If You've Got Something to Say, Should You Say It? (#IWSG)

Should I have said it?  (photo by Betty)

       If you really thought that I wouldn't be posting on my birthday then maybe you didn't get your wish when you blew out your last birthday cake candles.  For some of you, my blog posts might be like the proverbial bad nickel (it used to be a penny, but, you know, inflation and all).   Hard to keep a blowhard blogger quiet when there's always something to say even if it is my birthday.   And if you're wondering about my age then I'll just say it's a palindromic number that is one numeral shy of being the favorite number of those who don't particularly like the Christian ideology.

       And that is the lead-in for the topic of not only my next Battle of the Bands post coming on Wednesday, but also my topic for my February edition of...

The Insecure Writer's Support Group

         Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog. 

     

       This month I'll address the same question that others of you will be discussing along with some expanded thoughts:

How has being a writer changed your experience as a reader?

          About the same time I became a more serious reader back in the mid-sixties when I was in middle school, I also began to experiment more with writing.  As the years of schooling progressed, more writing was required in many of the classes I took and more reading was required as well.  The curriculum required the reading and study of certain classics and we were encouraged to read according to our interests.  Book reports, essay writing, and research for required projects entailed reading and more writing, none of which bothered me much since I enjoyed doing both.   For me, reading good writing makes me want to write, maybe something as good as what I've read, or maybe just write whatever fulfills me the most written in the best way I can manage writing it.

        Certainly, reading is a means of escape for me, however I want to read things that I would like to have written.  Fantasy as well as fantastical science fiction is not where my writing interests lie any longer so therefore I don't read much in those genres.  Most of my fiction writing throughout the years has been feet-on-the-ground types of stories to which I can relate.  More often than not, the reading that inspires me most is in non-fiction genres.  My reading experiences now will be escapes into the realities that others have experienced which in turn adds to my own life experience.   

         Good fiction can also do this for me, but I want to believe what I read while at the same time to not be distracted by such nonsense as explicitly written sex scenes or profuse profanity.  Sure, those things are part of real life experience, but rarely does elaborating on any of this actually enhance the value of a story being told.  This is not what I would write and likewise not something I care to read any more than I'd want to read intensely accurate descriptions of any bodily functions or extended passages of small talk that goes far beyond character development or whatever literary device is being attempted.

         Call me a prude or whatever, unnecessary description or dialog of a prurient nature is offensively distracting to me.  If I'm going to be offended then I want to be offended with ideas that rouse my mind to work in higher levels of reasoning and counterargument.  Light reading has its place for any of us, but profanity for me is not lighthearted fun or escapism.   The vilest and most frightening characters in literature scare us more with their intellect than their stupidity and their baseness.  Reading my favorite authors like Flannery O'Connor or Cormac McCarthy has introduced me to some of the creepiest folks around and they spoke nary a profane word.  

         Writing profanity or explicit sex scenes is not something with which I feel comfortable and this attitude goes hand in hand with my reading.  If I'm out to offend people--and this is not something that I necessarily strive to do--then I can write about topical political themes that upset readers or discuss religious and ideological concepts that can absolutely rile those who bitterly reject such things. Of late, I've apparently been doing this as I see certain of my posts with a decline in the number of comments. I do have a consolation in more thoughtful comments and some lengthier ongoing discussion so there is a trade off in that respect.    Should I ever consider writing fiction along these thematic lines?   I have, but then also nothing I have written has been published nor have I tried to get them published--at least not since the short stories that I submitted to publications in my college days many years ago which all got rejected.  Must have been at least partly something I said.

         Truth is that just like I don't particularly read content that offends or distracts me to no good purpose, certain readers may not want to read many of the things I want to say.  I know my writing does have an audience, but it also will have its detractors.  The question arises of how can I get a point across effectively if I'm only preaching to the choir while arguing with the rear ends of horses as they run away from me.

