For many decades, children were admonished by their parents and teachers not to use four-letter Anglo-Saxon words, especially in what was called polite company. Radio, television and movies followed that policy, to the extent that when Clark Gable said, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" in the movie "Gone With the Wind" (released in 1938), the national reaction was shock.
To this day, television hesitates to broadcast what is deemed "foul language" no matter who utters it.
However, now they are faced with the issue of what to do when the president of the United States regularly and often uses such language in his public speeches and in his Twitter postings.
Do they broadcast the language that has long been called "street corner" language, unacceptable in polite company, even if such words are used by the leader of the nation?
Or do they carry his speeches in a five-second delay so that studio engineers can bleep out "foul language"? And does that amount to censorship?
Who, then, is to decide what is "acceptable" language and what is not? If the president of the United States frequently uses what the rest of society considers "dirty words," does that mean that such words are no longer to be considered "dirty"?
So what's a parent to do?
Children now can rightfully ask, "If it's OK for the president to use these words, why can't I?"
No comments:
Post a Comment