The American aversion to swearing or ‘cussing’ has always puzzled me. Of all the places that I have been to, the only place I have ever heard “Are we allowed to use that word?” is in the USA. Many times too. Which is what puzzled me;if you have freedom of expression then shouldn’t swearing be included?
A short time back I had an exchange with a blogger from Texas who admonished me for a “personal attack”. What did I do? I merely told him I was “calling bullshit” on his theory. He flipped out and went on about civilized society and how refined people don’t cuss and swear.
It was actually fun to point out to him that the origins of slang and modern swearing lie within Irish history. Slang evolved as a method to communicate without having the King know what you were talking about. That royal family happened to be the same family that Mr Texas ancestor’s fought for their freedom. So how could he criticize the same slang and swearing that brought him freedom? Needless to say he went to bed with a lot to think about that night.
Which leads me to this exchange between Degrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins. Rather, than argue the nature of Dawkins’ beliefs, Tyson gets onto him about his rhetoric. I know this might pass for “academic” discussion in the US these days but come on… this is pure twatwaffle.
Mr Dawkins, you said a bad word and Im telling….. Geez, grow up and take the earmuffs off. This isnt a world for five year olds so please get a tougher skin.
Dawkins responds eloquently and with the perfect quote.
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