Enough With The F Bombs

Since I don't have access to cable television, and refuse to pay $60 a month or more for a satellite dish, I decided to sign up for a company that offers a person the ability to choose not only movies but television programs to watch on their television via the Internet.

Once I received the equipment and it was set up, I was excited to see what was available to watch. Scrolling through a listing of some movies, I chose one that sounded like it would be interesting. Within the first seven minutes of the movie, the "F" bomb was used at least a half dozen times.

That was too much for me. What I thought was going to be a good movie, since it had an actor in it whose work I like, was totally ruined because of the language in it. I quickly backtracked to find a different movie.

Several days ago, while watching a talk show on television, the host told a woman he was interviewing, you are beginning to (expletive) me off. I had the thought that it wasn't necessary for the host to use the language he did. It didn't add anything to the conversation.

Not long ago I was in a restaurant when a woman asked the four men at the table next to her and her school-aged daughter to please clean up their language. The men seemed to be surprised that someone found their remarks offensive. Their reaction told me they saw nothing in their language that would be considered upsetting to another person.

More and more it seems as though words which I was told were "bad" when I was growing up have become the norm, not only in movies, television programs, and even daily conversations.

Why?

Now some people may think I'm out of touch or that I'm old-fashioned and shouldn't let crude language bother me. Or that I should understand that it's just the way the world is now and I should be more accepting of change.

I fail to see how my refusal to accept what I consider totally inappropriate language is so wrong. People ought to be able to express themselves quite adequately without using words that are still considered offensive by others.

"You are beginning to irritate me" would have gotten the host's point across and not made me think less of him. Quite frankly, I was disappointed in what I heard. Given the host's list of college degrees he'd earned and his popularity and achievements, I felt his choice of words was very poor to say the least.

Vulgarity does not enhance a storyline in a movie, television show or book, or add anything to a conversation. Using words many of us were taught at an early age were wrong to say will not leave a positive impression. As one little boy told his grandmother when they were discussing use of bad words, "And if you say bad words you can get into real trouble."