(By Dr. Michael Brown) Go ahead and call me a prude. Label me as puritanical if you like, an old-fashioned Bible-thumper, a fossil, an antique. Bring on all the insults you can muster. Say what you will. I still believe profanity is profane. I still believe that certain words should not be used in everyday, public discourse. I still believe that higher standards of communication correlate with higher standards of behavior. And I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way. To be sure, I believe that a cutting remark or a harsh insult can do more damage than dropping an expletive. And I understand that, in the course of life, people will speak freely, and for many, that means using profanity.
I’m certainly not advocating a snowflake mentality when it comes to vocabulary, meaning that, if you say one word that I find offensive, I will melt. Not at all. I’m simply talking about standards. About being honorable. About reducing the amount of profanity and vulgarity that has become so pervasive in articles and headlines and tweets and posts. Am I crazy to feel this way? A few years back (I can’t remember exactly when), I was listening to sports radio in my car when I noticed the host using an expletive a lot, something that struck me as odd. Was this always legal, or was it a more recent development? Not long after that, I heard the same word used repeatedly on a sports-related show on TV. And this didn’t enhance the shows or increase my esteem for the hosts. READ MORE
