Sunday Night’s Emmy Awards broadcast had Sally Field beeped for using the words “God” and “damn” together.
It led me to wonder… why exactly is the phrase a naughty word?
I mean, we can say the word “God” whenever we want. And TV is replete with the word “damn”. In fact, “damn” isn’t that bad a word, on the list of bad words. It can be used in a title of a beloved musical, “Damn Yankees”. It raised eyebrows in 1939 when Clark Gable uttered it, but we’ve come a long way since then, and even he didn’t get bleeped. Fox (who aired and bleeped Sally Field) has a TV show called “The Best Damn Sports Show Ever.”
So seperately, “God” and “damn” are okay.
But if you put the two together… what happens? Magically, it’s a MUCH WORSE WORD!
It’s not like the MEANING even changes, does it? It’s not like some dirty words where they have a homonym that’s innoccous like with “ass”. It’s the same word.
I mean, any time you use “damn” isn’t it assumed that it’s God doing the damning? Who else damns something?
My wife asked me, “why is it supposed to be bad?” I answered that it was against the Ten Commandments.
And that’s the final irony: saying “God damn” is one of the things that will get you damned!
Posted in A Cacophony of Posts | 14 Comments »By Siamang.
I’m offended,
I’m offended,
I’m pretty sure the insult was intended,
If I tried that tack with you, you would be offended too
There’s just no way that this fence can be mended
I’m offended!
Hemant recently wrote about a column in the Denver Post which carried a headline referring to the old canard “There are no atheists in foxholes.” He took offense.
The author of the piece, Al Lewis (not Grandpa Munster) wrote:
If atheists are really offended by such an innocuous line, how are they any different than Jerry Farwell, who was offended by Tinky Winky, the allegedly gay Teletubbie? Or Muslims who didn’t like cartoons?
So goes the refrain, heard often.
Kathy Griffin insults Jesus, Bill Donohue insults Jews, Debbie Schlussel insults atheists… And we go around again.
Now, sometimes I have some harsh words to say about someone who has different beliefs or opinions. And sometimes to speak my mind, I might say something that offends.
If I say something that offends, but I really mean it, and I really want to say it anyway, does that keep me from being able to say I’m offended when someone else offends me?
As this picture illustrates… offense has no natural end-point.
Sometimes folks get offended by what atheists say, and yet at the same time, atheists need to be able to speak up when someone points a slur at their direction.
As I think about it, what’s going on is this: For the last couple of decades, our society has become more and more pluralistic, and in the process of all of us trying better to get along, we’ve got a new norm that we police. It’s called “I’m offended.” Be you Ann Coulter, Don Imus or Michael “Kramer” Richards, when you cross that line, you’d better be prepared for some howls.
I’m offended,
I’m offended,
The things you said just cannot be defended,
Speaking freely is just fine, but your speech just crossed the line,
It’s time your speaker’s soapbox was upended…
I’m offended!
Now some folks will howl at milder things than others, and society has gotten used to some of these “Cry Wolfers” and their never-ending boycotts based on imagined sexual references in childrens’ cartoons or puppet shows.
But as I see it, atheists are late to the game, somewhat, and would like to be let into the club of people who can use the magic words “I’m offended” and get some positive response. At the same time, they also want to be the people who are free to say critical things about religion and sometimes religious people…
But atheists as a group do not have the political power or organization or will to back up the complaints of offense. All we can do is howl, not bite.
So are we just whining? If we can’t back up our complaints of offense, how do we proceed? How can we in good conscience BOTH complain about our treatment AND speak our minds freely? Especially in a dialogue where it seems that our mere existence and assertion of our beliefs seems to be offensive to some.
Also, since nobody I know can muzzle P.Z. Myers or Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris or whoever is (rightly or wrongly) causing *offense* this week, how can we continue the conversation without inviting “you guys do it too” rebuttals from those who offend us?
I tentatively recommend a different response instead of “I’m Offended.” How about instead saying this:
“I’m requesting a tone of civility from you. Just me as a human being, not a member of a group, asking you, a human being, to see this for a second from my eyes. Will you do this?”
Any other thoughts, suggestions or ideas?
-Siamang