How do
we know "when standards are
slipping too far. "
It
seems that civil society, religious training, schooling, socialization,
manners, etiquette is what society created to keep some form of
order. Some form of predictability.
When
all of society becomes what Times Square was, then we are looking at Cabaret,
ie., Berlin circa 1930.
arthur
The good society can look
very bad at times and even pretend to be Cabaret, but it is still the good
society as long as its institutional anchors are in place: recognized rights
and freedoms, honest and capable courts, sound educational, social and health
services (even with considerable quarrel over what "sound" might mean), a
sufficient body of aware people who are in a position to make a fuss when
standards are slipping too far.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003
10:57 AM
Subject: RE: [Futurework] social
trends: Profanity
It
seems that civil society, religious training, schooling, socialization,
manners, etiquette is what society created to keep some form of
order. Some form of predictability.
When all of society becomes what Times Square was, then we are
looking at Cabaret, ie., Berlin circa 1930.
arthur
Good points, Ray. There is so much
that is tawdry in the world that profanity in language may be the last
thing we should worry about. We have an amazing capacity to debase
and cheapen. When TV was about to come into daily use, idealists
predicted that it would lead to a better informed and clearer thinking
public. Look at it now! The same goes for the
internet. Even though my ISP cuts out 90% of the spam I might get, I
still get an awful lot of stuff that says I should enlarge my
penis!
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003
11:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] social
trends: Profanity
Profanity with language is no different
than cheap thoughts in music and the other arts. No one
complains about the adults and their old tawdry R & R and our
favorite country western vulgarities. Its one thing
for the children but its quite another for old folks whose brains are
not capable of enjoying a complex musical thought. I
don't find one inanity less inane or appalling than the
other. To hear them then complain about street language when
they defend such in their extra-linguistic tastes is confusing to say
the least. I grew up "in the street" and worked my way out
but that included more than mere words. I would suggest that we
stop "calling the kettle black." Television is
Entertainment for the sake of selling soap and cars. What
more would you expect? We reduce great possibilites to
mere "free ridership" for commercial reasons and then complain about the
taste being cheap? Well its supposed to be cheap and appeal
to the baser instincts. That's what selling is all
about. Did anyone see that Tammy Faye has written a
new book about how she's "survived?" I've never seen
such "ass-kissing" of an idiot from all of the serious press in my
life. That wasn't a profanity but a mere statement of
fact. I once saw a Tammy Faye little blond haired
rag doll that when pressed screamed in the ugliest voice you could
imagine "Jesus loves you." Its all down hill from
there. That is profane, black English is just
vernacular street language and is as capable of beauty
as Dylan, the Beatles or Frank Sinatra.
REH
----- 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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