Oi: Get The F-bomb Outta Here Edition

The other day I was reading something about how some guy was in trouble for using the N-word on air. MSNBC just the other day posted something about about a pilot that got suspended from his job for “dropping the F-bomb” while on a cell call pre-flight (although at one point he did swear at a passenger, but still). South Park got an entire episode out of using the sh!t on “quasi-public TV”.

What the fuck is wrong with you all?

I mean honestly… if you’re going to go through the trouble of writing an article about obscenities and racial slurs, and all of the “bad stuff” that people say, why not just report that? Why aren’t you calling the “forbidden” words the generic term of obscenities and leave it at that? What is all of this mamby pamby “-word” bullshit? Oh yeah, I said bullshit. I’ll said it again:

It’s all bullshit.

If you’re going to allude to what people said, have balls enough to quote it. If it’s one of the Seven Dirty Words that are forbidden by the FCC why are you still spelling it out for the readers/watchers? Does anyone else see the hypocrisy of it all?

And since when is the N-word nigger one of the magical Seven? I’m not going to argue the merits of using it or not using it. I just know that mick, slope, zipperhead, wop, chink, dego, polack, shovelhead, nip, cracker, honky, spic, and gringo can all be used without fines or issue. At least not at the level that we’ve seen over the last few years. It might raise an eyebrow, sure, but not massive outcry from those offended.

Hell, Imus used the term “nappy-headed hos” and Sharpton is out for blood now. It’s his choice to do so, obviously, but if he is publically dismissed, aren’t things being slightly tilted for one group of people over another? On this issue, I give props to Jesse Jackson for his comment in the article: “If he has a right to use that platform to insult and degrade then we have a moral obligation to picket NBC and to protest,” Jackson said. “If he can violate us in that platform in the name of free speech we’ll be picketing NBC in the name of free speech.” [MSNBC]. Best comment I’ve heard over stuff like this for some time, because he’s dead-on accurate. [Although I have to admit that seeing as Imus made the comment to seven basketball players not a race or gender, I’m not sure why someone who’s not on the team is pissed off, but that’s a whole other topic.]

From my point of view the mass media needs to make a decision. They either need to unload all of the taboos and allow whatever words they want or they need to stay more generic for terms. “Swearing??? What about the children?!” If a child read anything with one of these “N-word” or “F-bomb” words, wouldn’t you think that they’re going to want to know what it is? Now you have to explain that it stands for a bad word. When – and I do mean when – they hear it from another source, they’re going to learn what that word means anyway. If they find out the “F-bomb” and fuck mean the same thing, all of that “projection” becomes useless. Maybe if they see the word fuck in an article or hear it on the radio, we can skip a step. Hey, maybe parents will have to talk to their kids more – it’s pretty well documented that kids only say “bad” words because they know it gets a rise outta their parents: testing boundaries and all that rot.

Besides, look at all of the negative words they learn just by reading about the government – be it president, senator, or congressman – in the news these days… you’d have to explain why it’s OK for reports to call someone an idiot or moron but kids shouldn’t do that. I say that if you’re going to go for it, go FTW: allow it all.

Then again, what does an asshole like me know anyway? *g*


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