The Idiocity of "Bad Words" Censorship

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2006-01-17 02:40pm

There is something that I find in the media and in forums very often that I find annoying, and an insult to my intelligence. Often times whenever someone is quoted as saying a "bad word" in newspaper and magazine articles (both online and print) some of the letters are replaced by asterisks. If I were to be offended by the word "fuck" then I would still be offended by "f**k" because everyone older than 7 years old in the whole damned country knows what those asterisks stand for. I mean seriously, how is "@$$" less offensive than "ass"? I read it the same way. It's one thing to have an expletivie replaced by ***** or [censored], but no they go and put bull***t and f****ng instead. WTF? I dislike that some stupid words are being censored, but I dislike even more that this is being done in such a hypocritical manner.

Sometimes it feels like the majority of the people in the world are content to avoid energy intesive activities like critical thinking, and forming one's own opinion, and who can forget using logic.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2006-01-17 02:44pm

It's probably seen as some sort of compromise between preserving the original text and satisfying the easily shocked.

On a lighter note, the best thing to do is resolve that, should you become a sought-after celebrity or public figure, you will not utter one single quotable phrase in public that can be taken in context without leaving all the swear words in. Make those censors work for it.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2006-01-17 02:50pm

Lagmonster wrote:It's probably seen as some sort of compromise between preserving the original text and satisfying the easily shocked.

But there is no compromise, anyone with a brain can see... the...
Oh wait, I think I answered my own question. Any one with a brain can see the word, and the brainless morons can remain in their blisful world with no "bad words".

Majin Gojira · Post by **Majin Gojira** » 2006-01-17 02:57pm

Penn and Teller's Bullshit covered this topic very accurately, IMO. The thesis of that episode was the fact that the censors believe that it's the words themselves that are 'evil', not the thoughts behind them.

And to further damn that movement, they do so without cursing once....themselves...They get others to do it and have the words on screen.

Gunhead · Post by **Gunhead** » 2006-01-17 04:50pm

This reminds me when Chris Rock was interviewed by our Channel 4, and the topic of swearing on TV came up. Rock says nobody will ever hear him swear on TV because of *beeping*. To this our friendly interviewer goes "If you want to swear on TV go right a head. This is for finnish TV so nobody's gonna be beeping your swearing." So Rock goes "Fuck, shit etc. etc."

It was fucking priceless.

-Gunhead

Post by **Surlethe** » 2006-01-17 05:48pm

I've seen it applied legalistically on other forums: i.e., everyone knows what you're trying to say, but, even though the admin is sympathetic, he'll nail you for a TOS violation if you actually curse, so instead of telling somebody, "I've shat shit more intelligent than you", you go "I've sh@t sh1t more intelligent than you".

Akhlut · Post by **Akhlut** » 2006-01-17 08:31pm

What offends me is when they bleep out some really inane things. Like the "hole" in asshole. Seriously, what the fuck? I don't get it. How is asshole that much more objectionable than ass alone?

Or, when they censor the "God" in "Goddamn"? When someone just says "damn it," isn't God sort of implied, as he's traditionally the one doing the damning?

It's nonsensical. Are not all "bad words" created equal? And if someone is easily offended by the "hole" in asshole, why the hell are they watching NYPD Blue (to pick an egregious offender that's on TNT)? How is calling someone an asshole more offensive than police brutality?

Winston Blake · Post by **Winston Blake** » 2006-01-17 09:24pm

I think asterisking naughty words acts as a small mental barrier that must be overcome before you can be offended. Seeing or hearing a word like FUCK instantly short-circuits the brain, but f*** means that if you're trying to skim over something smoothly you haven't got time to work it out and be offended. It doesn't sound like 'fuck' in your mental voice, so it just registers as 'ferrrrrrr' or [insert naughty word here].

It's the same principle as minced oaths, like if a guy saw a bunny bite a man's head off and shouted 'Jeepers Creepers!', you'd know what he really meant, but he avoided offending God by not 'taking his name in vain'.

