Public Vulgarity

Public Vulgarity

This may seem a silly thing...however, as a parent I do understand the sentiment. I cannot speak for your neck of the woods, dear readers, but here in Seattle I very frequently come across a bumper sticker that uses vulgarity - almost always with regard to our current president.

I suppose I would complain more about this nonsense if I had better control over my own tongue, but none-the-less it is striking to me that one would feel inclined to make official and public their inability to control their mouths by spending money on printing such words and pasting them to their vehicles. And besides, expletives of any sort make for rather poor intellectual arguments.

There was once a time when uttering vulgarities was a sure sign of poor education, lack of intelligence, or in general unacceptable manners. Cussing simply meant you lacked the ability to properly articulate and communicate yourself and thus, for those who uttered them frequently, it showed they were stupid. That's the argument I generally give to my kids for avoiding the use of such language and so when Daddy racks his head on something and is unable to properly communicate his pain, he is in fact being stupid and should strive to articulate better. More than that, though, it also demonstrates a lack of self-control.

The scriptures and the Father warn us about controlling the tongue. If words you deem inappropriate escape it from time to time, I'll bet other tongue control issues are at play as well (e.g. gossip). It is not the eyes that are the window to your heart or soul...it's your tongue! And so, putting such things into print is all the more demonstrative of self-control issues - a sign of surrender perhaps?

Is swearing becoming more acceptable? Are kids allowed to swear at school today? In my day, cussing was worthy of discipline...I've no idea what they do today. I recently watched the film "Knocked Up" and while I'll admit I don't see many pop comedies these days, I was taken aback by the number of F-Bombs dropped and the overall crude conversation in this film. I never counted, but they were astonishingly common throughout. I found it distracting and unnecessary. But clearly I am a minority in this regard.

I suppose if society as a whole finds such language or the display of male anatomy on trailer hitches perfectly fine what can I say about it? What can or should I do about it?

Right now a gentleman named Ezra Levant is being investigate and interrogated by the Canadian "Human Rights" Commission for republishing the infamous Muhammed Cartoons. You can find video of many of his statements during the interrogation HERE. I wholly support Mr. Levant and I think he does a brilliant job of demonstrating the insanity of PC thought police power being handed more and more to our government authorities. As if we do not already get enough PC burdens to carry in our places of employment (what we can or cannot say), it seems we can expect the same in everyday life. But at what point does such sensitivity for offended peoples apply to conservative religious folks like myself who prefer not to have to explain to my kids what exactly is dangling from some low-brow gorilla's trailer hitch? Or why some hippie activist's hybrid apparently wants to have intimate relations with George Bush?

Am I having a hypocritical moment here? Perhaps. I do not believe we can legislate society into coming to believe that such displays soil ourselves. And frankly, my own sins do far more damage to my kids than does public vulgarity. None-the-less, if the representative from Virginia can pass his legislation and retain his seat, then I suppose we show that the majority of people agree that hitches are no place for such absurdities. And I will not hide being pleased seeing such a result...stupid free speech isn't really free, it does cost us something. But that's a judgment call...I just happen to judge well.

I should be in charge of the thought police.