DEBATE: Swear words

[Sage]

Swearing is looked upon by almost all society as a vulgar, course, and dirty way to express one's feelings. In normal conditions, it is a person's right to be able to express themselves in any way they choose, even if it means coming across as an idiotic buffoon who can't control their emotions. Swear words are the extremes of the others. sh** is an extreme form of poop, or as an expletive in place of shoot, darn, drat, uncle, so on. Like all words, there are different shades of meaning for each. They might technically mean the same thing, but the shade of the word comes across as much rougher and darker, and angrier. You can't say they are the same word. If they were, why do we have two of them? To trip and to stumble. To run and to sprint. Basically the same thing, but one if a bit different than the other.

On the topic of a forum, someone who can control their emotions and not use the extremes of the expletives or the insults looks much more poised and in control.  If the admin of the forum wants to have his forum be more clean, professional, and without vulgarity that is his choice. Just like there is a dress code in school, a word filter is absolutely something that can be used on forums for a more controlled, poised, and professional environment for its members.

[Jack Daniels]

Precisely Sage!

So when we look at the arguement:

"Swear words should not be censored or banned regardless of who the audience is."

It ultimately does not matter... because the censorship is going to stem from where the audience is.  And who controls the area/rules that the audience is located.

[frezal]

a word filter is absolutely something that can be used on forums for a more controlled, poised, and professional environment for its members.

Read up on the Alpha X forum rules. Even though a word filter is there, the censored words will also be deleted because kids know what the writer was intended. That's tantamount to deleting "crap", "shoot", "darn", etc.

I'll address the rest of your post later.

[Sage]

a word filter is absolutely something that can be used on forums for a more controlled, poised, and professional environment for its members.

Read up on the Alpha X forum rules. Even though a word filter is there, the censored words will also be deleted because kids know what the writer was intended. That's tantamount to deleting "crap", "shoot", "darn", etc.

I'll address the rest of your post later.

No, it's not tantamount. Like I said before, the words have different levels of meaning, and under the views of the forum Admin (and much of today's society) these words demonstrate a lack of emotional control and poise that he does not want on his forum. It's the same thing as if we ended this debate right now and got into a fist fight over the issue.

[frezal]

No, it's not tantamount.

If I say, "Shoot!" is it not understood that I'm substituting one interjection for another? How is using "Shoot!" any different than using "Sh*t!" or any other censored form of "sh**"?

Like I said before, the words have different levels of meaning, and under the views of the forum Admin (and much of today's society) these words demonstrate a lack of emotional control and poise that he does not want on his forum.

Showing different levels of emotion is sort of why we have a large vocabulary, and have the ability to control our inflection. Forcing people to reduce their vocabulary for strictly arbitrary reasons does nothing but remove emotion from our communication. Speaking of removing emotion, if you want to remove the power of, "**** off!" say it more often. The more these words are used and become part of the popular parlance, the less power they hold. Look at the word "ass". It can be said on network television at non-obscure hours these days. Within a few years, the same will be able to be said of "sh**".

It's the same thing as if we ended this debate right now and got into a fist fight over the issue.

So when I shout out, "sh**!" when I stub my toe, that's the same as punching somebody in the face? What sort of fragile environment did you grow up in?

More to come later.

[123savethewhales]

We can always increase the power of swear word by following it with either a race, gender, religious believe, political stance, etc.  Then again I might not need the swear word if I am going at that direction.  Common words like "dirty" or "stupid" might be enough in those context.

I am sure even a child is capable of finding ways to use existing non censored words, even invent new words, just to insult others.  To think censoring a certain sound or pattern of letters will somehow reduce the level of verbal violence is just nonsense.

The main focus then, isn't to teach children what words not to say, but the attitude in dealing with other people.

[lloopp D lloopp]

It should be allowed,once people don't abuse it,e.g.:Your a ****ing ****er with a *****coated****.And your mom is a ****.

[frezal]

It should be allowed,once people don't abuse it,e.g.:Your a ****ing ****er with a *****coated****.And your mom is a ****.

But that's so absurd that it falls into the realm of comedy.

[Reier]

This all started because Jeff had a hissy fit about not being able to swear on a forum. Come on...
I mean if it doesn't matter, then what's the big deal? Just say the non-offensive one and we'll all be happy.
 

[Sage]

Yea, but debating is fun.

So, lemme start off by saying you contradict yourself. First you say there is absolutely no difference between shoot and sh**, and then you say we limit our emotion and vocabulary by censoring words. As I stated before, sh**, **** and ass are all the words to express whatever emotion to the extreme, and it's these extreme emotions that can take away from the context of a forum, take way the professionalism of the forum, take away the poise, and provide a much more heated and vulgar arena.

