I was reading a news magazine a few weeks ago and noticed that the use of formerly forbidden four letter words were included in two of the articles. These words were not included in quotations uttered by others, but used by the authors as part of their communication style. I had noticed that the use of less "bad" words had begun to make their way into articles and on non-cable television shows, but the "big and bad" four letter words I had only seen in print on the few occassions when I read Rolling Stone (once because Whitney Houston was on the cover and she was/is an alltime fave). What does it mean that curse words are now okay to be included in news magazines? Will we start to see these words in our daily newspapers? Will news anchors begin to pepper their banter with such words? Is it just because I am way on the other side of a certain age that I am bothered by this?
In thinking about why it bothered me to see this language used so carelessly (my opinion), I decided it was not that a child could have picked up the magazine and seen these curse words. Afterall, it would be the rare child who would be reading a news magazine. No, it was that it seemed insenstive to me as the reader. The authors were not my friends. We did not have a relationship that said it was okay to use that kind of language in my presence. Could not the writers have thought of a more intelligent way to express their thoughts.
As a person who communicates for a living, I am concered that writing in a news magazine would devolve to this level. While I understand that we live in a much more familiar society, I believe it is still necessary to demonstrate respect for others and when I read those articles, I felt a little disrespected. Is it just me or have others noticed previously taboo words making their way into public discourse?
