Censorship of cuss words

[Mr. Wilde]

Just curious and want to know what you think.

From Internet message boards to newspapers, every time a cuss word comes up, it's hidden behind stars. In TV shows it's beeped out, and movie rating boards like the MPAA give movies an R when there is one mother****er. When movies want to get a PG-13 rating, they have to cut at least the ****er part out. But when a scifi show like Battlestar Galactica invents the word motherfrakker, it's not censored. Nowhere. This board doesn't censor it, newspapers don't censor it, movie rating boards don't censor it, although the meaning is exactly the same, and everyone knows that.

Hence my question: why censor and hide cuss words anyways?

On these boards, when I call someone an ugly mother****er, I'm going to be punished for that. And you, who's being called a mother****er, will be pissed off. There's no difference if the word **** is hidden or not, everyone knows which word is hidden there, and you get the meaning anyways. And you're not punished for the word, but for your behavior against others. When I call someone an ugly motherfrakker, it will be exactly the same. You will still be pissed of, because I called you a motherfrakker. Yet the difference it, that the word frak isn't censored.

The argument: "it's hidden so kids under a certain age can't see it" doesn't count anymore since TV shows come up with their own synonyms for the word, which isn't censored by no type of media. It doesn't matter if they yell mother****er or motherfrakker all over the schoolyard, they insult each other either way.

It's clearly an issue of political correctness, but it's again one of those things that doesn't make any sense at all. Does or did anyone ever think hiding a cuss word behind stars makes it seem less offensive? It clearly isn't the case, as mentioned above.

Which leads to the next question: how long will it take for the word frak (and every association with it) to be censored? And what will be the next word, very similar to the predecessor, but unaffected by censorship?


The **** and frak case came to mind initially, but there are other examples, like **** and crap. "You're a pile of ****!" is as insulting as "You're a pile of crap!", yet only one of them is censored.


Those of you who have kids, how long did you/ do you/ are you going to prevent them from cuss words, and when is the point where you just finally permit it? What's your take on this?


I myself actually don't care about swear word censorship when writing stuff on the boards. I'm usually not insulting people anyways. Sometime are "This is ****ing insane", but that's all. But when you start to think about it, it's quite paradoxal.


Hmm, I realize this might open a can of worms again, as most discussions of
this type. If this leads to a flame war with beheadings and quarterings, I'm sorry for that.

[jimi kane]

You make a good point.

For me, I dont like to cuss as sometimes it offends people, so just as a common courtesy I dont do it.

Oh, and a point on the children cussing, in my kneck of the woods, kids swear more than adults (and I do mean 4 upwards)

[Darkness]

****

[traq]

I read the wiki article on the word F*** last night. Good read.

As to censorship, it's the wrong answer. I'm a preschool teacher, and I know from experience that the only way to get rid of an undesirable, pissy, angry, mean behavior (such as cursing may be) is to teach a strategy for expressing yourself and feeling better without hurting other people in the process. It takes time, patience, skill, patience, ...anyway. If you spank or wash the mouth out with soap (no, I don't do either of those), all you end up with is kids who know not to swear around you unless it's *really* worth it.

The meanness is the underlying issue here. People swear casually and mean nothing by it. I'd still rather not hear it in certain situations or company, but if it's not mean and insulting, I don't really mind. People who swear casually because they've learned to be @$$holes and like upsetting other people, that's a different story. All they really need is a good , and I'll give it to them.

[edit] LOL, the word F*** in my hyperlink was censored. guess you'll have to find the article by yourselves

[Darkness]

That damn word is being said all the time everywhere, what ****ing use is it to censor it in a forum ...

[NightShadow]

As a parent with a 10 y/o boy and a 14 y/o girl, I can honestly say that the topic of cussing has definitely come up in our household. My wife and I put it to the kids like this: until you learn how to cuss appropriately (a time/place for everything and considering your audience and the subject matter and the purpose behind it, etc., etc.) you will not be permitted to cuss in our presence until you are old enough to drive a car (where we assume that cussing will most likely occur, considering how traffic is in our area).

On occasion, our kids test the waters with it. If they muck it up, we tell them, "Nice try, but no cigar. Find another way to express yourself, please." And they take it in good humor because we don't harp on 'em about it. If they let something slip because they've stubbed a toe or are in a heated argument, we don't mention it- they're growing up and deserve to take chances sometimes, just like everyone else, y'know?

And, frankly, my wife and I don't censor ourselves around the kids. My own mother taught me how to cuss (and WELL, I might add!) and I intend to offer the same courtesy towards my own kids. I don't cuss unnecessarily or for shock value, which is an important lesson to teach- it's a form of communication and should be treated with respect. That said, I've been slowly working myself away from the "F-word" and started using "frack" as much as possible. I do this, mostly, for the benefit of my son.

I firmly believe that our kids probably cuss like sailors when we're not around. I know I did when I was their age(s) and I thought I was cool as hell because of it. But under my mother's kind tutelage, I have learned how, when and under what circumstances to do it- and that has made a significant difference in my social engineering skills. So if I can teach my kids the same lessons my mother taught me, I think I will have done them a great service in the future. Point in fact, my 14 y/o daughter tends to cuss around me quite frequently (I'm honestly the more liberal parent), but I've definitely noticed that she's employing the lessons I've taught her and she does it less nowadays, not because we disapprove but because she's learning that cussing isn't always necessary just to get an idea across.

[Shadowman99]

Censoring words is a bunch of shizzle.

[HawkMan]

For me I don\t care, well not as far as TV shows go anyway, cussing is natural, and it\s natual to do it on TV. and over here, they aren\t beeped or blurred unless the show was made in the US. But comedy shows and stuff that are filmed here, natually include cussing as part of the characters vocabulary, and neither are they beeped on documentaries and t/shirts are\t blurred because they contain logos that didn\t pay for advertising.

For internet forums though... I can go either way, I don\t see any reason to cuss on a forum, or to allow it. So I figure it\s up to the peopel running the forum what they want.

[Mauiman]

With all of this being said. There can be a point system. And the points can be used to get us some in forum stuff such as some exclussive meshes and such. But there is a catch... If you cuss your points will go into the cuss can for which a drawing can be done and every one is automattically entered into the drawing and the winner gets all of the points. So if you don't cuss in a post... You can get some 10 points for the first 10 posts that you don't cuss in. and after that you will get 20 for the many after and if you cuss you will lose some 5 points.

Tell me what you think of this.. Do you like it or do you not. this is a "Yes I like it" or a "No I don't like it" and a "What?" question.

[HawkMan]

pointless