           Okay, so I posted this Insecure Writer's Support Group post a couple days early.  It's my birthday and it's my blog so I can kind of do what I want.  Besides, I didn't want my next post on Wednesday to be overly long because it probably will be so anyway.  I'll continue in a sense with this current post as I present a Battle of the Bands song that will be so offensive to some that I won't even name it in my post's title like I normally would.  After all, a lot of people these days are mighty touchy--irrationally touchy even.   

           If you want to hear more about what I'm talking about then be sure to come back for Wednesday's post.   And if not, I hope you at least come back to listen with an open mind to a song with a style that some of you probably won't like much and about a topic that might be a turn off to others.  After a lot of my recent posts the song was just something that came to my mind so I felt like maybe I should say it.

           Besides bad writing, what are some things that will make you less likely to finish a book that you've started reading?    Can you think of any superior quality up-lifting or mind enriching literature that relies heavily on profanity or explicit sex scenes?   How old do you think I am based on my clue provided in the opening statement?

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Why Is Swearing Important?

English: "No Swearing" sign along Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach, Virginia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    Now that we've got the A to Z Challenge out of the way, we can settle back into the regular routine.  In case you are new to Tossing It Out, the typical Monday post concerns matters that might be considered controversial.   For me they are things that have crossed my mind and I'd like to get some other thoughts about them.  I may have already drawn my own conclusions or I could be trying to come up with an answer. I'm not trying to start a fight, but an intelligent discussion.  I'm tossing some ideas out to you and hoping you'll be willing to engage in some mental juggling.

The Topic of Swearing

      The topic of using "blue language" as it pertains to ones writing has been tackled previously on Tossing It Out in a guest post from Bridget Straub and a post of my own.   I've also seen other blogs address the topic.  There are varying opinions on this, but the most common defense is that profanity is most often used in writing in order to create realistic characters.  I won't argue the point again and if you're interested in knowing my views you can click on the above links.

       In this first of three posts concerning swearing on a personal level in everyday life, I basically want to get  your thoughts on the subject.  I will be asking a few questions for you to answer in the comments.  My response will be low to none for the comments for this post as I will be addressing the ideas you bring up here in my next two posts.

       For those who may be wondering what happened with the series about gun control and violence that we left off with back in March, this mini-series will be actually related to that one in a sense and will be connected later on.  For those who dislike my debate features on Mondays, you can also let me know in the comments.

Terms of Debate

         If you're wondering why I'm discussing this particular topic now, I will explain.   During the A to Z there was some concern about the AC (Adult Content) labeling of certain blogs.  I was not thrilled about labeling, but after some complaints last year there was a general agreement among the majority of the A to Z Team members that a warning was needed if a blog could be deemed particularly offensive due to language or content.   Some bloggers felt that this was unfair and they should be able to write what they wanted without labels.   Now I'd like to get some feedback concerning this and the use of language that might be deemed offensive.

         The language that I'm dealing with includes blasphemy (offensive to a religion), vulgarity (crude language), cursing/swearing (oaths of a traditionally offensive nature),  profanity (cuss words), and obscenity (unscientific words of a sexual or scatological nature).  Generally speaking this will be what might be called bad words or foul language.

         In the next two Monday posts I want to look at a few aspects of the everyday use of blue language on an individual basis.   Some of the questions I plan to address:

Why Do People Swear?

• Intent of the action
• Background of the users
• The language filter depending on circumstances
• The effect on society

What's So Funny About Swearing?

• The humorous aspect
• Devaluation of the impact of words
• Degradation of the language
• First amendment defense of swearing

Today's questions for you in regard to your daily life:

Do you swear?    To what extent?

If swearing bothers you, why?

Should there be an age limit on swearing?

Is swearing constructive or useful in any way?

Why do you think swearing is important?

         I hope you will help me with this so I can get better clarification for my upcoming posts and to find the best solutions for the content labeling issues for Blogging from A to Z.

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When Is Profanity Necessary in Writing?

Cartoon of a person waving fist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 Not in this House!

