
laws," the group said of the Federal
Communications Commission. The study examined ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox,
WB and UPN. During the so-called "family hour," from 8-9 p.m., foul
language increased by 94.8 percent between 1998 and 2002, the study
found. It rose by 109 percent during the 9 p.m. hour in the same
period. The smallest increase, 38.7 percent, occurred during the last
hour of primetime, 10-11 p.m., when young children are least likely
to be in the audience, the council said. The group noted what it
called "minor" improvements. Foul language in the 8 p.m. hour on Fox
fell 25 percent in the study period. But the study found profanity
rose 75 percent during the 9 p.m. hour on Fox.
On ABC, offensive
language decreased by 17 percent in the study period, mostly because
of improvements during the latter two primetime hours. But profanity
was up by 61.7 percent during the family hour, the study found. An
ABC spokesman Monday said the network had not seen the report
and declined comment. A Fox spokesman declined comment. In a
similar, earlier study, the PTC found that sexual content on TV
was less frequent but more
explicit.
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