Mostly, asterisking naughty words is only supposed to be inoffensive because of a tacit agreement that it's inoffensive. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with this, e.g. the value of modern money is based on the same thing. If people agree that @$$ has less antagonistic intent than 'ass', then when a person want to say it in a gentler way they can choose to leetify it, and the other person can interpret that choice as indicating gentler intent.

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2006-01-19 02:13am

What about the substitute bad words like for example "Friggin", "Freaking" or from Battlestar Galactica "Frackin' or Like in the TBS re-edit of Back to the future in which Marty says "Jeez Annabelle Louise" instead of "Jesus Christ". Then there are ghetto movies played on regular tv like Menace to Society when someone says "MaggotFarmer" instead of "Muthafucka".

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-01-19 04:01am

I for one would never use the word 'fuck' if I knew it would be replaced by lame BSG insults.

Seriously.

AK_Jedi · Post by **AK_Jedi** » 2006-01-19 11:52am

South Park did a great episode on this one time when the network allowed them to say Shit on air. Afterwards, the networks went back to no shit. The funny thing is that I believe that reruns of the episode are still uncensored.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2006-01-19 11:55am

Such idiocy is rampant. I was playing CS on a server once that banned WTF because of what it stood for. I asked them if they planned on banning Crap because it stood for Shit.

And it was even better on another CS server. Not only did it automaticaly censor swear words so that you couldn't even see them, it would immediately kick you after your second attempt at swearing. Whats the fucking point of blocking out the swear word if your going to kick as well?

And don't get me started over the censoring of TV and movie swearing. Anyone with half a brain knows exactly whats being said, so whats the fucking point?

It gets even better when you have idiotic auto censoring programs in some forums and games. In a forum that was dedicated to war fanfics, the word cock was banned. So cockpit was a word you couldn't type. It got even worse though. Spaces were ignored.

sheS HIT him

That got censored because you can spell SHIT from it.

Aeolus · Post by **Aeolus** » 2006-01-19 12:02pm

Stark wrote:I for one would never use the word 'fuck' if I knew it would be replaced by lame BSG insults.

Seriously.

hey now Frak is a great word. It has a harder sound than fuck and can be said with greater force.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-01-19 12:47pm

Stark wrote:I for one would never use the word 'fuck' if I knew it would be replaced by lame BSG insults.

Seriously.

What makes "frack/frak" somehow inferior to fuck? I find it and "friggin'" are good alternatives when the easily offended are about. If they object, you can then ask them why the hell they object to a word they likely don't even know of. It's hilarious watching someone try and justify banning a word that isn't even a real obscenity.

Max · Post by **Max** » 2006-01-19 01:40pm

There were a couple of episodes on BSG that the character (the female admiral) used frak with so much force behind it in a scene, that it made me wonder how many takes she had to do to not say fuck instead. It was pretty powerful, and it was as good (if not better) than actually using fuck.

My roomate and I have been caught on occasion saying frak instead. Maybe with any luck it'll become a new swear word to censor. =)

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-01-19 02:33pm

The title of this thread should be "idiocy" by the way. Idiocity is not a word.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-01-19 04:55pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:The title of this thread should be "idiocy" by the way. Idiocity is not a word.

But it sounds nice.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-01-19 05:33pm

It sounds like the capital of Moronovia.

PrinceofLowLight · Post by **PrinceofLowLight** » 2006-01-19 05:39pm

"Frak" et al can be good just for varying your phrasing.

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2006-01-19 09:05pm

If you're that desperate to add some spice into your swearing, you can simply name odd, yet disgusting body parts, preferrably from other species. Ex: "Holy cow testicle, batman!" or, "I don't give an elephant's pube...".

outcast · Post by **outcast** » 2006-01-21 07:24am

Or, you can always go for the science-fiction swearing. Like Frell and Frack!
That always gets me odd looks for some reason...