Slashdot Mirror


ACLU Sues To Protect Your Right To Swear

The ACLU is suing the police in Pennsylvania for issuing tickets to people who swear. They argue that it is every American's constitutional right to drop an F-bomb. From the article: "'Unfortunately, many police departments in the commonwealth do not seem to be getting the message that swearing is not a crime,' said Marieke Tuthill of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. 'The courts have repeatedly found that profanity, unlike obscenity, is protected speech.'" This is a big f*cking deal.

11 of 698 comments (clear)

  1. What's with the asterisk, Slashdot? by prichardson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "This is a big f*cking deal."

    No. It's a big fucking deal. Just print the U please, it won't hurt anyone.

    Replacing the vowel in profanity with some other character doesn't fool anyone. Everyone knows still you're swearing.

    --
    Help I'm a rock.
  2. Some one has to do it. by Anon-Admin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In English, fuck falls into many grammatical categories:

            As a transitive verb for instance.. John fucked Shirley.
            As an intransitive verb... Shirley fucks.

    Its meaning is not always sexual, it can be used as...

            An adjective such as... John's doing all the fucking work.
            As part of an adverb... Shirley talks too fucking much.
            As an adverb enhancing an adjective... Shirley is fucking beautiful.
            As a noun... I don't give a fuck.
            As part of a word... absofuckinglutely -or- infuckingcredible.
            And as almost every word in a sentence... Fuck the fucking fuckers.

    As you must realize, there aren't too many words with the versatility of fuck...such as these examples describing situations such as:

            Fraud: I got fucked at the used car lot.
            Dismay: ahhh fuck it.
            Trouble: I guess I'm really fucked now.
            Aggression: Don't fuck with me buddy.
            Difficulty: I don't understand this fucking question.
            Inquiry: Who the fuck was that?
            Dissatisfaction: I don't like what the fuck is going on here.
            Incompetence: He's a fuck-off.
            Dismissal: Why don't you go outside and play hide and go fuck yourself...

    I'm sure you can think of many more examples.

    With all these multi-purpose applications, how can anyone be offended when you use the word. We say use this unique, flexible word more often in your daily speech.

    It will identify the quality of your character immediately.

    Say it loudly and proudly: FUCK YOU!

  3. Re:Hmmmm by clone53421 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That wasn’t Slashdot censoring, it was samzenpus self-censoring. He could’ve said fucking if he’d wanted.

    --
    Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  4. Re:Same goes for flipping off cops by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Police can waste people's time with power trips pretty much everywhere. Hence the phrase "you can beat the rap; but you can't beat the ride"...

    What is worse is that there are so seldom any repercussions for them doing so.

  5. You lose TWICE! by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sorry, I couldn't f-ing resist!

    Oh, that's fucking sad. You lose TWICE!

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  6. Re:What about MY right to not listen?.. by Volante3192 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One right you do NOT have is to not be offended.

    So fuck off.

  7. Re:Fucking nothing by Volante3192 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Best. English teacher. Ever.

  8. Re:Let it rip... by mmarlett · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Fuck" is the most versatile word in the English language. It can be used in every part of speech (except as a preposition, though it can be part of a prepositional phrase). The sentence, "Fuck those fucking fuckers," for example, packs a lot of meaning in what is really only two words. There are so many uses for that one word that someone wrote an entire book on it. In it, it calls "fuck" the "most important and powerful word in the English language."

    So don't be so fucking quick to judge.

  9. Whoever tagged this "idle" needs... by Delusion_ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...their head examined. Traffic court is already filled with bogus cases in defense of laws whose primary purpose is to generate income for the locality.

    Fair taxation, please, not harassment in lieu of it.

  10. Re:Jail?! For swearing?! by clone53421 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The latter is exactly what you DONT have a right to say

    Incorrect.

    Not to a police officer anyways

    Incorrect.

    nor should you.

    Incorrect.

    You want to live in a country without police?

    Incorrect.

    I want to live in a country where the fucking police do their fucking job and quit fucking with people who they shouldn’t be fucking with.

    Is that fucking clear?

    --
    Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  11. Re:Jail?! For swearing?! by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I want to live in a country that when the police violate laws they can be sued and put in jail for it.

    In the USA, being a cop means you have a license to do what you want. You can even kill someone, firing several shots in his back and get away with it. It happens every month in the USA.

    You can be detained for no reason and you have no recourse. you can be severly assaulted by the police for no reason other than a peaceful protest and have no recourse. People have been tazed enough times to caus them to get more tazers because they emptied them, because they would not unchain themselves from a fence. That officer needs to not only lose everything he owns, but be blackballed from ever being a cop again. I prefer he be thrown in prison with a COP banner on him.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.