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link590o
Profanity is certainly a heated topic around here. However, I must object and pose a psychological reason for why I personally do not believe in profanity of any kind.
It starts off with what language is in general. Language is plainly and simply word association. If I say chainsaw, you immediately think of the piece of machinery with an engine that rotates a chain with blades attached, and is commonly used to chop down trees or hack off tree limbs. Or if I say car, you think of our modern equipment with wheels that gets us from point A to B.
Since association is language, then it is easy to say that curse words can easily be made into normal meaningless words. It is simply a matter of using the word in another context. If I were to use such a word in ordinary speech, and associate it with a positive or neutral image, then it would lose its negative meaning.
This works the same way as if you were to say the same word in your head over and over. Eventually, you forget what it is that you're supposed to think of. Or you wonder why it means what it does. Using profanity could easily work the same way.
It's in that sense that you could argue that profanity should be ENCOURAGED, if anything. The words will lose their negative connotations, lose their appeal, and eventually people won't care, or won't even use them anymore because they've grown so insipid and unexciting.
If nothing else, I would at least like to ask you to think of a "profane" word, and ask yourself why it means that, and why it should mean that. Or rather, why it shouldn't.
It's understandable to ask that a post be gentlemanly and proper. I do NOT dispute this one bit. What I object to is the stance on profanity. When you're in a group in a specific situation, then the language used changes to best fit the situation. If people talk a certain way around certain people, they think that their speech pattern is good enough for any situation similar to it, and feel they shouldn't go out of their way to make a false impression.
Therefore, my stance is a carefully considered one. It's based around a level of respect. I have differing levels of respect for different people. If they're the same age I am, then I'm likely going to use normal language. If they're a complete stranger that I have never seen or heard from before, I'll clean up my act. Or if they're someone of high status and have earned my respect, I'll certainly use respectful language. Or anyone that earns my respect in general. I'll express myself the same way they do out of respect.
You could argue that cleaning my language around certain people means I'm not staying true to myself, and that I'm conforming. However, since I base my language around my levels of respect, I'm staying 100% true. My speech is merely a reflection of my attitude and piety.
I hearby proclaim that I am in strong accordance with the belief that there is no such thing as bad language, since it is nothing but a bunch of letters associated with an image the wrong way. I also believe that the attempted restraint of the use of such words is only another problem rather than a solution. It's like trying to mix oil and water. It's just not going to work. People will simply wait until they're out of ear-shot, or away from the computer, and go about using those words despite your best efforts. If we were to instead dissolve the oil, then we'd be all set.
I ask you all as friends and fellow peers to look further into the idea of profanity. You don't have to agree with me. But I think it would be cool if we all banded together to turn such negativity into meaningless speech.
It starts off with what language is in general. Language is plainly and simply word association. If I say chainsaw, you immediately think of the piece of machinery with an engine that rotates a chain with blades attached, and is commonly used to chop down trees or hack off tree limbs. Or if I say car, you think of our modern equipment with wheels that gets us from point A to B.
Since association is language, then it is easy to say that curse words can easily be made into normal meaningless words. It is simply a matter of using the word in another context. If I were to use such a word in ordinary speech, and associate it with a positive or neutral image, then it would lose its negative meaning.
This works the same way as if you were to say the same word in your head over and over. Eventually, you forget what it is that you're supposed to think of. Or you wonder why it means what it does. Using profanity could easily work the same way.
It's in that sense that you could argue that profanity should be ENCOURAGED, if anything. The words will lose their negative connotations, lose their appeal, and eventually people won't care, or won't even use them anymore because they've grown so insipid and unexciting.
If nothing else, I would at least like to ask you to think of a "profane" word, and ask yourself why it means that, and why it should mean that. Or rather, why it shouldn't.
It's understandable to ask that a post be gentlemanly and proper. I do NOT dispute this one bit. What I object to is the stance on profanity. When you're in a group in a specific situation, then the language used changes to best fit the situation. If people talk a certain way around certain people, they think that their speech pattern is good enough for any situation similar to it, and feel they shouldn't go out of their way to make a false impression.
Therefore, my stance is a carefully considered one. It's based around a level of respect. I have differing levels of respect for different people. If they're the same age I am, then I'm likely going to use normal language. If they're a complete stranger that I have never seen or heard from before, I'll clean up my act. Or if they're someone of high status and have earned my respect, I'll certainly use respectful language. Or anyone that earns my respect in general. I'll express myself the same way they do out of respect.
You could argue that cleaning my language around certain people means I'm not staying true to myself, and that I'm conforming. However, since I base my language around my levels of respect, I'm staying 100% true. My speech is merely a reflection of my attitude and piety.
I hearby proclaim that I am in strong accordance with the belief that there is no such thing as bad language, since it is nothing but a bunch of letters associated with an image the wrong way. I also believe that the attempted restraint of the use of such words is only another problem rather than a solution. It's like trying to mix oil and water. It's just not going to work. People will simply wait until they're out of ear-shot, or away from the computer, and go about using those words despite your best efforts. If we were to instead dissolve the oil, then we'd be all set.
I ask you all as friends and fellow peers to look further into the idea of profanity. You don't have to agree with me. But I think it would be cool if we all banded together to turn such negativity into meaningless speech.