I choose my words carefully. We’ve been over that before.<\/p>\n
In recent articles on the upcoming television season, one place where network shows are looking to push the envelope is with language, i.e., adding more “swear words,” “cuss words,” etc. This is meant to add a more adult tone, and, of course, to win back folks who have fled to cable (where such language is more common).<\/p>\n
One threshold proposed is to allow characters to use the term “God damn!”<\/p>\n
Now, frankly, such language doesn’t bother me. I figure God has more important things to worry about than such gaffes. However, it does upset others. So I try to watch the occasions when I do it, but it does, on occasion, slip out. And it bothers some people very much when I do let it slip, which makes me feel bad, since I don’t go about intending to bother people, usually (and if I did it would not be that way).<\/p>\n
So why put it onto night time television? Well, arguably, it’s real life. Some people (like me) do <\/i>talk that way, on occasion or regularly. So to never have anyone talk that way is unrealistic.<\/p>\n
Fine. I can buy that. Artistic integrity. That’s important.<\/p>\n
So what about other sorts of invective? We’ll hear people saying “shit,” but when will we hear people called “fags” on Prime Time? Heck, when will we hear characters of color referred to as “niggers”? Sure, it bothers some people to hear those words. But there are <\/i>people out there who use those terms, and other terms of racial and ethnic hatred. To pretend they don’t exist is unrealistic. Doesn’t artistic integrity demand it, when necessary?<\/p>\n
I mean, imagine it. A Law & Order <\/i>episode focusing on racial hatred. You’d expect to hear someone using various perjoritive terms for African-Americans, right? I mean, using such words is part of the story, part of showing that hatred. It’s real<\/i>. Artistic integrity demands it. <\/p>\n
I don’t expect to see it happen any time soon. Which points out to me an unfortunate double standard — that offending some <\/i>people with words is more acceptible than offending some others with words. <\/p>\n
Which doesn’t strike me as being any sort of integrity.<\/p>\n
I don’t like to see people offended. But if we’re going to offend some people in pursuit of realism, of art, of the message we want to convey, we should be willing to offend anyone<\/i>. And if not — then let’s not wrap ourselves in the cloaks of realism and art.<\/p>\n
[It occurs to me that some people might not be able to load this page because of some of the words I’ve used above. You can guess which ones. You can also probably guess which ones would not be grounds for blocking. Interesting, isn’t it?]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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You can take the poll here: I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/dictionary.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":128232,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/05\/of-the-f-bomb-and-personal-vocabulary-kinks.html","url_meta":{"origin":573,"position":1},"title":"Of the F-Bomb and Personal Vocabulary Kinks","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Oct-15 2:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It is perhaps a sign of my long years that I do not comfortably use that particular four-letter word. Growing up, that was the nuclear option of vocabulary, the worst possible word one could use. The \"F\" word trumped even the \"S\" word, being not only an obscenity but related\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/0671dfcb75f05e1fcbbb9a14543592bc5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":129649,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/05\/when-you-have-official-language-police-things-can-get-ugly.html","url_meta":{"origin":573,"position":2},"title":"When you have Official Language Police, things can get ugly","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 5-Feb-16 11:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The French are known for being ... um ... determined to intentionally maintain the purity of their tongue, to officially deprecate word imports in favor of their own native words, etc.But that sort of sentiment can draw flak when the government officially makes changes to the language.'French linguistic purists have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128453,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/28\/words-mean-things-civil-war-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":573,"position":3},"title":"Words Mean Things (Civil War Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 28-Oct-15 5:02am","format":false,"excerpt":"Language evolves and changes. 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