Free Speech


As a teacher I frequently hear young people using a variety of scatological expressions around campus which, of course, reflect more on insecurity and immaturity than intelligence. Invariably, some of these sexual and biological references turn up in written assignments as well. The lead article in Time magazine a while ago: "It's A Four-letter World Out There" about the apparent epidemic of profanity in contemporary music, movies, humor and our daily lives serves to suggest that slang and "freedom of speech" must not be confused with utility and propriety. In as much as I too have had to struggle with this type of "speech problem" all my life, I would like to offer the following counsel to young people.

This is not a simple matter of black and white, right and wrong, First Amendment or no. On the one hand, it involves deep-seated moral and social convictions about profanity (such as using the Lord's name in vain) going back thousands of years. On the other hand, the use or "abuse" of certain words has some very compelling emotional and constitutional support. I venture to guess that every single one of us would unhesitatingly defend the principle of "free speech." At the same time, I would wager that almost everyone would be equally offended by a wanton harangue of racist, religious and gender-explicit profanity.

I am reminded of the time after the invasion of Cambodia and the shootings at Kent State when, across this country college campuses were closed down in protest. At one rally, a particularly virulent speaker jumped up on the platform and grabbed the microphone and yelled, "We all know who the real criminal is so now I want to see how much guts you got so repeat after me! And then he yelled, "Fuck Nixon!" and there was a sort of embarrassed silence. He yelled again, "Fuck Nixon!" and again there was another difficult silence whereupon this guy swore at us and said we were all a bunch of political whimps and stormed off the stage.

The fact of the matter was that we had closed the school, shut down the administration, been tear-gassed, carted off to jail and threatened with expulsion and he was telling us that we were not "committed" because we refused to engage in a meaningless display of bad language. Of course we all despised Richard Nixon, and of course there would have been a thunderous response if he had said, "Impeach Nixon!" That is what we were there for, to protest the immoral and unconstitutional misdeeds of our president (particularly the invasion of Cambodia) and we wanted him out of the White House. We were not interested in having sex with him.

First of all, I think we must never forget common decency in our daily lives. If our friends and associates prefer not to smoke then we mustn't blow smoke in their face. And likewise, if they are offended by a plethora of four-letter words then I suggest we have the same obligation to respect their auditory senses as well as their respiratory system.

Secondly, I feel that what is done in the marketplace and on the museum walls is not necessarily behavior to be emulated in our private lives. Time magazine makes an attempt to describe some of the "Heavy Metal" musicians and the stand-up comedians as "artists" and therefore, given that license, for us to indulge their capricious obscenities on the grounds that "art" must be absolutely free, untethered, new, and different, if sometimes abrasive to our sensibilities -- a philosophical position I share wholeheartedly. Even so, I might admire a fine nude painting but that doesn't mean I need to parade around in my birthday suit does it? Similarly, if Mick Jagger or Dice Clay choose to inundate us with a cascade of vulgarities pretending to a new art form, we shouldn't feel obligated to copy their particular art, especially when it is an art appealing to the lowest common denominator of cultural decency.

Thirdly, as with all things; drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, love and hate, there must be a balance, a harmony between purpose and application. If profanity becomes a dominant part of our everyday language what will we have left for justifiable exclamations? When you smash your thumb with the hammer you have every right to a good, loud scream, "Shit! God Damn it!" You deserve the sympathy such an expression will elicit among those within earshot. But if every other word out of your mouth is the Lord's name in vain, or reference to a procreative act, who is going to turn their head or come over and kiss your thumb to make it better when you need it? Words and meanings are precious and they ought not to bandied about frivolously.

Fourthly, I would ask young people to forbear the wanton use of four-letter words on the principle of moral and intellectual indignation, a kind of ethical snobbishness, if you will. I am not, for a second, suggesting that anybody is better than anybody else because of the way he/she speaks. But I am recommending the protection and preservation of our culture, our moral fiber, our sense of decency and social obligation. We must stand firm against vulgarity, mediocrity and indecency if we are to move closer to genuine "melting pot" harmony.

The profaning of our language is but a small step away from the profanation of our souls. Twenty years ago I made a sort of vow to myself that if I ever heard a man use the word "nigger" in public I would put the hurt on him. Well, now the word is back, on television no less, and people are laughing. When Dice Clay says that "if only they had killed four more after Martin Luther King, then we would have a whole week off..." and people laugh, this means we still have many "miles to go and promises to keep" with regard to racial equality in this country. So I entreat young people to be intellectual and moral snobs and fight the skin merchants, racists and recidivists.

Lets face it, profanity is an insubstantial form of expression. For example, you might despise somebody and I ask why. If you say, "Well, uh,...because uh, well he's a real asshole, you know what I mean?" Well, obviously I do not know exactly what you mean because there are a lot of "assholes" in the world so I don't really have anything specific to grab on to. On the other hand if you say, "I can't stand him because he is a vulgar, deceitful, kiss-ass opportunist." You at least, suggest that you have really given the matter some thought and that there might be some truth behind this unflattering litany. And even if I happen to like the fellow in question, your well-put adjectives command respect, if not conversion.

Fifthly, and this is a position with which I am increasingly inclined to agree, which is that an unceasing use of scatology suggests some kind of underlying negativism, some deep-seated unhappiness; perhaps worst of all, an arrogant presumption of insight, "negative chic" if you will. I protest this analysis on the basis of "free speech" and existentialist expressionism, and yet if every other word out of my mouth is a reference to a sex act or physiological waste-management how else could such expressions be construed than as cynical and negative? What is more beautiful than making love to some one? And yet the word for that is the most common expression of contempt and loathing in our language. It doesn't make any sense.

In conclusion, I would like to say that of course we should defend to our deaths the rights of others to say what they want, think what they want, worship as they want, vote as they want. But that does not mean we have to copy them does it? As conscientious citizens we must fight for the poor, the underprivileged, the homeless, the war-torn and ravaged people of the world and to do so we must emulate the sensitive, the good and the wise men and women of the past and present. As an athlete you don't copy some second-string klutz who can't even hit the ball do you? So then, as a moral, ethical and cultural warrior why copy slobs who have only a limited appreciation of the English language and no respect for the high socio-cultural values of western European, African and Asian civilizations? Model your lives and language after heroes like Jefferson and Lincoln, Gandhi, Mandela and Martin Luther King. To hell with unprincipled reprobates and mediocrity! Honor great men and women, think like great men and women...and you will act like great men and women.