Decency Group Says "$#*!" Is Indecent

The Parents Television Council says the "$#*!" in the title of the upcoming CBS show $#*! my dad says is indecent. From the article: "'CBS intentionally chose to insert an expletive into the actual name of a show, and, despite its claim that the word will be bleeped, it is just CBS's latest demonstration of its contempt for families and the public,' declared PTC President Tim Winter. 'There are an infinite number of alternatives that CBS could have chosen, but its desire to shock and offend is crystal clear in this decision.'" By this logic Qbert was the filthiest game ever made.

What can they do about my brain?

[Gopal.V]

What do the decency groups know about indecency?

(. ) ( .)

Are these decent? I'm sorry, you can't wash out the filth out of my brain ... you can try, but I see the a-style logo [astyle.it] and I see what I see, because of the filth in *my* brain.

If you see the same ... well *giggle*

Re:All I have to say is:

[gyrogeerloose]

I think you meant to post "$#*! the $#*!ing $#*!ers!"

Actually, in this context, $#*! stands for shit, not fuck. As in Shit My Dad Says [shitmydadsays.com].

Re:Fuck right off.

[colonelquesadilla]

The definition of some words as "bad" and others as "good" is more or less arbitrary and generally classist. For example the expletive in question, shit, derives from old english (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shit). Oddly enough the polite words such as feces seem to derive from latin. The vulgar word (in the literal sense, meaning of the common people) became considered impolite, as it sucks to be a common peasant. Now hundreds of years later in a society that prides itself on not having nobility, and helped the french decapitate most of theirs, we still cling to the idea that vulgar words are bad, and latin and greek ones are better, to the point that we allow the FCC to regulate speech and the press on the flimsy excuse that the airwaves they regulate are a scarce resource. Don't you just hate people sometimes?

Re:Bad words defined

[DavidTC]

Oh yeah?

Why is 'crap' not a bad word, then? Please explain the distinction between 'shit' and 'crap' for all of us. Likewise, the distinction between 'whiz', 'piss', and 'pee'.

And what the hell does toilet training have to do with anything? You're just trying to exclude 'childish' words like 'poop', but that's a rather idiotic slang distinction and doesn't have much to do with anything.

Likewise, the word 'sex', itself, is fairly new slang. The first recorded instance of it referring to intercourse is barely 80 years old, before that, it referred entirely to the distinction between male and female. It's from 'sexual intercourse', which actually meant 'intercourse with the parts of the body that differ between men and women'. Which poses some interesting etymological issues when speaking of 'gay sex', as that would be the opposite of sex, but whatever.

And yet nowadays we have judges talking about 'sex acts' and whatnot. (Which would technically mean 'acts that differ between the sex'.) Language changes. Slang changes to language, languages becomes outdated. Words become offensive, or acceptable.

And you really need to just accept that we just made up the damn distinctions. There seems to be a medical and legal exception, in that no matter what the word is, no one can actually complain if you're using those terms in that sense, but the rest of the distinction, the entire

Incidentally, bastard is a legal term. It's not used that often in the modern era because a) not a lot of law rely anymore on whether or not someone is born in wedlock (Inheritance law based on that actually was ruled unconstitutional in the US.), and b) it is gender specific. However, it is still a legal term, especially in places [wikipedia.org] that do hereditary titles. (And note that's the least offensive term..the other term is, believe it or not, 'whoreson'.)

Re:Fuck right off.

[isorox]

As someone who has read English literature for the last 400 years

Bloody hell you're an old bugger. Or did you mean from the last 400 years?

Re:Do these people live in reality?

[camperdave]

In fact, the entire Bible doesn't condemn 'bad language' in any sense unless it involves the name of God. There's not a single word in the entire Bible that could be construed, in any manner whatsoever, as saying you shouldn't say 'fuck'.

Of course not. It is an English word, and English hadn't been invented yet. However, you're wrong about the bible not condemning bad language:

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Mat 5:22

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

James 3:9-11

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Ephesians 4:29

You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Colossians 3:7-8

Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

Proverbs 4:24

Re:All I have to say is:

[atrocious cowpat]

You might as well have given the literary source for this quote. [google.com]
;)

Re:All I have to say is:

[PopeRatzo]

The "Parents Television Council" represents only their own bizarre agenda and its pretty insulting when they claim to represent all parents.

It's worth mentioning who's behind this phony "Parents Television Council".

The PTC was founded by L. Brent Bozell III (you know the initial for a first name is a bad sign), a nephew of ur-conservative William F. Buckley. He is also the founder of the Conservative News Service (CNS), the Conservative Political Action Conference, and Conservative Communications Center (CCC). Apparently, he is a conservative.

In 2006, Bozell founded the Culture and Media Institute, a branch of his own Media Research Council, whose mission is to reduce what he claims to be a "negative liberal influence on American morality, culture, and religious liberty".

Brent Bozell is a one-man astroturf machine, and is a major conduit of what is knows as "wingnut welfare" whereby money is collected from people thinking they're going to "stop indecency on television" or "fight the negative liberal influence on America" and is used to fund Republican campaigns and spent keeping Far-Right radio "personalities" on the air in markets where they would otherwise lose money due to low ratings. He specializes in creating groups with "Morality" or "Freedom" or "Liberty" or "Parents" or "Family" in the name yet tend to be little more than Bozell himself putting out press releases and raising funds. He is on the board of the Catholic League, that "fights defamation against Catholics and the Catholic faith" and and has served on the board of the American Conservative Union. In 2007, he resigned as president of the Parents Television Council in order to have more time to fuck goats, however he remains on the "advisory council" of the PTC (in other words, he's the only member).

Brent Bozell is also a ginger and I defy you to look at a picture of him and not conclude that he is a major tool [blogspot.com]picture of him and not conclude that he is a major tool. As my grandmom used to say, "Evil tends to identify itself in the face, in and around the eyes".

In 2009, with the ascendancy of the Tea Party, L. Brent Bozell III claimed that he is no longer a Republican. Yet, he continues to be a major fundraiser for Republican candidates.

Re:Do these people live in reality?

[DavidTC]

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

I mentioned this explicitly, you fool. Jesus said not to insult people. That has nothing at all to do with whether or not the word is 'obscene'.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

The word 'curse' there is 'katara' which is an actual curse. Aka, wishing that someone comes to harm because they are a bad person.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

A better translation there for 'unwholesome' is 'corrupt', or even 'rotten', the word is 'sapros'. Sadly, 'rotten talk' is a broken metaphor...that's not what it means.

See, the word you've translated as 'talk' is 'logos', which all Christians should recognize (In the beginning was The Word, etc.), which can, indeed, mean 'talk', or even 'word' , but here almost certainly means 'the truth'. Do not speak rotten truths. Aka, don't lie.

You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

What is translated as filthy language there is 'aischrologia', which is, oddly enough, a specific Latin word meaning 'a role-reversal mocking and insulting your betters', and there were actually festivals [wikipedia.org] (Scroll to 'Significance'.) that had this as an aspect of it.

Of course, this mocking probably included rather lewd languages, especially as women got to insult men during it. But it certainly not talking about 'bad words', or the way we use the term 'filthy language'.

You know that thing, where your boss leaves and you pretend to talk like him and make fun of him? Believe it or not, a Bible verse condemns that.

Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

'Perverse' doesn't mean what you think it means. Perverse simply means 'crooked'. In fact, it still means that, we just use it entirely metaphorically now. Again, it's 'don't lie'.

However, you've certainly proven me wrong. Apparently, there is language that idiots can interpret to be about the word 'fuck'. The world can always surprise me by building a better idiot.