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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.
I was under the understanding that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had already shot down the "disorderly conduct" law that was used to disenfranchise people's rights. It would be nice if the ACLU could come to New York and do the same for our law.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
An American rights group is suing the police in Pennsylvania for issuing tickets, which carry a jail sentence, to people for swearing.
...
One lawsuit involves an unidentified woman in Luzerne County in northeast Pennsylvania who was given a citation which carries a maximum penalty of $300 and 90 days in jail after she yelled an offensive word at a motorcyclist who swerved close to her in October 2008.
I think I speak for most people when I say: Fuck that.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
"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.
Is it okay to yell "fuck" in a crowded theater?
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!
If you live in PA this won't surprise you. We just started selling alcohol on Sundays and a handful of grocery stores have had the audacity to try selling beer/wine!
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
It's fucking uncouth, you stupid fucking cunt.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
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.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Can somebody explain to me what exactly is bad about swearing?
Not really, no.
Apparently some people think certain words are evil, bad and offensive regardless of the context in which they are used. This argument is of course fucking absurd. Word have no meaning without context. I believe George Carlin addressed this issue at some length and expense.
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.
From The Onion.
What part of the fucking First Amendment don't you understand, motherfucker?
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
anal sex to preserve virginity dates back thousands of years before the USA was founded, and it's not illegal to curse in public or on TV in the US. Otherwise, you're post was dead on accurate.
Can somebody explain to me what exactly is bad about swearing?
While words have power, there's some non-small number of folks who believe that words have intrinsic power. As in, for some reason, a particular combination of sounds has some inherent ability to produce effects.
I attribute this to magical thinking, frankly. Believing that profanity is inherently bad is akin to believing that if I say the right faux-latin words and wave a stick at you, I can produce some effect. (Hell, the alternative word "cursing" plays right into that hypothesis)
One right you do NOT have is to not be offended.
So fuck off.
Fuckin' whoosh...
They use swearing as some sort of over compensation, trying to sound important, but only coming across as the dimwit they are.
I see what you mean.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
"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.
Mr. Garrison: OK, kids, let's start the day with a few new math problems. What is five times two? Come on children, don't be shy. Just give it your best shot. [Clyde raises his hand] Yes, Clyde?
Clyde: Twelve?
Mr. Garrison: OK. Now let's try to get an answer from someone who's not a complete retard. Anyone? Come on, don't be shy.
Kyle: I think I know the answer, Mr. Garrison.
Cartman: [mocking Kyle in high-pitched, gibberish voice]
Kyle: Shut up, fat boy!
Cartman: Hey, don't call me fat, ya fuckin' Jew!
Mr. Garrison: Eric! Did you just say the F-word?
Cartman: Jew?
Kyle: No, he's talking about "fuck." You can't say "fuck" in school, you fuckin' fat ass!
Mr. Garrison: Kyle!
Cartman: Why the fuck not?
Mr. Garrison: Eric!
Stan: Dude, you just said "fuck" again!
Mr. Garrison: Stanley!
Kenny: [muffled] Fuck.
Mr. Garrison: Kenny!
Cartman: What's the big deal? It doesn't hurt anybody! Fuck, fuckity-fuck-fuck-fuck!
Mr. Garrison: How would you like to go see the school counselor?
Cartman: How would you like to suck my balls?
[everyone gasps]
Mr. Garrison: [enraged] What did you say?!
Cartman: Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Actually, what I said was: [picks up a megaphone] "How would you like to suck my balls, Mr. Garrison?
[Garrison stands rooted to the spot, frozen with fury]
Stan: Holy shit, dude.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
...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.
Normally I’d just send you to www.lmgtfy.com... but I’ve been waiting a long time for a good excuse to send someone to www.justfuckinggoogleit.com.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
If Penn wants people to be 'polite' and not use profanity in public places, thats perfectly acceptable, IF they vote it into law. If its not a law then thats it, game over ... majority rules, if a community doesn't want people swearing in public then you deal with it.
Okay, time for a quick high-school civics refresher. The basis of law in the United States all derives from the U.S. constitution. While the 10th amendment to that constitution does grant the states and the people a lot of latitude, it explicitly places the protections of the rest of the constitution as superior to any laws that might be passed by the states (or any lower level). That's why the Supreme Court can and frequently does strike down statutes and ordinances that they find to be in conflict with the Constitution.
In other words, if Pennsylvania wants to pass "community standards" laws that constrain speech in this way, they really only have two choices: (1) somehow get an amendment to US Constitution that curtails the 1st amendment; or (2) secede. From a practical perspective, #1 won't happen, and #2 would probably be met with armed resistance.
Seriously, self-censorship is a good thing, often under-practiced.
I agree.
And as to the ACLU fighting to say profanity is everyone's right, well, it's everyone's right to be a fool too, but that doesn't mean it's the best thing to be.... Is the ACLU going to go to court and support the Constitutional right be a fool too? It makes about as much sense.
I find it amazing that people will say a Christian doesn't have the right to spread/proselytize their religion, or the symbols of Christianity offend them, and want all symbols of Christianity wiped out, while they will fight for the right to offend someone else with their profanity. It's nothing but pure hypocrisy.
Shut the fuck up.
Thou mangled clay-brained strumpet!
In thine exhaustive listing of profane, uncouth vocabulary, thouest did misseth "asshat".
But without, you speak an infinite deal of nothing.
The most infectious pestilence upon thee!
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
I'll bite:
"Is the ACLU going to go to court and support the Constitutional right be a fool too?"
