The Effects of Profanity
By Isabel Prontes E-How
Types
There are many types of ways to engage in profanity. For example, using the F word lightly for emphasis without it having any direct meaning or purpose. Another way to use profanity is to use it to insult or degrade somebody else whether directly or indirectly. The effects of profanity also completely change depending upon your audience. You must always be aware of your surroundings when using profanity as it can change what you are saying entirely from innocent chatter with friends to something dangerous and damaging to other parties.
Effects
Another seriously negative effect of cursing and profanity is that engaging in it too much can make it hard to stop yourself in situations when you definitely shouldn't be doing it like at work or during a job interview. If you spend most of your free hours using bad words, then it's likely that it will spill over into your workday and get you into some serious trouble with your boss and coworkers.
Warning
One warning about profanity is that it automatically gives others who hear you using it a chance to judge you, no matter if they know you or not. Be aware of that when you speak because you absolutely do not want to give strangers (or even people you know) the power to be able to label you based on the way you speak. So always think before you speak, and only use profanity around appropriate individuals.
FORT COLLINS, Colorado (CNN) -- The College Republicans, a student organization at Colorado State University, weren't planning anything special for the last week of September. Then on September 21, David McSwane, the editor-in-chief of The Rocky Mountain Collegian, the daily student newspaper, printed the four-word column that sparked a national free speech debate and sent the College Republicans into action, writing a petition to force him to resign.
"Taser this: F**k Bush" was printed on the opinion page of the newspaper, causing CSU president Larry Penley to issue a formal statement and the Board of Student Communications to plan a meeting for Wednesday night. During the meeting they will decide on the fate of McSwane and his future involvement with the publication.
"We'll present our petition to the board at the meeting," said student Chelsey Penoyer, the chairman of the College Republicans." We're petitioning that he should resign on his own. The petition also urges students to think twice before going to businesses who continue advertising with The Collegian."
In a confidential memo mistakenly released to the local newspaper, The Coloradoan, Fort Collins businesses have already pulled out $30,000 in advertising with The Collegian, which relies completely on external revenue to operate, not student fees. According to the memo, to make up for the loss, student employee wages were cut by 10 percent, the newspaper reported. McSwane confirmed the memo after its release. McSwane has defended his actions, referring to the incident involving a college student who was Tasered at a recent John Kerry speech in Florida. He said that his decision was exercising his right to free speech. He refused to comment for this story.
Students around the CSU campus expressed a majority feeling that while they felt McSwane's right to free speech should be protected, many of them felt as though he misused it. "At first I totally supported him and the paper," said senior Evan Isoline, who read the initial column when it came out. "I thought he was making a political statement and then throwing away his college career at the paper. I thought he would resign right away. "Now you look at it and it's like, 'Taser this. Taser what?' The issue isn't even about President Bush. If you're going to stand up for something like that you have to have something to back it up. You have to believe in something."
Some students however have stopped in to the newsroom in support of the paper's actions. "I completely support him and the paper for their decision," said Alesia Gifford, vice president of the Young Democrats, another political student organization. "In this society we are taking a step backwards, especially with the free speech debate. President Bush has lost our respect as a country. "At some point we have to stand up for our rights. [McSwane] was just showing that speech, even when explicit, should always be protected by the First Amendment."
Many more students however were shocked at the paper's decision and failed to see the political stance they took. In addition to writing a column they felt lacked substance; students also were concerned of what it would do to the university's image. "It makes the students at Colorado State look like a bunch of uneducated children who don't have anything intelligent to say," Penoyer said. "So we just yell bad words."
1. What do you think the cartoon means in connection to the article? Do you agree with it?
2. Did the college newspaper have the right to print the F-word in response to something the President did? Why or why not?
3. Consider the use of obscenities…
What is the definition of an obscenity?
In what circumstances are you most likely or tempted to use obscenities?
What risks do you take when you use obscenities?
Can you ever use obscenities without risk?
Have you ever been somewhere where someone was using an obscenity and it made you uncomfortable?
Can the use of an obscenity emotionally or physically harm someone? If so, in what circumstances are they harmful?
Is it ever appropriate to use and obscenity? When might that be?
Do you believe our country is becoming desensitized to obscenities? Consider the article in your answer.