We Should All Stop Fucking Swearing

We live in a society. One that swears too much. We are bombarded by expletives on the internet, in film, music, television, literature (and some sub-par “journalism” outlets). It has corrupted the youth and rooted itself deep into modern popular culture. Profanity has taken control of us and invaded our lives. Swearing can be effective within context, but this overgrowth of colourful language has embittered our palate for good, healthy conversations.

Swearing is defined to be the use of “offensive language, especially as an expression of anger.” This is incredibly problematic in several ways. Many swear words are intended as a direct attack on some members of society. The oppressed always have slang terms that were imposed on them by persecutors. The underclass of the age will have negative words associated with them.

Through history: women, people of colour, and LGBTQ+ people (in loose chronological order) have endured lasting offensive terms used against them. At least in the English language, the proprietors and gatekeepers of profanity are the part of society that have the least derogatory words describing them. The middle-class white $man^{TM}$. Thus, when those previously oppressed retrospectively speak out, and indulge themselves in the same forbidden fruit of profanity, they are quickly met with vitriolic backlash from the Caucasian community. This is no good thing either but should make some of us consider if we should be using the words that we force upon others or respect the words that those people have chosen themselves. These examples are not exhaustive but please don’t feel free to write your own slang term for [your least favourite ethnic group here].

Cursing comes from a place of anger, often directly aimed at a thing or person. Anger is neither good for your soul or others on the receiving end. To treat everyone with respect is a rare thing these days. There is no need for this aggressive attitude; please, think of the children. Adults will self-censor so as to behave differently around children, and there exist restrictions for sweary music, films, and television programmes so that young people are not exposed to them. I’m not the one to tell you how to raise your kids - but telling your child to “fuck off” during your wino wind down because you had a tough day at work isn’t going to do them any good. The apple will not fall far from the tree or fall at all but rather rot at the branch if you don’t have a clue how to garden.

Fuck is a versatile word, I digress. The pure joy and splendour of seeing it printed in books at the school library were spellbinding. Now, it has lost its charm through its overuse. Before, it was a word that strongly shook me to my core, but the overexposure causing desensitisation renders the word meaningless, adding fuck for the flow and aesthetics of a sentence a la Malcolm Tucker. But remember: it’s not fucking cool to swear every other fucking word, because that’s fucking almost a fucking speech impediment. Restrain your language for genuine circumstances and real situations.

Alas, there’s hope out there. A culture built on respect for others and a respect for the words being used is growing and brewing a new generation of people. I hope. All I ask is that you all should carefully consider what you say, because words can mean things.

If you can think, and you think you can write, send us your opinions to: fcomment@imperial.ac.uk