Californian City Bans Cussing

Welcome to Social Issues.

It's been a long time since I saw so many words expended over a misconception.

Not that police will slap cuffs on you and haul your sorry, er, butt off to jail in light of the proclamation passed Wednesday by the City Council. But you could be shamed into better behavior by the unsettling glares of residents who take their reputation for civility seriously.

edition.cnn.com...

Two people pointed out that there is no law; there is not ban, only a proclamation. There will be no arrests, only icy stares and maybe a few words of caution by fellow citizens. They have been rewarded.

I found no posts that indicated that anyone took note of that.

For those of you who think that cursing has anything at all to do with Constitutional rights, tell me one idea that cannot be expressed without profanity.

It is my view that all the words are important and have a place in the great exchange of ideas that takes place everywhere everyday.

However, not all those words are appropriate in every situation or appropriate for children and those profane words than can add power to an idea in certain company, lose their effect when overused.

I would implore our members to read the linked material, so that we can have discussions that are intelligent and cogent.

As someone already noted, this thread does not reflect well on the membership because so many of the arguments here are clueless and irrelevant.

We can do better.


[edit on 2008/3/16 by GradyPhilpott]

There's a time and a place for swearing and vulgarity. Public places isn't it. If you can't express yourself without the "bleep", you might want to think about investing a little time on learning how to speak with civility.

I think most people would forgive a expletive or two if you crunch your fingers in the car door. Having done that once, I'll tell you, I dropped more than just an "F-bomb" or two. That hurt a great deal. Most would be very understanding. Where it irritates people, myself included, is for example in the checkout line or the bank, or where ever...standing in line listening to someone go on a onesided rant on their cellphone is bad enough, then they start lacing it with shall we say "metaphors of dubious standards", that's when it gets really irritating.