I have always been of the opinion that certain words would be said a lot less if people didn't get so uptight about them.
Let's face it, if it didn't cause a reaction, people would find better ways to do it...
So the best way to go about getting rid of that sort of thing is just to sort of accept it and not react strongly to it. I rarely see the need to swear, and when I do it's more par for the course of lingo than a need to provoke a response or the inability to express oneself fully.
Let's face it, a certain F-word is far and away the most flexible word in the English language.
I may just be hopelessly naive in this matter (wouldn't be the first time), but I have no intention of ever getting my undies in a bundle the moment a kid of mine starts cursing like a sailor. No reaction = no special meaning; no need to say it if it's not going to do anything special to you.
The same, to a lesser extent, is true of sex and violence. Though, IMHO, these are much more dangerous if you are somehow numbed to their effect.
The simple act of reproduction will always carry, to me, a certain emotional wieght that it probably shouldn't.
I can't stand it when people destroy that value...
Then again, it's probably just the reaction, again. If we were all bonobos (y'know, those chimps who copulate with pretty much everyone within a 30-mile radius, to greet, to exchange gifts, as a form of handshake, as a way to release stress and ease fear, etc.) I'd probably have much less of an emotional attatchment to it. ^_^
Violence is another thing, though. I mean, I've probably seen worse violence on the Discovery Channel than a lot of people see in their daily lives (unless they're wildebeast...). Sadly, pain, suffering, and death are universal parts of life for every living thing. IMHO, the fact that *every* death carries the *exact* same weight makes it more significant for me. Slaughtering a cow is no better a thing, morally, than doing the same to a person (to me, anyway. I'm sure personal beliefs will differ on this matter). Killing some hideous alien creature from Beyond should have similar reprocussions -- things die because they must, not because they should.
Done in the right way, a display of violence can enhance the emotional impact. Done in '80's schlock horror style or first-person shooter style, it gets rediculous, but, at the same time, it's not real. You can kill a million mutants of evil incarnate and not hurt anyone by doing so. You can see millions of movies about teens at summer camp being slashed to ribbons by a stalker/chainsaw pyscho/very hungry woodchuck, and not be any worse for the wear. The problem with violence comes not when someone has been numbed by exposure to fake violence, but when someone starts having problems distinguishing between fake violence and real violence. Kung-fu movies don't make you kick people in the head. Delusions do that.
...Besides, public displays of it aside, violence is something that we all must realize is out there. One way or the other, we will have violence thrust into our faces full-force, because it's reality and we can't avoid it. Crap happens. And not displaying that crap for fear of getting a few people riled up is a bad idea...it leads to things like thinking that death isn't bad because the bad guys deserve it.
It does get gratuitous, but that's a product of the culture more than anything else. The fact that people get riled up over these things makes them take on a certain Rebel Chic that is very appealing. It's, in large part, the same reason non-pop music is filled with displays of drugs, sex, violence, and swearing...it's a culture of counteracting, where one defines themselves in relation to what they oppose. People who define themselves like this always look for ways to express it. And companies realize that stuff like this sells not only to people "making a statement," but to the people who emulate those making a statement and think they're doing something significant saying swear words in front of their parents or having relations with a guy who's 10 years older just because it would make mommie mad.
I'm of the opinion that if we didn't let stuff like this get to us, it wouldn't be so prevalent.
I won't avoid buying a product simply because it has chicks in chainmail, swear words in the foreword, displays of heroes goril slaughtering villains, or because it's got a hookah as an instrument (see Song and Silence for this....). That's just saying "I have a problem with this, and am morally superior because of it" IMHO. Of course, I'll avoid a product that doesn't have much beyond this to offer, because...well...whoop-dee-doo. I'd avoid any product that had nothing I was looking for, and because I don't care if people get uptight about stuff like this, I'm not looking to agitate those who do.
Basically, the market is created because of the preponderance of people (mostly in the US, a haven for nutjobs of all persuasions and I wouldn't have it any other way, thankyouverymuch!
) think there's something wrong with that. And whenever somebody starts trying to force their moral code on anything, a reaction occurs that overreacts just as much with displays of the things that people have problems with.
IMHO, it's never the Law's place to tell me what's inappropriate or immoral.
There's my rant. Enjoy.
