Language influences my social circles in many ways. People use racist, prejudice, and sexist terms virtually every day. This creates controversy and civil unrest every time these words are mentioned. It’s not like people joke about this stuff anyway. Not too long ago, these words caused fights to break out and even death. Today, people have become desensitized to these words and throw them around in everyday conversation. Profanity is everywhere now, because media has put these words in everything. You can find profanity in movies, music, even on the walls of the bathroom stall! This is the reason for the desensitization; even children are running around screaming what they heard in the movies. Everybody uses profanity, some more than others, but it’s not like we are going to arrest people for cursing.
Curse words used to be an unforgivable sin, punished with a ruler, like the devil himself created these words. Parents often prevent children from cursing and often scold them if they do use them. Is it wrong to have 5 years yelling profanity in the playground? To prevent this, our society has come up with some “watered down” curse words which children can use. This makes no sense to me; it’s like giving kids training wheels, so they can ride their bikes into walls tagged with the real curse words. This “G” rated profanity will surely prevent the youth from saying those real curse words. Or maybe it will just give them a sample of what they really want. With the media not censoring anything anymore, children will easily loose the training wheels, and will quickly learn how to speak improperly.
As these children mature, their vocabulary will not. Profanity will become part of their vocabulary just as adults have to get their morning fix of Starbucks. The more these terms are used they have less of an impact on others. Desensitization to profanity is part of our culture; you cannot turn a corner in the hallways without hearing a curse word, so of course your mind will create immunity to it. It is so severe that some people curse so much that they do not even realize they have cursed. The only place you will not hear profanity is in jokes, arguments, or in the media. Actually those are the three places where they are the most common. It just happens that those three things encompass a large majority of daily conversations. Profanity can still kill people, but generally, those terms have lost most of their impact on society.
Knowing racist terms is a good way to enhance your vocabulary. These terms do not degrade certain people because of their ethnicity. These terms have historic roots, which is the reason why they affect people so much. Racial slurs are devastating because they bring a level of hate into the conversation. Although racist terms offend people, it is our obligation to use as much vocabulary as possible in our writing and producing. It is impossible to create a good film or joke without racist remarks. It’s not like racist terms have a negative impact.
Racist terms are all over the media in today’s culture. Films, music, and even books have racist material in them. People enjoy those films because they take the jokes lightly. Others are offended by these films and often protest. These protests often lead to the immediate cancelation of the film. It’s not like people see these films to have a good time, they simply just go to learn new racist terms. But in reality these terms do get absorbed in their vocabulary. These terms are often used after they are learned. An obvious solution would be make racist terms a death penalty offense. That would make people stop saying racist terms by either by fear or by killing everyone. That point aside; these terms are being used more frequently, but their impact on our circles is diminishing. These racist comments are more humorous than hurtful in today’s society.
Language has shaped my social structure in many ways. All these negative terms are being used in today’s language, and yet, their impact is dwindling. Depending on the context, words can have different impacts. For example, a racist might (but probably not) have different intentions when saying a racist term, than say a comedian. It’s not like people all over the country speak the same anyways. I still struggle to tell the difference from a joke and seriousness. Although words are very deceiving, they can often be both funny and hateful at the same time. This is something to consider the next time you hear a racist joke. Is it really just a joke? Racist slurs and profanity have lost their impact in society, so feel free to use them as you please. In fact, the first amendment gives you the right to curse and make racist comments, so take advantage of that because no one will take your sentences seriously with those words in them.
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3 comments:
Sarcastic or ironic?
My voice is sarcastic.
I know you said your strategy was to reverse plain statements made at the beginning, but the voice comes off as too flat in the opening paragraph – not enough of a hook.
Second paragraph starts to get more interesting – I like the notion of exploring “watered down” words.
Good job being specific, as well – exploring profanity – but perhaps the paper would have been better if it just stuck to profanity, rather than trying to do racist terms as well.
Also, one place to be more specific: In paragraph four, pick a specific racist term and a specific history to talk about. It’s difficult to be sarcastic with generalities.
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