Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

Actually, Eminem isn't that widely accepted now. And, I would contend, his use of offensive language falls in the same category as Shock Value. He wants to offend people; that way he can sell more records.

As a former entertainer/musician myself, I would say that using offensive language is a very poor substitute for real talent. That's one of the reasons why, even though I grew up listening to hip hop, grew out of it.

But my point is still valid, I think. The vast majority of times that people use offensive language is because they intend to offend.

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Valid points indeed, and I think I do agree with the fact that artists too often hide behind offensive language, using it just because they can. However, provided that they're handled responsibly and not overabused to the point of obnoxiousness, I don't have any problem whatsoever with occasional curses as added color in casual conversation or jokes. In the case of me and my friends, at least, we certainly don't intend to offend anyone by using them. Nor when they're used in angry/passionate songs or movies as added oomph - swearing in songs or movies if done right can provide a really, really powerful emotional rush. Too bad that often isn't necessarily the case.

That said, I do have a little extra respect for those people who can consistently convey strong emotions and opinions without ever using swear words. I just don't think they're as inherently evil as they're made out to be sometimes.

I have to agree mostly with Didymus here. Profanity, although not always intended to offend people, is due to, imo, lack of vocabulary.

A good example of this is Rap music vs other more reputable music, Lets take Tool for an example. Rap, whether you like it or not, is mass produced. Much of it is a repitition of talking about sexually explicit topics, agressive hostility, and self praise. The music side of rap is very basic, animalistic. The exeption being when they borrow riffs from other artists. I know people who can talk in rhymn all day long if they wanted to, with a little extra effort and writing down words, they can get a very consistent meter to the sentences and make it quite catchy. The way they make the meter work consistenly, is by adding profanity. Unlike Tool, while they do use cursing occasionally, (a bit more in some earlier stuff, AEnema comes to mind) They focus on music and the meaning of what they say. So instead of one or two words meaning anything in a sentance, every bit of the song hase meaning. Every song has a different meaning, and some can be so abstract, yet so specific that you can listen to it over and over and still get a different meaning that another person who has also listened to it over and over has gotton.

All this being said, I personally don't get offended by cursing as long as names of Deity are not used. This, imo, is very disrespectful, esspetially considering that the person using Gods name in vain most likely doesn't have a belief or feeling for God... otherwise they wouldn't use the profanity.

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But there is a difference between using a racial slur against someone and blurting out "That totally kicked a**!" while playing Halo with your friends. In the latter case, you can communicate the same idea without swearing, but some of these words have sort of worked their way into the English language, and could simply be used for emphasis or enthusiasm. I'm not saying it's bad or good, but that's just the way it is.

Yeah, that what I was trying to get at too, while still agreeing with the main points of Didymus. I don't condone the most harsh curses used as derogatory insults towards people in the least (especially those that are viciously racist and sexist - I'm sure a lot of you know what they are), but just using the typical swears harmlessly during casual conversation is perfectly alright by me.