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Subject: 
Re: Swearing?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 7 Jan 2000 00:28:34 GMT
Viewed: 
1906 times
  
On Thu, 6 Jan 2000, Arjan Brugman wrote:

Nietzsche.

Ok, enough is enough.  Make fun of me, call me names, I don't care.  You
haven't changed my opinion that the terms of use state very clearly to
anyone who cares to read them what kind of language is not acceptable.

What this argument really comes down to is whether or not you respect
your fellow LUGnet readers enough to watch your language.

People who swear on forums frequented by children seem to fit into one of
three categories:

1) too lazy.  They don't feel like making any effort in their writing, so
they resort to boring old cliches in the form of swear words.
2) too egotistical.  Hey, no one is going to %!&^#&@ tell me what I
!%#@^%^$#@ can or !%^@%$#@ can't say!
3) too ignorant.  They can't figure out what sort of language is
appropriate in this type of forum due to lack of experience, lack of
training, or lack of intelligence.

At first I thought that most people who swear in forums frequented by
children must fit into the last category, but the more I think about it,
the more I think that most people fit into the first instead, with an
unheathy bunch fitting into the second group. I really doubt that any of
the people here are so ignorant that they don't even understand what kind
of language is appropriate in a forum that includes children.  That's like
a person going to France without realizing that they speak French there.

When Matthew Miller claimed that the terms are subjective, what I meant to
reply was "Are they really to anyone who has lived in society for any
length of time?"  Does anyone who has dealt with children and parents
REALLY not understand what sort of language is acceptable?  How on EARTH
can you get to be old enough to read without gathering a basic
understanding of what is and isn't acceptable?

Instead of trying to understand me, Miller went off on a tangent.  Any
good philosopher can prove that words have no intristic meaning, and that
language is a tricky business.  EVERY word is subjective at the heart of
it.  But we obviously get past that, or we couldn't communicate at all.
And my argument is that people who claim that such words are too
subjective to understand are either completely ignorant of society or
trying to prove something.

And, frankly, there is nothing here to prove.  You either respect your
fellow readers enough to watch your language, or you don't.

Period.  End of story.  It doesn't matter why you swear, the fact that you
do is a sign of disrespect.  You've just told us all that we aren't worth
the effort.  Thank you very much, now you know why it makes people
uncomfortable.  Would you kindly stop now?  Or do you prefer to argue
about how wrong I am, about how disrepectful *I* am for not enjoying you
no matter what words you use, about how silly people who don't like
swearing are until you are blue in the face instead?



In any case, it doesn't matter to me.  This is the last on this subject
you'll ever read from me.  Play well.

-Laura



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Swearing?
 
Great post, Laura. Wasted, no doubt, on the target audience, unfortunately. I would be willing to bet that in my entire writing here on Lugnet, I've never once (I could be wrong, though) used a word that would be considered a swear word. Yet who (...) (24 years ago, 7-Jan-00, to lugnet.general)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Swearing?
 
Laura Gjovaag <tegan@eskimo.com> schreef in berichtnieuws Pine.SUN.3.96.100010...imo.com... (...) and (...) Laura, I have one word (name) for ya: Nietzsche. -- Arjan Brugman - abrugman@casema.net Arjan.Brugman@philips.com (24 years ago, 6-Jan-00, to lugnet.general)

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