Profanity

Why are we so pedantic about profanity? It seems that basically everything else is accepted in the media nowadays, but the moment someone uses stronger language than an Amish granny with a broken wagon, everyone loses their minds.

How can it be possible for a movie or TV show to showcase people being shot, abused or engaging in self-destructive behaviour but not swearing? How can Anakin Skywalker massacre a temple full of children (granted, offscreen but come on), cut off a guy’s hand, choke his wife to unconsciousness, get his limbs chopped off and graphically get burned to near death, all in the span of a single movie, but not even use the word damn? Revenge of the Sith is rated PG 13, by the way, in case you’re going to get on my case about how it’s not meant for little children. Meanwhile, the same rating is also given to Philomena, a movie based on the story of a mother looking for the son that was taken from her, and this is after it was originally rated R before the age limit was lowered. Why? Because the movie uses the word “fuck”, and only a few times to boot. Can I reiterate that this is a movie about a little old Irish lady and a reporter looking for a forcibly adopted child? No dismembering or murder included. And it was originally rated higher than The Walking Dead or Death Note, both of which feature more willy-nilly killing than a goddamn playthrough of Grand Theft Auto V (rated 18+).

How can my precious copy of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker be rated for ages six and up when the final battle includes you stabbing a man through his skull, but movies containing the word “fuck” have to be rated PG 13? Seriously?

Is there some kind of magic power surrounding these words that I’m not aware of?

I, like most people my age, grew up surrounded by media: television, the Internet, video games, you name it. And as far as I recall, it’s a lot more haunting to watch (and read about) an enormous fucking snake trying to kill preteen wizards than hear Tom Cruise say “fuck” one time in a two-hour movie. I didn’t suddenly decide that hearing “bad” words on screen somehow made them more acceptable to say. That was all my peers’ and friends’ doing, like it is with most kids. Learning these words might be faulted to the TV but using them should not be. I learned the word “sycophant” from watching TV, but I didn’t go around yelling it to everyone who would listen.

This is not some kind of crusade against violence, sex, drinking or anything like that. I like action, horror and terrible problem-solving skills as much as the next person. I just don’t understand how we somehow draw this line in the sand when it comes to language. Shouldn’t it be the opposite? Shouldn’t it be okay for someone to use graphic language rather than commit graphic or disturbing actions? Shouldn’t we be telling people that it’s better to let out steam verbally rather than physically? Shouldn’t we have a right to express our opinions as strongly as we want to? I don’t know about you, but while it would make a less interesting scene, I would love to see the vigilante cop to tell a criminal to get fucked and arrest him rather than cave in his face with his hairy fist. There are even studies that prove swearing alleviates physical pain. It’s good for you. In case you want more info on the topic, search for the words hypoalgesic effect of swearing online. There’s been a lot of research in this field.

Profanity is not the same as derogatory, you know. By writing this article I don’t mean that we should all get up and start swearing and cursing at the person who makes us angry. But in my media-saturated mind there’s a big difference between saying “Oh, fuck!” before your car crashes into a tree and yelling racial slurs at strangers. One is an expression of powerful emotion, the other is spreading hatred and negative feelings. And I can tell you right off the bat that there is and should always be a difference between the two.

I just feel like we’re making way too big a deal out of swearing, because it’s the one “bad thing” we’ve not yet allowed into mainstream media and we want to retain some moral high ground. And it isn’t working. It doesn’t make you seem like some kind of moral beacon to campaign against obscene language when you allow every other kind of graphic content to be broadcasted. It makes you seem like a hypocrite.

Or maybe it’s just me.