When I related this to a fist-fight, I meant the level of emotion. We are having a clam, controlled debate about a topic at the moment. If one of us started swearing, we both know that person would look like they are getting worked up and frustrated, which is something that can't happen in a debate or you know the opponent is getting to you. Using swear words in this debate is like moving from a calm conversation to a heated argument, or from a heated argument to a bare-knuckled fist fight. It's not the exact same thing, but the emotions it represents are the same.

Swearing DOES show a lack of poise and control, and censoring these extremes of expletives is just if the admin of the forum views it as disruptive, troublesome, and stupid. This has nothing to do with free speech.

It seems like your only and last argument is that if we use swear words more often then the effect of them wears off and they become more accepted into society. If that happens, what makes them any different from the accepted expletives we use today, such as shoot, darn, drat, etcetera? If that is what you want the swear words of today to become, why not just use the less extreme versions now and save yourself the trouble of waiting?

[DuckRA2]

swearing can be a way to tell if a person has no control over their keyboard.

In my opinion, swearing should be a thing you can control. Why would it make a difference if somebody read your post as "**ck you", or "f*** you" either way, the same message is being passed. (I think Frezal mentioned something similar) So why not just take out the post until the person is ready to repost it in a tame way.

[lloopp D lloopp]

It should be allowed,once people don't abuse it,e.g.:Your a ****ing ****er with a *****coated****.And your mom is a ****.

But that's so absurd that it falls into the realm of comedy.

I meant that's what it would be if someone DID abuse it.

[Serge]

Leave the ****ing swear words alone. If somebody goes all "**** you", then ban the idiot.
Let's not kid ourselves - most of th "kids" on here know more curse words than the rest of us.
Or you can stop ****'ing them, just do some creative filtering:
f uck -> gently caress
s hit -> love

Et caetera.

[Sparkey98]

In my oppinion i agree with that they should not be around people who swear,beacuse we should not get our sentinces censord just for words like sh** or damn because of the parents who freak out over that, and on some sites where there is a warning for swear words then thats obvious but parents of 5 year old little girls should not ruin it just beacuse of hell or sh**, they should just leave
 
so serge you're saying to say "gently corres you mother gently corresin piece of love get the of the forums gently corres youlife robot arena 2"?

[Sparkey98]

YA SRSLY
 
 

I like owls.......and turtls

[Virus Bomb]

WTF @ this guy

[frezal]

swearing can be a way to tell if a person has no control over their keyboard.

In my opinion, swearing should be a thing you can control. Why would it make a difference if somebody read your post as "**ck you", or "f*** you" either way, the same message is being passed. (I think Frezal mentioned something similar) So why not just take out the post until the person is ready to repost it in a tame way.

I can tell you that everything you believe is a joke, and that is perfectly acceptable. I can say really mean and hateful things while exploiting your weaknesses, and that too would be acceptable. But if I were to say, "F.UCK YOU IN THE NECK!", that would show a lack of control? Why? Nobody has told me a legitimate reason why these words are offensive. All I've received is, "They're offensive because they are."

[Sage]

That is correct. They just are offensive. Why is showing a middle finger offensive? Because we have made it, as a society, that way. Same with swear words. There doesn't NEED to be reason if the reality of it is that there are people who think of them as offensive, and nearly everyone looks at people differently depending on if they swear or not. Would people have voted for Obama if all of his speeches were full of cussing, swearing, and religious or sexual references? Probably not. He has a controlled manner about him, and that is why he is such a good speaker.

[Reier]

I can tell you that everything you believe is a joke, and that is perfectly acceptable.

How can you tell this? Because he does not agree with you?
 

I can say really mean and hateful things while exploiting your weaknesses, and that too would be acceptable.

Why? I could be mean and vulgar and stoop to your level with personal insults, but I haven't. I think you wouldn't like it if someone else insulted you, why should you insult someone else?
 

But if I were to say, "F.UCK YOU IN THE NECK!", that would show a lack of control? Why? Nobody has told me a legitimate reason why these words are offensive. All I've received is, "They're offensive because they are."

Ok, then how about why do you use swear words? If in your opinion they're all the same, why don't you just be nice to the guy who thinks one is worse than the other and say the "non-offensive" one? In addition, if you really did think they were the same, you would use them interchangeably. I have not seen you do that. To be honest, I do not think you really believe this. This is just an excuse to swear.

[Sage]

Good point, Reier.