WT*? LM*O!

I haven't had a good Libertarian post, so it's about time I spit out some crazy politics. The survey I took yesterday got me thinking, particularly #5. I wasn't being cute with my answer, that's really how I feel. I don't believe in curses, and I don't believe in curse words. The idea that words like fuck, shit, asshole, damn, bitch, and cocksucker are somehow "bad" words is ridiculous. I can be just as vulgar and derogatory without using any of those words. They're like little summaries of what I'm actually thinking. I swear a lot (I am a sailor after all). But I know that there's a time and a place for it. I don't say "fuck" around my patients for the same reason I don't tell dead baby jokes around them. It's unprofessional, regardless of whether I use one of the seven dirty words or not.

And that type of self-censorship is fine. But I will never agree with government censorship of any kind. The FCC can go have sex with itself (to use a polite euphemism). Television is violent, vulgar, and crude. Jack Bauer can be tortured on screen, then grab a gun and shoot nine people, but he can't use these seven words. If you don't want to hear those words, if they make you cry, then by all means, change the channel. You can live in a hole with the lights off for all I care. That is the role of the person, not the government. It's the first amendment, like it or not.

I was arguing this point with a very conservative friend of mine, when he said that "freedom of speech implies freedom of listening." I think what he was trying to say is that he believes he has a right to not have to hear something if he doesn't want to. This claim is also used to stop gay marriage ("I don't want to have to see that...") or evolution ("I don't want my children learning that..."). Political groups use arguments like that to push their agendas and take the freedom of speech and expression away from people they disagree with. There couldn't be a more obvious abuse of government than that. That is exactly why we have the first amendment.

While the Profanity episode of Bullshit is great (the entire episode can be found on YouTube), I found this clip from the College episode (you can cut it out after 2:01, the rest is in the context of the whole episode). He nails it. Censorship is the job of the individual, not the government. "We don't have a fucking right NOT to be offended."

On a related note, new episodes of Bullshit start in June. I can't wait.