They frequently do go to court to defend peoples' right to do foolish things. I suppose that if a law were passed making it unlawful to be a fool, then they would fight it directly, but in the absence of such laws they've defended individual foolish things instead. For example, it would be very foolish for a chapter of the American Nazi Party to march through the streets of a town with more Holocaust survivors per capita than any other in America... and yet they have sued (and won, although the group evidently thought better of it and called the event off) to affirm precisely that right.
"I find it amazing that people will say a Christian doesn't have the right to spread/proselytize their religion, or the symbols of Christianity offend them, and want all symbols of Christianity wiped out"
What people? If you're claiming that the ACLU has supported any such view or action, then you are sorely mistaken. Even a cursory glance at their catalog of suits will turn up cases where they argued explicitly FOR allowing private citizens to express their Christian beliefs in the face of censorship. That said, Christians have a bit of a persecution complex, imagining that they are oppressed when it is clearly not so; they also like to mistake failure to give them overtly preferential treatment at all times with attempting to destroy their faith, which is less endearing than they think.
"while they will fight for the right to offend someone else with their profanity"
I often find that it is substantially easier to offend a person if you don't use any profanity at all. In fact, a not insignificant people aren't offended by profanity in the slightest. You have no right not to be offended.
"It's nothing but pure hypocrisy."
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
Fortunately the ACLU defends your right to distribute religious material.
February 21, 2003: The American Civil Liberties Union came to the defense of students in a Massachusetts high school who were suspended for distributing candy canes with Christian messages on them. The ACLU argued that their suspension violated the students’ freedom of speech.
July 11, 2002: ACLU defends the right of Iowa public school students to distribute Christian literature during non-instructional hours of school.
So... thank God for the ACLU standing up for our right to practice religious freedom and expression and keeping Government forced religion out of our lives.
...and thank them for standing up for our fucking right to free expression.
Ummmm.... Mindless zombies always damage society. It doesn't matter whether or not they are religious or not. Your argument seems based on the idea that mindless zombies exist only because of religion. This is patently false.
I see the same argument you make all the time, but I see very little logic in it. Mostly it is just an ad hominen fallacy. The problem isn't religion, it's how unscrupulous people pervert/twist it for their own purposes.
I was raised in an extremely disfunctional home. My old man would read a religious author and go off on a tangent. He threw me out of house and whipped pretty severely at age 7 for me for saying that if using dice to play a game is gambling so is using a spinner. He fixated on one idea to the exclusion of same author saying that parents should never attempt to break their children's wills or stifle thought and choice in their children. The author said it was a sin to do that. Now why did he choose the one idea that he perverted into abusing me and completely ignored the ideas that would have kept him from abusing me? Because of religion? That's an insanely stupid suggestion. He did so because of his own warped character. He found what he wanted and stopped there. That's not the fault of any religion. In my opinion it was mental illness. If he hadn't found some type of justification for his actions in one place, he would have found it in another. He chose to be cruel despite everything in his religion that forbade cruelty.
Now, back to society at large.... Take, for instance, the 10 Commandments. All societies would be much more stable if those 10 principles were followed. Crime would cease to exist. Most of societies ills would disappear. Yet, those 10 principles are attacked as being outdated foolishness. Why? Human nature is no different today than it was when those principles were given, and during the times those principles were followed by the Hebrews/Isrealites their society was prosperous, free, and had very little crime.
Other Hebrew religious laws made sure the poor were fed, that servants were given their freedom and debtors were released from their debt every year of Jubilee, that non-Hebrews/Isrealites were treated fairly and humanely, that the Gentiles had the same rights as the Isrealites had. Forgiveness of debt happened once every 49 years. So, say your family hit hard times and had to sell its land. Your family got its land back at the year of Jubilee. So, was that just? Yup. Was it merciful? Yup. Did it keep the wealthy from robbing the poor, and their descendants, of their inheritance? Yup. It was a just system. It was a religious system.
"while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude." de Tocqueville
Let me help, when you use a swear word as an adjective, you miss the opportunity to use an adjective that would help the listener.
Maybe, maybe not. There is a Soviet urban legend about this...
Russian profanities are considerably more expressive than English ones, mainly due to the ability of the language to combine word roots in more creative ways, and rich inflections. Consequently, it is common for people, especially males, and stereotypically lower classes, to substitute virtually all grammatical categories with swearwords, while still retaining the structure of the sentence to the point that its original meaning is understandable.
Now, the legend... the way it goes, the above was very much true in a certain Soviet factory, where workers identified both parts and processes using a rich swearword lexicon. So "this little fuckthing" (which would be a single word in Russian) meant a very specific part, and "fuck it over through the cunt" (again, a single word) meant applying a very specific technological process to that part; and so on.
Which all went well, in fact, until there was a scheduled inspection of the factory by local Party leadership, and the supervisors forbade workers from swearing. That day, the factory stalled, because the workers on the ground could not coherently explain the manufacturing process, much less coordinate it, without resorting to their original lexicon. They simply haven't used the "proper" names of the parts in years or decades - depending on how long people have been working there!
There's also another army-related joke on the subject. As it goes, Soviet officers were taught that, in theory, Soviet army had a disadvantage in battle because Russian words are, on average, twice as long as English words, and therefore orders take twice as much time to give and to understand. However, in practice, this was found to not be a problem, since in combat conditions, Soviet officers would switch almost entirely to swearwords for all their orders, which are significantly shorter, mostly matching English for all practical purposes.
Take it for what you will, though, according to my (ex-Soviet army major, combat service in Afghanistan) father, the army joke is spot on.