Profane Rant

Like many other users, I've never read the Terms of Use. I think in 15+ years of installing computer software and/or using internet sites, I've read the Terms of Use or the End User Lease Agreement once. I figured that at that time, I could read it and get it out of the way for the rest of my life. I have long held the belief that all of them will be about the same.

Today however, I was thinking about my use of profanity and how I'll post a word that will violate the Terms of Use on this blog at some point. I'll make every effort and conscious decision not to swear. But as I've stated on here already, I'm not always aware of the content of my posting. In all honesty, I didn't even realize that I had signed up for an account on here until the day after when I received an email saying that I had.

Anyways, I spent a lot of time today thinking about swearing, cursing or profanity - whatever you'd like to call it. It's really a topic that angers me. I swear a lot. Granted, there have been times in my life that I swore a lot more often than I do now - but I do still curse many, many times per day. Every time I do, I'm offended; obviously not by what I've said, or I wouldn't have said it. I'm offended by the fact that I'm constantly being censored by society.

Swear words are simply words - a combination of letters - nothing more. It is merely the context behind any word that gives it meaning. I cannot underscore this concept enough. It is so lame to imply that one group of letters is more offensive than another group of letters. The only words I can truly say are profane are ones that offend someone on an existential level.

You really need to think outside of the box on this. What is it that makes a word profane? It is some sort of authority group that tells you the word should not be used. Think about it. Does an entire group of people instantaneously agree, without interacting, that a word is really an offensive slur? Not a chance.

That brings you to the next question you have to ask about what makes a word profane: "Says who?" At some point, an authority figure stepped forward and said "This word is offensive and cannot be used". To that person, I say "F you".

I am not so vain as to suggest that I am more intelligent than they are. But, I will say that I am not vain enough to suggest to everyone in the world that I am so much more intelligent than they are that I should make moral decisions about the words they speak.

And that concept right there is why I'm angered; why I'm offended by profanity. It is not the "profanity" that offends me, but the control placed upon me by someone who has likely been dead for 200 years. Don't think that's true? Well, there's a good chance it is.

The values and even definitions of words are being changed all the time. Try looking up a word in the dictionary - any word - pick a word at random. Do you see only one definition? Can't you think of any words that were okay to say in history but aren't anymore...or words that were offensive before but are commonly spoken now?

So, who is it that imposes these bans on words and why? I don't know about you, but I've about had it with people telling me how to live, how to speak and how to think - all based on their moral interpretations. And in my honest opinion, it all stems from the church. Who more so, in all of recorded time, has told people how to live?