Parents banning school books?

[iggaboo_who]

Story is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11417672

This is insane to me. I remember when I was a kid being offered a book by a relative, I was I think 11, and on the first page it had the b word that is a kind of sword (take that, word filters!) and I said "I can't read this, it has swearing in it." But I was young and prudish and it was a more innocent time with a rosy hue and a kinder world. I just felt like I shouldn't be saying it, so I shouldn't be reading it. Then I went to high school and spoke to a few people and I've been swearing enough to make Jason Mewes say "dude, enough!" ever since.

My point is, books isn't the problem, and censoring a book to protect people who are capable of handling a few swears is still censorship, which is kinda balls by default Catcher in the Rye still causing outrage, for Carlin sake! There's about four uses of the f word, omg downfall of society!

What amuses me is how soon this comes after the "burn a qur'an day" fiasco that people were up in arms about, but now they wanna ban Catcher in the Rye and everyone's fine with it? I swore more about the qur'an thing than Catcher does in the whole book lol.

What dyou reckon?

 

[personchika]

well, it's funny how things get overlooked because they are 'high culture'. I mean the amount of violence that was in the Plutarch and other ancient authors I used to read as a child was incredible, but seen as perfectly OK because they were ancient romans and Greeks.
I personally think that censorship of this sort is ridiculous. You don't take away a child's innocence by allowing them to see naughty words. I can see the argument that a parent should be able to control what their own child reads, but I don't think it should extend to this pettyfogging, nannying concern. More harm is done by this prissy concern over public morals than could ever be done by a child reading, say, the naughtier bits of Captain Corelli's mandolin. I also think it's better for a person to read about these things in books before they encounter them in real life.

 

[NYLady]

I wonder if these people would see the bible banned. Can't deny there's some messed up stuff in that. Nailing a guy to a tree and stabbing him then watching him starve and bleed out for a couple of days, and that's AFTER flogging chunks out of his back. Not to mention the body count! Even at the time of the flood Moses had to deal with that's still probably a few thousand people (which makes flooding the whole world a little excessive now I think of it) and there's plenty more. Reminds me of South Park the movie. "War is ok, as long as nobody uses any dirty words."

 

[Darkalex148]

My two cents...

I think the problem lies with the children not being raised in enough maturity that he or she is unable to responsibly use swear words. Swearing like a sailor is funny in some situations, but in my opinion, it demonstrates iofftopicturity and lack of self control. Also, if one swears to the extreme at every little problem, what is that person going to do when something really bad comes up? I don't think it is beneficial to developing a problem solving and mature attitude.

 

[ErikJ]

Well you are just wrong then. Plus are you not 17 or something what do you know about maturity.

The issue is that parents want their children to be brought up with little kiddies books that have all the intellectual challenge of a Rupert the Bear story, they do this and the children do not develop critical skills that they may need if they are ever to get a job where they do not have to wear a name badge.

 

[sugarjunk]

Agreed! It's so sodding hypocritical. Violence and dirty words are wrong, but only if you're one of the counterculture. Vomit vomit vomit.

 

[joyful_bubbles]

Ad hominem, dude. Your age doesn't make you right. If you need to hide behind your age, you are probably the weak one.

He has a good point. Swearing is appropriate sometimes but not when you curse up a storm every time you drop something, then it just looks silly.

 

[VijayB]

How dare you sir, the bible is the word of TEH LORD and tells you all you need to know about correct living and goodness. All children should read the bible.

 

[snoop3]

I will be the first to admit that I am 17 years old, adouglasmhor. In fact, I am under no obligation to list my age in my profile in the first place (yet I did).

I agree with your second paragraph, but I do not think it expresses the full problem. Neither does mine for that matter; however, I did not expect it to. My opinion is just that, my opinion, and I think that yours and mine combined make a solid point.

 

[Gez]

I vote Moosey for president! That was this week's Post Of Awesome

 

[nogginthechog]

Speaking of Ezekiel 23:20, there's a member of youtube who's a transvestite (cute too but that's irrelevant xD) who went to a Westbro Baptist Church parade. In full tranny dress. Including a long red boa and fur coat xD He looked great. He didn't disrupt anything, he just stood among the other picket signs with bible verses with his own, which simply read "Ezekiel 23:20" xD Fit in nicely with all the anti-gay verses like Romans and Corinthians. Was a thing of beauty to see. Thought I'd share that image with you all

 

[jolann]

I think a lot of it is the context in which it is written or used. In the movie Scarface, the 'F' word is used about 900 times or so it seemed. But in a childrens novel it would be totally out of place. But then I wouldn't want a 6 year or, or most 11 year olds to see the movie Scarface.

Regarding the Moosters used of Donkey and Horse genetalia I think he was just bragging about himself.

