Obscene/Hateful Language? Harmful or Harmless?

I was thinking about this and wondered what other people thought.

Question's pretty simple-Do you think that obscene/vulgar language (either swears or sexual-related) or hateful/discriminatory language (race, i.e. n***er, sp**; gender, i.e. br**d; religion, i.e. using the term 'Jew' as an insult; sexual orientation, i.e. f***ot; disability, i.e. re****ed; etc) is inherintely harmful or mostly harmless? When is it harmful, when is it harmless?

Personally I don't mind it if people use 'obscene' language, so long as its not every other word/sentance or too frequently. I think it's better to not teach/use/let children hear that kind of language (especially sexual language) at a young age, but I also don't think that an adult knowing it or speaking like that is really harmful in any way (with the exception that they might encounter people who don't like it and think lesser of them for it).

Hateful language-I don't think really has much effect, on me at least. I have pretty thick skin, but you'd assume I'd find 90% of the media and popular culture rittled with language offensive to me, I just don't mind it. (I even have the bad habit of saying it myself)
And yet... I think it's pretty harmful in most cases, and probably helps to perpetuate hateful ideas and stereotypes about groups of people, even when it's used by somebody from that group or in a way not meant to offend anyone).

i think cussing is fine...as long as like you said its not everyword just to try to be a bad ass or something..i hate when gangsters are like yooo wassup mother fuckerrrrrr im fuckin getting out of this shit joint idk lol as you can see im not like that or w/e haha.
but i think racist comments and sexual comments is bad to an extent if its your friend or something like i might call my friend a skank and thats not bad but if its some random person who does that then its weird..
k i just kinda rambled there.

When you call somone a jew or ni*** or something along those lines, thats wrong . I dont get offended when people say F this and your're a beeyotch, hah but I dont like it. Its just soo annoying, and when girls do it they look really un-classy and guys just make themselves sound really dumb.

I dont think I've ever sworn, I just cant make myself say it..

cussing is fine as long its not hatred wise like racist or w/e.
theres a kid in my school who swears every other word, i swear. i counted 32 by the time small talk conversation was over.

I hate it. There a so many other words to express such feelings, why do cuss ones need to be used? A lot of the time I think it just makes people look stupid.

Swearing presents a lack of vocabulary and education. I do use it however in the presence of false anger to effect.

Racial terms I can handle because I am the brunt of many an Asian joke. Words get thrown around and I think some people are too sensitive to realize the connotation of the word. I don't plan on having my children swear, but I'll also be a hypocrite.

i don't swear, like, ever. i used to but i stopped. i have a younger brother that shouldn't use those words, so i don't either.

ephesians 4:29 "do not let any unwholesome or obsene language come out of your mouth".

My mother "Don't you let that come out of your mouth again or I'll wash your mouth out with soap"


Mom>God

lol
i don't care if people cuss because crap means the same as shit society has just made that a bad word..which is dumb.

i hate when people say things like "thats gay or your retarded" i hate that so much. i used to say things like that but wow i hate it now.

and i didn't used to cuss but lately i have been just because i really don't care i mean obviously i don't say it in front of my parents or something but i just do it occasionally.

CT Track wrote:My mother "Don't you let that come out of your mouth again or I'll wash your mouth out with soap"


Mom>God

haha my mom actually did that once because I called my brother something dumb when I was 6...never again

I don't cuss. the only thing I would say is 'damn' or maybe 'hell'. but it's not that often & I would be more likely to say damn than hell.

i dont think cussing or racial slurs are acceptable, but i dont really care if they're used. and i think people that take offense to them are too sensitive lol. most people swear out of habbit, and probably dont think about what they're saying.

i dont care.


your welcome for this very in-depth post.

As long as people don't take it too far then its fine. That goes for swearing and racial, sexist,etc. comments

I think things like b###h and f**k are fine as long as it's not uttered in front of children, even though you look like a moron when you say it

I have a problem with gay because saying someone is stupid based on another's sexual orientation is plain wrong. Imagine if someone said, "that's so straight" That speaker would look like a moron because not all straight people are stupid

As for Jew, I've never heard it used as a racial slur, but maybe that's just because I live in an area with a high Jewish population. If I did hear it, I'd either suck it up, or remind the person that not all Jews are out to steal money, or overthrow the US government.