        In the early 1970's when I was still in college, my dad found a book that I had purchased at the University of Tennessee bookstore and being greatly offended by that book he promptly tore it to shreds, leaving the pieces strewn about our rec room so I would be sure to find them.  That book, The Anatomy of Dirty Words by Edward Sagarin, was a scholarly examination of the meanings, origins, and etymology of various words that are typically considered to be profane, obscene, or unacceptable.

         Profanity was necessary in this book because the words were the subject matter.  What I learned from the book in the short time I was able to access it is that dirty words are just words that in many cases had perfectly legitimate beginnings in English or another language and over time had become offensive in one way or another.  The words are only words, but the associations can arouse strong feelings in others.  The offense might stem from the way the words are spoken or in the context they are used.  They have become words that are intended to shock, embarrass, or anger others.

         I am probably a bit more open-minded than my father was, but I also went through that era of rebellion and radical change where profanity came more into common use in the arts, media, and everyday conversation.  Not that I approve of this usage.  I don't blush when I hear offensive language, but I don't encourage it either and rarely use it in my own speaking or writing.  Frankly, my dear reader, I don't think it's necessary in most cases.

Do You Want to Talk Dirty?

         In a recent Tossing It Out guest post,  Profanity: Where Do You Draw the Line?, Bridget Straub discussed how she approaches this issue in her writing and in her life.  The ensuing conversation in the comment section offered some interesting and radically different points of view.  As promised in those comments I am here with my thoughts on the use of offensive language in writing.

         I avoid most use of language that I deem offensive because I think there can be better ways of saying things.   Personally, I find profanity to be very distracting, often coming across as an author's attempt to be edgy, gritty, or "realistic".   But is this worth the possibility of losing a potential portion of a reading audience?  And is a larger sector of audience going to be gained because an author uses profanity.   To my thinking, excellent writing can convey grittiness and realistic characters in such a way that the fact there is no profanity would go unnoticed to the average reader.

          In my opinion the reader who is looking for obscenity in writing and titillated by it is puerile and unsophisticated.   They are not looking for literature, but just dirty writing.   Quality writing should not stoop to that level in hopes of better suiting it to modern tastes.   Writers who are trying to deliver that experience are not being especially creative or original.

Let's Look for the Nasty Parts

          An example from cinema that I always think of is the Oliver Stone Viet Nam film Platoon.  When I first saw this in the theater I was so distracted by the use of profanity in the film that this aspect was what I remembered most.  I disliked the film after that first viewing.  Some time later I saw the film again on television in a censored version where the most obscene things were the commercial breaks.  Without the distraction of profanity I was able to pay more attention to the characters and thematic elements of the story. I enjoyed the film much more in this second viewing.   I realized that the profanity had hindered in many ways and helped in virtually none.

        In literature I will cite Catcher in the Rye for two aspects of the use of profanity.  Firstly I was annoyed and offended by the ongoing using of the Lord's name in vain by Holden Caulfield.  There is some suggestion that Holden's casual use of "goddam" throughout the book helps establish his character, but I would argue that there are plenty of other things that the character says and does to show his rebellious and belligerent spirit.

         The second use of profanity in Catcher in the Rye is probably necessary because it is an integral part of the story and it is not used in a gratuitous way.  When Holden discovers the "Fuck You" graffiti scrawled on the walls he is shocked and angry because of the possibility of children seeing the words that are offensive even to him.  Since the theme of the book has to do with protecting the innocence of childhood, the shock of seeing the words symbolizes the loss of that innocence.   The argument that could be made as justification for Holden's use of profanity is that it illustrates the same kind of phoniness that he disdains in other people.  Profanity is in a sense central to the theme of the novel.

        However, in nearly every other case of profanity used in written work, that profanity is unneeded.  I will probably always shy away from the use of offensive language because I strongly feel that there are other ways to deal with what an author is trying to convey by using it.   I won't commit myself to this, but this is my intent as I see it now.

          How else can a writer depict bad people without using bad words?   Do you notice when obscene language is not used for characters who might use it in real life?   Do you miss the language when it's not there?   Would you like to hear offensive language used regularly in network television programming?  If so, why?


     

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