I was watching a YouTube video of a science series that I enjoy. The female host does a wonderful job of explaining current happenings with intelligence and flair. And as an added bonus, she has an accent (I know, we all have accents, but hers isn't mine), which makes listening even that much more enjoyable.
On this particular episode, she was reading some of the YouTube "hate mail" she has received. Why? To show us, her audience, what kind of morons are out there. Very little of what she read dealt with the content of her videos. There were a few, but no one provided any form of opposing viewpoint: just vitriol. The comments were of a very hateful and personal nature.
What surprised me the most was NOT the flagrant use of the "F" word (you know the one: rhymes with "truck"). Nor was it the use of the "C" word (that one rhymes with "hunt"). It was that the "C" word was "bleeped", whereas the "F" word (and about every other known swear word) was used outright. (I'm reminded of a comment by the comedian Lewis Black: "You might think I use the word f*** a lot. Well, I don't give a s***. I'm from New York, and in New York "f***" is not a swear word; it's a comma!")
Which brings me to the point: the "C" word has become the new "F" word. Maybe we as a society have become so desensitized to the "F" word that we no longer find it offensive. My question is, why are any words still considered offensive? In a society of openness and acceptance (okay, maybe not across the board, but it's getting closer), should anything anyone says be considered offensive? Doesn't it fall more upon the hearers than the speakers? And if so, doesn't that say something about the attitudes of the hearers?
I could get all sensitive at this point and cry out against the fall of culture, but frankly, I really don't give a f***.
© Emittravel 2014
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