Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Saturday, February 4, 2017

The "F" Word

I well remember the day Vice President Cheney walked up behind Senator Leahy on the floor of the Senate and said "Fuck yourself."

Well, that was 2004 and this is 2017, a lot has changed. In 2004 I was outraged, and disgusted. In 2017 I'm more likely to say "Meh."

Unless you live under a rock you hear it often these days. I particularly notice its use by millennials. I suppose it will forever be used in conversation like the word "pussy" most recently introduced in the 2016 campaign season. Thanks Washington, we could have lived without those words.

In April I have tickets to see Marc Maron with my son. (One of those mother/son bonding experiences.) This character has a podcast called "WTF with Marc Maron." If you're highly offended by the "F" word it would be better if you skipped this event.

In 2015 the millennials working in the White House decided another venue to get the word out to other millennials would be to have Obama appear on the "WTF" podcast with Marc Maron. They contacted Marc and the rest is history.

Son listens to Marc Maron sometimes and told me this was going to happen. Being a devoted Obama fan I didn't want to miss it and it was great.

It's another world out there! This old woman has come a long way from her days as a Baptist in Texas. Sometimes it's a shock to my system but I don't want to miss anything.
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Yes, the protests turned violent this week at UC Berkeley. What did you expect, it's a university campus.  Book a radical right speaker on a radical left campus and you can expect trouble.

Reminds me of the time son as a teenager, took offense to me asking him to change shirts before going to church. I didn't consider the shirt he was wearing to be appropriate for church. He puffed up and tried to say he had the right to wear his rock band shirt to church if he wanted to and I was wrong to condemn it. I informed him I was not condemning his shirt, that bathing suits were perfectly appropriate, but not in church.

That's how I feel about the situation at Berkeley. There's a whole world out there in which to practice free speech but not all places or situations are appropriate.
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Wow, this is a great article, How to Build a Winning Progressive Infrastructure. I hope you'll read it.

16 comments:

  1. I truly believe that alt-right speaker brought in those protesters to Berkeley himself. I'm not alone in that theory. But I agree with you about the university allowing him on the campus.

    I'm far less offended by the F word than I am the P word but I think that is changing fast. Still believe there is a place where you can use course language and a place you should not.

    Thanks for the links.

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    1. Anarchists love those kind of events. Sometimes the anarchists here go on a rampage. Their goal is always to destroy. University campuses are volatile all the time. Takes very little provocation to spark trouble.

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  2. I don't know who Marc Maron is, so I quickly checked Wikipedia. I don't watch late night TV so I guess that;s why. I hear the f word all the time, but I don't use it, except to read a direct quote. I still consider it crass. The movie we saw last night, Manchester-by-the-sea, a very good movie, was full of the of bomb. one does get used to it.

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    1. I can't help but regret our society has become so crass.

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  3. The two opposites should stay away from each other. Neither one of them is about free speech.

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  4. I don't use the F bomb often but I have to say I am perfectly comfortable with it if the need arises. On the other hand gratuitous sprinkling of it through even the most benign conversation turns me off.

    I also hate when perfectly innocuous words get co-opted. Remember Mother Goose?I love little pussy,Her coat is so warm,And if I don't hurt her,She'll do me no harm.

    So I'll not pull her tail,Nor drive her away,But pussy and I,Very gently will play.

    Oh, I don't know. Maybe MG had an alternative meaning that went over my head as a child.

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    1. Remember when "Gay" was a lovely name for little girls?

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  5. I keep hoping someone can explain the fascination with the F bomb. I use it myself if I smash my finger in a car door or the weed wacker hits my shins. It really does work a bit as a pain killer. I just don't understand what it does for a person when used as a noun, verb, adjective or adverb in the same paragraph. Somehow I am missing the thrill.

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    1. I love your comment that it "does work a bit as a pain killer." Love it. I don't see myself using it in conversation. Perhaps I'm not the right generation for it.

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  6. There's a Facebook site called "I Fucking Love Science." I've wanted to "Like" the page, but I don't want it's title to then show up on my wall! Guess I need to get over it.

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    1. Yep, if you like the site you might as well sign on. We're getting numb to its use. Maybe harder for us than younger people. I doubt they even think about it.

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  7. ALL students attending public college campuses have the right to hear speakers of theirs or the universities choice!!! Free speech is for ALL not just liberals!!! What's interesting here is how you phrase things...believe it or not, there were many students who were there for engaging and listening to this speaker!! Liberals DO NOT have the right to cause violence just because they disagree with a venue!! Period.

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  8. And, no...both sides did not come looking for a fight.

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  9. The "F" word doesn't bother me, but I'm still wrapping my mind around the "P" word. I always thought of it as a slur against women. It's interesting how young women are trying to own it to lessen the impact, but it's just too weird hearing the word "pussy" come out of Jane Fonda's mouth. Know what I mean? I guess we're all adjusting (becoming desensitized). I'm not with you on the "radical" speakers on college campuses, even when the speaker is despicable like this one. I'm all for peaceful protest, though. I'd be there with them (don't know if people were brought in to disrupt, maybe so... and that's another thing entirely), but let them speak so everyone can know what they are. Besides, it helps to energize the left. Love your analogy about your son's t-shirt.

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  10. Honestly? I not only can't use those words, I can't write those words. I wouldn't allow them on my blog page, either. I'd simply tuck the comment into moderation and email the person, asking them to allow me to take the word(s) out, or to re-write their comment.

    Of course, I've only had to email a commenter twice in nine years, and that was for other issues involving some pretty graphic anti-gay and sexual stuff.

    The way I see it, if I'm going to bemoan the coarsening of society, I need to do what I can to oppose it. When I was much younger, it was a general understanding among women that becoming "liberated" didn't necessarily mean becoming just like men. I can't help but feel a little sad that so many women disgusted and put off by remarks made by others are adopting the same language.

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