Don't Censor Me!
Asterisks are a familiar site to most people on the internet. We all know what **** means… Well actually we only have an idea as to what it could be because there are several four letter words that are censored.
What words do they censor? Well it’s mainly curse words, after all censoring beaver or box is absurd. Fuck, shit, damn, ass, bitch, cunt, dick and prick seem to be the most popular words to censor. Should you dare to write those letters on a site that opposes freedom of speech you’ll be hit with a succession of asterisks where there should be a swear word.
Rarely will you floozy, broad, concubine, courtesan, harlot, loose woman, strumpet or tart censored. But you’ll sure as hell see whore censored (as well as the slang “ho” and the, sadly, oft-used hoe). What’s the big deal? Well they all refer to the same thing, a prostitute or “loose woman”. So why do people feel comfortable saying that there is a “beaver” on the Canadian five cent piece and uncomfortable saying cunt? They both refer to the same thing. If one is banned then the other should be too.
Unfortunately we can’t ban beaver on television, that would cause confusion whereas if we only ban certain words (taboo words like fuck) we don’t get any backlash. Well at least not from anyone whose opinion we’re interested in hearing.
It’s the first step to censoring everything we say. Oh we probably won’t see that in our lifetime, but our children or our grandchildren probably will. As more and more people try to force their own personal values upon us, sometimes by getting elected leader of a powerful country, we lose more and more freedom. North America isn’t in moral decline, if anything our morals are getting higher and higher, unfortunately the morals took a right turn a few years back and the morals that we have now are stifling and against anything that allows anyone to do/say anything they want with themselves or their own body.
I have to wonder at what is so terrible about swear words. The meaning is the same whether or not you use swear words. I hate fucking fags. They piss me off and make me fucking see blood red.
vs. I abhor those who are of a homosexual nature. They make me very angry and when I see one I practically see red.
Did removing the swear words and replacing them with so-called “safe words” make the message any less hateful? Any less than what it was? Nope. Then did it make it any better? No. So why would the first be frowned upon by right wing conservatives more so than the second. So why would the first be censored and the second left publicly viewable. Because the first has swears in it! It’s worse than the second because it uses profane language!
I hate that some people feel that the only instance in which freedom of speech should be allowed is when it is completely non-offensive and doesn’t contradict their views. So long as it isn’t offensive to them it’s okay. We should all be allowed to voice our own opinions, with any words we please, without fear of being told to rephrase using more friendly words.
Argue with me. Make fun of me or tell me to shut up because I’m an idiot. But don’t censor the words I use when I speak because there are more important issues in the world today. Like how people are trying to censor what we’re allowed to say because certain words offend them.
Remember, you are responsible for what you see. If you see something that offends you then walk (or run) away, change the channel or tune into a different radio station. If you don’t like seeing swear words on the internet then I suggest you find yourself a filter. Just don’t ask the owners to censor their visitors because you don’t like a few words. It’s pompous and idiotic to think that your personal values are above the right to say what you please no matter how offensive the message.
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#1
Well, when I was 9 or whatever, I really wasn’t comfortable with profanity in real life, and the internet. I’m okay with it now, of course – but if I meet someone new.. then I’d feel more comfortable if they didn’t swear in every sentance. (hai, people go out side my door and are like “DO YOU WANT ME TO KICK YOUR FUCKIN’ HEAD IN?” it skurrz me)
Yeah.
#2
Hmm. Bleeping out profanity on a Web site isn’t ‘opposing freedom of speech’. In most cases, it has nothing to do with freedom of speech at all. It’s about people who control their own, privately-owned medium of publication being able to decide what they do and don’t want to appear on it. I have a profanity filter on my site, because I don’t like four-letter words and don’t want them on the space that I pay for. That’s all.
Now, if the government decreed that person X could not swear on the Web space that person X themself paid for, that would be a violation of freedom of speech. But if person X doesn’t own their own space, then person Y who does own space has no obligation to publish the writings of person X.
It bothers me to see this so common misconception in debates on the Internet: that freedom of speech (a right of the individual in relation to the government) gets confused with access to the means of publication (which a person does not have as a right).
Hi I'm Becky, often referred to as The Knitting Hillbilly and Pussybear, owner of this site and general nuisance. I'm a knitter, serial complainer, known whistle blower and I run the ever popular
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