I caught a bit of Today Tonight, um, this evening, & they were featuring such crucial stories as:
1. Single fathers cop too much flack. So all you people out there giving flacks to single dads — & I’m thinking there must be, oh, I dunno … several of you, at least — I want you to stop it. Um. Right away. It’s bad, mmm-kay?
2. ‘Four letter words’ — are we becoming too tolerant? To which I naturally replied, ‘Fuck, no’. They interviewed an academic who asserted we were becoming too insensitive to profanity. Too insensitive. The problem with insensitivity being that … then you’re not as sensitive. Which is a problem. Because … of some reason. Probably the academic had an entire theory, but such is the nature of the 6.30 timeslot they had to edit that away.
I dunno, the only real problem I heard was when the author of LANGUAGE MOST FOUL, Ruth Wajnryb, said that ‘the f-word’ had become diluted in modern times, & it now took a dozen ‘fucks’ to measure up to the effects of one good ‘fuck’ from years ago.
Far as I can see, the main concern being that it takes longer to say fuck 12 times instead of once. Which is, of course, mildly fucking time-consuming, but otherwise not such a fucking problem, really, is it, now. For fuck’s sake. I would even say that ‘fuck’ and ‘fucking’ are more comical than offensive nowdays, & clips from Shaun of the Dead & Four Weddings & A Funeral seemed to back me up in that assertion.
Cunt, you’ll be pleased to know, is still ‘the worst’ word. Which is amusing to me because for my money the worst word in the English language is rape. Although various derogatory racial & gender slurs might be argued to be giving rape a run for its money. Personally, though, I have to say I’ve always thought words have exactly the power you give them, & sensitivity to words that describe anatomy, rather than words that describe acts of violence, seems, I dunno, kinda fucking silly? And by silly, I mainly mean powerless. I have this ill-formed idea in my head that if if you give your power away to words, if you allow *words* to walk all over you, you lose your personal effectiveness in situations where you might need it in order to pay attention to what’s really being expressed.
The reason I think this way, I guess, is probably due to a self-defence course I did when I was a teenager. The teacher’s #1 rule was ‘protect the computer’, by which he meant ‘keep a clear head’. This involved not allowing physical damage to your head (you can still run with a knife wound to the arm, but you’re in far bigger danger if you get a wound to the head) & it also involved not panicking. Part of the training involved dealing with someone shouting at you, & dealing with bad language, & becoming intimidating yourself when you had to. So of course we practiced by shouting abuse at each other until we were deaf to it. You’re focused on your opponent’s hands & how they’re leaning & what they’re carrying, & the words are nothing. Nothing. Because they won’t kill you.
Meanwhile you’ll be pleased to know that tomorrow Today Tonight is running a weight-loss story.
On the topic of the 6.30 timeslot, take a look at the logo for A Current Affair next time it’s on. Does it not look like a handgun to you? (I went looking online for an image, but weirdly, I couldn’t find one.)
You know, I was going to talk about other things entirely in this post. Anyway.