Proliferation of Profanity

I’m looking at you, Mariah Carey & Miguel Pimentel. More generally, the entire music industry.

To be clear, there are many others, aside from the music industry, that are contributing to this ridiculousness, but seeing as how the music industry reaches hundreds of millions of people all around the world, and the artists choose to:

  1. Sell their music to millions of people
  2. Perform their music to live audiences of thousands of people

The music industry has an enormous influence on all of our every day lives. And every artist in the industry is a role model, whether you want to be or not. (“choosing” to be a role model is a whole ‘nother discussion)

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So… the profanity

In Mariah’s new song, “Beautiful,” there’s absolutely no need for the adjective, f***ing.

…your mind is f***ing beautiful?!

And

…good lord, you’re f***ing beautiful?!

You could put over a dozen other adjectives in its place, and you’d have the same song, with the same meaning, same record sales & same popularity on the charts. Not to mention we wouldn’t have to explain to the kids why they skipped a word in the song on the radio.

Or you could just leave it out completely. You know, maybe, focus on the beautiful part.

More Than Music

It’s not just the music industry that adds to this awful proliferation of profanity. It happens in sports (locker rooms, on the court/field, etc.), movies, stand-up comedy, backyard bbqs & basic storytelling between friends.

It’s getting used way too much, way too easily, in way too many situations where it does nothing but make stuff worse. There’s nothing positive that comes from using unnecessary curse words. In fact, is a curse word ever “necessary?”

Unofficial Profanity

We’ve done such an awful job of letting other words spread throughout our culture, and get misused on the daily. “That’s gay,” and “You’re retarded” are only two examples of all the negative words we throw around without thinking twice about it.

Think about what you’re saying, people! Think about who it might be affecting. Think about who is around you when you’re saying it. Ask yourself if it adds anything to the actual content of your story/joke/song/etc.

I got news for you, Mariah. There’s absolutely nothing beautiful about dropping an f-bomb before the word beautiful. I don’t care how beautiful you are on the outside, that word is deep-rooted with ugliness.

Somewhat related: See Taylor Mali (spoken-word poet) show us all how to “Speak with Conviction”.

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2 thoughts on “Proliferation of Profanity”

  1. I can’t agree with you more. I was surprised this past November when I went to my first WordCamp at the profanity that was being used by the presenters. I have been going to tech conferences for fifteen years and have never witnessed that before. I am also a youth pastor and am amazed at the language kids are using. Some words are obvious no-nos, but I think it bothers me more with the words they speak and don’t think twice about.

  2. I agree, David. While the severity and general nastiness of the words themselves are a problem, it’s the ease of which they’re being thrown around, especially by kids, that is more concerning.

    I think it’s time we start calling people out when we catch them using profanity, and point out the negative impact it can have on all those around them. I don’t even think they realize what they’re doing.

    Easier said than done, but let’s give it a try.

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