I've mentioned before how I dislike
people who curse freely in mixed company, a phenomenon that has grown
so widespread as to transform much of civil society into a barracks.
Just the other day I was sitting in a restaurant and heard two young
"men" carry on a profanity-laced conversation within earshot of women
and children. So what is it, exactly, that disturbs me about this? The
very need to provide an intellectual explanation speaks volumes about
where we are today -- healthy cultures do not feel a need to rationalize
their taboos or totems, rather they display a shared emotion of what is
noble versus what is vile.
If I had to explain it, I would remind everyone that mankind possesses a dual nature of the animalistic and the godlike. Yes, we are animals in that we defecate, urinate, and procreate. But we are also godlike in that we have the unique capacity for reason, justice, charity, and mercy. Civilization depends on elevating our godlike qualities while keeping the animalistic qualities within narrow boundaries (e.g., procreation within marriage; defecation and urination in private). Language evoking our animalistic qualities mocks and rebukes our noble characteristics, painting humanity as on par with the senseless beasts of the jungle. (Perhaps this is why the story of Genesis has Adam and Eve clothe themselves upon obtaining the knowledge of good and evil, since the exposure of their animalistic traits diminishes their true, and much more profound, natures.)
For this reason, profanity tends to surface in those areas of life where animal passions are at their highest, such as when soldiers resolve to fight and maybe die together; when we square off against a dangerous enemy; or when we are in the throes of sexual ecstasy. No problem there, but when profanity seeps out from these nooks and crannies to the point that it floods even the most public milieu, it indicates the degradation of people who are losing their capacity for nobility -- along with all the virtues necessary for sustaining civilization.
If I had to explain it, I would remind everyone that mankind possesses a dual nature of the animalistic and the godlike. Yes, we are animals in that we defecate, urinate, and procreate. But we are also godlike in that we have the unique capacity for reason, justice, charity, and mercy. Civilization depends on elevating our godlike qualities while keeping the animalistic qualities within narrow boundaries (e.g., procreation within marriage; defecation and urination in private). Language evoking our animalistic qualities mocks and rebukes our noble characteristics, painting humanity as on par with the senseless beasts of the jungle. (Perhaps this is why the story of Genesis has Adam and Eve clothe themselves upon obtaining the knowledge of good and evil, since the exposure of their animalistic traits diminishes their true, and much more profound, natures.)
For this reason, profanity tends to surface in those areas of life where animal passions are at their highest, such as when soldiers resolve to fight and maybe die together; when we square off against a dangerous enemy; or when we are in the throes of sexual ecstasy. No problem there, but when profanity seeps out from these nooks and crannies to the point that it floods even the most public milieu, it indicates the degradation of people who are losing their capacity for nobility -- along with all the virtues necessary for sustaining civilization.
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