Today I was doing my laundry and about three families with little kids were playing in the nearby pool. I'm standing there mindlessly loading the washing machines, listening to the little kids splash and scream, when I notice two college-age guys tossing a Frisbee and stuff. They periodically littered their conversation with choice words such as "shit" and "fuck," loud enough that I could hear it across the walk in the laundry room, so of course all the children and their families could hear it.
That's so fucking rude.
Obviously, as you can see even from this entry, I don't have anything against swearing itself. I like curse words and I don't think they make you sound ignorant or show that you have no better way to express yourself. But I do believe that it's inappropriate to use those words around children if you don't know whether their parents mind.
Words won't hurt them, but someone is always going to be offended by those particular words, and if the kids hear them and think they sound cool, and aren't discriminating enough to know when it's okay to use them, the words will inevitably slip out at school or in front of easily offended grandparents, and the kid will get a walloping.
Just 'cause some asshole decided to say "fuck" in public.
I discussed this with a jerk online at one point. We'd started arguing because he e-mailed me and insulted my Web site (a no-no in Ivyland) and said that because I have a site dedicated to posting IM logs of me telling off cybersex-scroungers, that I needed a new hobby. We got into a discussion about this, him defending the cybersex-scroungers' RIGHT to say this shit to me and my supposed obligation to either give them sex or not talk at all...and, of course, me defending my right to be online without being attacked with this sort of garbage.
I said that even though I was not particularly offended by the language and suggestions, it was not fair for the cybersex jerk to IM me assuming it's okay to talk to people that way. The jerk's response? "Then you need to lighten up." I likened the situation to cursing in public, saying families with young children shouldn't be subjected to jerks who just feel like cursing loudly, and his response was "then THEY need to lighten up too!"
Apparently everyone whose opinions and tastes are different needs to "lighten up."
I hate it when people just assume everyone is like them.
I've had people assume I'm in college just because I live in a college town and look young. Maybe it shouldn't bother me, but I don't like being asked what my major is, as if they just *know* that I must go to school.
I've had people assume I want a boyfriend just because I'm single. Maybe it shouldn't bother me, but I don't like being asked what I look for in a guy when I'm not looking for a guy at all.
I've had people assume I'm Wiccan just because I wear a pentacle necklace. Maybe it shouldn't bother me, but I don't like people assuming I'm one particular religion just because I wear a general Pagan symbol. That would be like a Baptist assuming another person wearing a cross is also Baptist. The cross is symbolic of pretty much all Christian religions, but somehow people have this inability to wrap their brains around the concept of other people being DIFFERENT.
I think I need to become a pseudo-cop and start handing out Assumption Tickets. Now you have to pay a fine when you step on someone else's rights through erroneous assumption.
"Yeah, pal, assuming it's okay to curse in public is a federal offense. Here's your ticket. You won't pay it? Then you're fucked."
Notes:
Yeah, you rock. I've come to that conclusion. I swear like crazy, but generally not around little children. I should be saying f*ck, what the hell? You should f*cking lighten up with this sh*t because it's their right to be macho *sses and behave like pr*cks because you can't see them and laugh at them in person :o) There I think that covers it. And yes... I hate it when people would assume [~Pallas Athena~]
that because I was a witch that I had to be wiccan. It just irritate the sh*t out of me and made me want to kick sand up their buttholes :o) My favorite was getting snubbed because I wasn't wiccan. They thought I couldn't possibly know sh*t about wiccan. We have to face it... The world is filled with burned out light bulbs. [~Pallas Athena~]
Swearing is quite fun it,s a great way to spice up a f#$%in sentence. Asumption is the first step toward ignorance. [sheldonious]
Exact-o-mundo :D I swear randomly throughout the day, but it's instinct to check for the following: young children, adults in general, not being in a classroom or with your parents and siblings. Learned the hard way. Shitty doodle :P [katqueen]