Guest Column
PROFANITY USE IS TOO COMMONPLACE
College students should be advocates to clean up dirty speech.
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"The 'anything goes' morality has become prevalent in society."
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Not long ago, I was walking past one of the residence halls. I won't say which one it was, since what I encountered could have occurred at any of them. I glanced at the wall and saw some graffiti. One word stood out. The "f" word.
The sight of that word written on the side of a public building sickened me.
I would have erased the word if I could. But all I could do was avert my eyes.
It would be bad enough if such words were a rarity. Alas, the use of profanity has become all too common.
People say the words with no shame, with no concern as to how it sounds to others.
Those who, like me, find the use of such words repulsive have to avert our eyes and stop up our ears with distressing frequency.
At one time, people regarded the use of certain words as unacceptable. Some used swear words, but such people were regarded as dirty.
People, as a rule, guarded the words that came from their mouths and the tips of their pens. Now it seems most people don't care.
Profanity is used in magazines with mind-numbing regularity. It's the rare person who, out of principle, refuses to swear.
The use of such words is a symptom of a malaise in our nation.
At one time, the general public believed in such things as decency and moral standards.
Now people who still believe in them are scoffed at and ridiculed.
The "anything goes" morality has become prevalent in society. In such a climate, speech becomes looser, and people don't have pride in their use of words.
They freely speak and write words that would have made people blush with shame a generation ago.
Now, young people use profanity because they think it makes them look like adults. It is a sad reflection on our society that crudity and boorishness are regarded as adult.
It is more adult to take pride in your speech and be concerned about the effects of your speech on others.
I propose that the college generation take the lead on this issue. Suppose we students start a movement to clean up speech?
All it requires is a commitment to watch the words we choose to speak and to write.
Those who have become accustomed to using dirty language would have to guard themselves constantly at first. But, after a while, clean speech would become a habit, just as profanity does.
There may be those who object to my proposal, saying there are worse wrongs to tackle without worrying about the words one chooses to use.
All I can say in rebuttal is this: Who among us have children? How many of you would want your children to use swear words?
As to the argument that the use of bad words means nothing, think about this: How many of you take baths? Wash your hair? Brush your teeth? Do laundry?
Think about it.
If you don't want to sound ugly and repulsive, you need to keep your speech clean, too.
Kathy Green is a journalism senior.