Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, Tits (additionally fart, turd, twat) where the seven filthy words that were socially unacceptable and not usable on TV according to the classic George Carlin skit, RIP Cardinal Glick. Who would have ever imagined that we would reach a point in society where they would be more acceptable than present-day taboos like faggot, gay, retard, homo and nigger? Is this a complete paradigm shift in social behavior? We talk about our rights as Americans, including our right to free speech; however, there is a socially acceptable boundary that you should not go over. Have we become too sensitive and politically correct for our own good? Have we reached the tipping point where social censorship prevails over our given rights?
In some cases, to remove the stigma of our history, and in an attempt to sanitize what we teach the next generation, people have started censoring the pieces of classic literature that are taught in school, removing any references to words and terms that may offend. In my opinion, the radicals should just burn the books instead of manipulating them from their original form as written by the author. History, as told by the classics, in the context of time and place of their composition, is what has made them literature. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Scarlet Letter, 1984, The Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men are all classic pieces of literature, from a much more extensive list, of greats that are frequently subject to banishment or censorship in the general education system.
What makes a piece of writing into literature is not its usage of offensive language and improper storytelling, but the bravery and compassion of the author from a point in our history to tell the plight of others through powerfully written prose that is meant to stand the test of time. That history, suffering, angst, and place in time cannot, and should not be altered ever, simply because it has made someone uneasy. That is the power of literature.
Ignorance is NOT Bliss! Censorship and sanitizing in the name of “family-friendly” and “family values” are wrong. The enemy is not in a far off land; the enemy is here amongst the people, right here at home. The ignorance, arrogance, and general bigotry that is dividing and conquering young minds are at a feverish pace. Mega-Corporations are making blanket bold, in my mind erroneous decisions about what the general public is allowed to read, listen to on CD, and watch on DVD.
Don’t get me wrong; there needs to be some rules and guidelines, and some good old fashioned parenting. I don’t advocate renting the 9 ½ Weeks movie to a ten-year-old or the best of Eddie Murphy Raw to a thirteen-year-old. Books, movies, and video games have age-appropriate labels, and that is a fairly decent solution when parents do their job and parent.
Maybe I began this paper as a writer with turrets, verbally f-bombing while driving the topic into the bowels of hell at 100 mph, but it caught your attention, and you stayed the course. Perhaps it’s the same morbid curiosity as when we all rubberneck around an awful car accident, you just have to know how bad it really is. Additionally, as instructed, there is nothing in this structured medium of writing that is off-limits, so I figured fuck it, go big, or go home.
There are dozens of other facets that never even made it from the synaptic brain to written paper on this one. For example, other things that are on the edge of banishment by modern social standards, like telling your co-workers to have a Merry Christmas, teaching children the Pledge of Allegiance throwing around haphazard phrases like “In God We Trust.”
The point is for a free society, which alleges “freedom of speech” and liberty to express ourselves in any manner we wish, it’s all gone to shit because of a chosen few motherfuckers. There I said it.
RIP George! (You old fart cocksucker)