 

[yamahaqi]

You have a point, context is important. I'm somewhere between "it's just words" and disliking when people swear sometimes. I believe words have power, I try to avoid swearing because if I'm angry, I feel completely different saying "I'm annoyed" and "I'm really "fornicated" off." As George Carlin said those words are great for emphasis. If however those words are every other word, they lose the emphasis and become excessive. Joe Pesci demonstrates this well in Casino but it's cool coz they released a TV edit that was more enjoyable almost than the actual movie Same goes for Scarface, the language is mad overused. The original (I think 1926) doesn't have any swearing (though it's debated whether or not a guy slurs the f word down the phone before hanging up) but is just as dramatic as the remake, and runs about six hours shorter, coz there's less swearing to fit in lol.

But that brings up a point which I think is important - reading vs watching. I'd rather my kids read a book with some swearing than to watch a film full of swearing. I'm not sure why it's different but somehow it seems worse to me to actually hear it than to merely read it, perhaps because you can't avoid hearing the emotion behind it when someone actually says it, but in reading you can assign your own personality to a character so it may not be so loaded with emotion. *shrug*

 

[imjustagirl]

Curses, when not overused, actually reduce stress and help to deal with anger. Not only that but if you use swear words very selectively (I very, very rarely curse at all) the impact when you do use them is much more impressive on those around you.

As a case in point, my housemate is one of those who swears regularly. It means nothing any more. I swear only when I have good cause and it not only helps to deal with whatever has enraged me, but also gets a rather dramatic reaction from those who know me. There's an automatic assumption that I am not merely annoyed, but that something has gone seriously wrong.

In books however I don't see the point. A verbal outburst is fine and helpful, but a written one does nothing in terms of shock and helps to devalue some useful words.

 

[sammig]

Some of them I could agree with there are a couple of books a bit over the top for young kids but overall? Stop talking you overly sensitive morons.

IIRC the age group talking about isn't clear but anyone over 14 will already know everything in those books. My main problem however is the lack of comprehension some of the complaints have: Yes, To kill a mockingbird has racist language. Its based during oppression and is regarded as a classic on the issue. I read it 3 years ago at school and I'm not cutting up my pillow cases yet.

Secondly these sort of books are engaging. Example would be the CHERUB series for teens its got a fair amount of swearing and the later ones have references to sex. Great books. The author wanted a book that realy connected with us and was realistic and it worked perfectly.

I honestly feel people underestimate kids, especially teens, a lot when it comes to corrupting our souls

 

[VikingLord]

idea: how about we examine why swear words are offensive in the first place?

i mean, almost no one (sane) gets offended if someone uses the phrase "have sex", but a lot of people do when someone drops an F-bomb. same with saying feces, or crap, or poo (hehe), as opposed to their "rude" equivalent.

they're just articulated sounds, and they have the exact same meaning. hell*, with those specific terms, they're not even insults.

is it because they're construed to be rude, or "vulgar" terms? IMO that's just silly, because it's a completely arbitrary social convention. in fact, some words which you might consider perfectly acceptable are rude terms in other languages.

*fun fact: in real life, i'd have used the F-word here.

 

[heiditheghosthunter]

It may be a completely arbitrary social convention, but there are physiological effects. As stated before, cursing will actually release stress in a way that saying 'sugar' won't, if you're not over-using the curse words.

If you'd like more evidence, there is a small number of Tourette's sufferers who curse. What's interesting is that they curse rather than just spout random words, which is what you would expect if curse words did not have some special impact and meaning. Whether that meaning is a cultural construct is irrelevant - there is still a physical effect.

 

[XwindX13]

that psychological effect is because of the way the word is interpreted in society, and thus ingrained into our consciousness as we are raised. i know that, it's why i started swearing in the first place (for those that chat with me on msn, you might be surprised to know that until i was around 14 or 15 i never cursed AT ALL).

what i'm saying is that we could discuss WHY, instead of going "blah blah swear words this and swear words that blah blah"

 

[tomj7847]

This is all just bollocks

While I agree Fish I can't see that happening its too much effort compared to going "ZOMG BAN IT NOW!!!!"

Its an interesting question though, how do terms become swear words?

The c word (the "worst" one) used to be normal vocab but now its the ultimate swearing taboo. Although that one does sound harsh with the right emphasis but hey thats the fun in using it

 

[JesusR]

Because a harmless, verbal cathartic release is a wonderful thing to have. Better to be able to use a verbal demonstration of rage than to punch a wall, or a person. Also useful as an alarm or warning call to others around you, in order to inform them that you are not in the best of moods.

If we all start simply accepting curses, thereby negating their cathartic effect, I have a suspicion that physical actions when enraged will become more common - that's just my own opinion though and not supported by any evidence.