I think slurs aimed at a certain population are harmful because they promote ignorance, and hate.

whenhen wrote:
As for Jew, I've never heard it used as a racial slur, but maybe that's just because I live in an area with a high Jewish population. If I did hear it, I'd either suck it up, or remind the person that not all Jews are out to steal money, or overthrow the US government.

is there a cult of jews trying to overthrow the government?

I think cussing all the time makes you sound stupid but some times people need a good wtf you piece of mutha f***ing sh-t face.

AudienceOfOne wrote:

whenhen wrote:
As for Jew, I've never heard it used as a racial slur, but maybe that's just because I live in an area with a high Jewish population. If I did hear it, I'd either suck it up, or remind the person that not all Jews are out to steal money, or overthrow the US government.

is there a cult of jews trying to overthrow the government?

I've been told that jews are taking over washington, upon people finding out that I'm friends with many jews. It's not really an anti-Semitic slur though

have you guys seen harold and kumar 2: escape from guantanamo bay?
i love the racial stereotypes, with the guy pouring grape soda in front of the black people, and then pouring out change in front of the jews.

I don't really think cussing is that bad. If you really look at it, it's just a word. Just like any other word, if you say it over and over again it loses meaning. Cuss words are just what society has made them to be.

alex-likes-running wrote:have you guys seen harold and kumar 2: escape from guantanamo bay?
i love the racial stereotypes, with the guy pouring grape soda in front of the black people, and then pouring out change in front of the jews.

yesss haha.
i love that movie.

I HATE swearing.
I think it's extremely pointless, and you can come up with a better word to say that a swear word.
My friend group made a few "Group Rules."
Just an example: No retarded swearing for no reason, and nobody can say: gay, fag, or faggot.
Just some words that we all really don't like to hear.
My friends andjoke around and we call eachother things like whore, skank, and wench, but we only do it when the person knows that we are just messing around.

So I have been doing a project related to this since October. I've been counting the number of racist/sexist/etc remarks, stereotypes, jokes, etc I hear other students and teachers say (and counting them in the media, but that hasn't been as interesting/surprising), as well as whether or not somebody (a teacher or student) addresses it (calls them out on it).



The categories I'm tracking are:
-Arabic/Muslism (combined because there was so much gray area between the two)
-Hispanic
-Asian
-African American
-Other Ethnic Groups
-Jewish
-Non-Mainstream Religion (i.e. scientology, I don't know any others off the top of my head, so...)
-Other Religious Groups (i.e. hinduism, budhism, christianity)
-Homosexual Male
-Homosexual Female
-Neutral Homosexual (when it's not clear if the word 'gay', 'fag', 'homo', etc are suppose to apply to a guy or girl)
-Male
-Female
-Transexual
-Mental Disability
-Handicap


I'm curious, what do people think are the biggest categories for students/teachers and the average number of times I count something from each category every day.

XCTrackXC wrote:
The categories I'm tracking are:
-Arabic/Muslism (combined because there was so much gray area between the two)
-Hispanic
-Asian
-African American
-Other Ethnic Groups
-Jewish
-Non-Mainstream Religion (i.e. scientology, I don't know any others off the top of my head, so...)
-Other Religious Groups (i.e. hinduism, budhism, christianity)
-Homosexual Male
-Homosexual Female
-Neutral Homosexual (when it's not clear if the word 'gay', 'fag', 'homo', etc are suppose to apply to a guy or girl)
-Male
-Female
-Transexual
-Mental Disability
-Handicap


I'm curious, what do people think are the biggest categories for students/teachers and the average number of times I count something from each category every day.

Well the bolded ones are the ones that seem to be prominent at my school.
The ones I underlined would be ones that are heard/said the most though if I truly had to narrow it down.
Are you really hearing things from the teachers? CrAzY! I probably only have one teacher that would say or do any of these things...and they'd be joking if they did.

Arabic/Muslim
African American
Jewish
neutral homosexual

those are the ones that are really big in my school.