Contributors

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

The Seven Dirty Words

Comedian George Carlin made his mark on society with his classic 1972 routine, "Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Television." If you've never seen it, it's worth watching: 


Boy, did that guy have smooth delivery.

For the most part, the ban on these words still holds on broadcast television. On network shows like Colbert's Late Show they not only mute the sound when the Seven Words are used, they also pixelate the speaker's mouth -- just in case deaf lip readers are watching.

On "pay" cable channels like HBO and Showtime anything goes: you can be as vile as you like. Basic cable, however, has pretty much hewed to the broadcast TV rules.

But the times, they are a-changing. The Daily Show for the most part still censors the Seven Words, though in Jon Stewart's epic "Bullshit is Everywhere" monologue from 2015 the censor passed it unscathed on American television. Because it was the entire point.

And if you watch Mr. Robot on USA or Happy on SYFY, you'll notice that this year they have completely abandoned censoring. In Mr. Robot a flat-affect Rami Malek says "shit" all the time to his imaginary friend (which is the audience), and in Happy a manic Chris Melloni can say "fuck" as much as he likes to his daughter's flying blue unicorn imaginary friend.

Hmm. Maybe it's okay to say the Seven Words to imaginary friends because they don't really exist, which means you never really said the words.

It is no accident that this is happening during Donald Trump's first year in office, a time of the greatest coarsening of American society. This is the guy who embarrassed newspapers across the nation by forcing them to decide whether they could print the word "pussy" when referring to a woman's vagina or Ted Cruz.

During the campaign Trump used or mouthed the Seven Words at campaign rallies, making people wonder whether his use of such language would make him lose votes in South Carolina. The answer was no: the religious right-wing hypocrites in South Carolina talk like that all the time. They thought it made Trump more authentic and a teller of truths. Which is crap because any dickwad can spout bullshit.

But Trump may have his own set of Seven Dirty Words that the CDC can't use:
The Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the nation’s top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases — including “fetus” and “transgender” — in official documents being prepared for next year’s budget.

Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden words are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”
It's not clear from various articles whether this was an actual directive from someone in the White House or the cabinet secretary, or whether this was an attempt by a lower level HHS official to avoid controversy in budget proposals by avoiding subjects that tick off conservatives.

Either way, it sets a bad precedent when health policy is set by a bunch of know-nothings who really only care about getting their taxes cut to zero and avoiding prosecution by the special counsel for conspiring with Russia.

No comments: