tribz Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Of course words can have a great deal of power. We should strive to educate people about the effect abusive language can have. But if you are on the receiving end of this kind of abuse you should not expect the police to step in and punish the perpetrators. In that sense you just have to grow the fuck up and deal with it. How would you educate them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulgarian Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 How would you educate them? The same way you educate people about anything. Educating young people in schools about this sort of thing is already common. Adults are more difficult to reach, but the media can be used to good effect. Punishment however is not the way to go about educating people about anything, and is probably counterproductive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La_Dolce_Vita Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Yes, you have to deal with it. There is the issue for me of anyone curtailing freedom of speech, full stop. And then there is the matter of who tries to carry it out when they wish to curtail speech. But you mention education, interestingly, political correctness was one of the tools used by the State to try and stop the use of such language. The change the form of language used and thus change how people think of each other. It has actually done well in many respects. But a lot of the time, some people just don't understand and resent such changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulgarian Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Merely changing the form of language is not what is required, and alone will ultimately be unsuccessful in changing attitudes, which is what is really needed. While it can make people think about language in a different way, it is really only another step on the 'euphemism treadmill'. A lot of the resentment about politically correct language has been generated by the way its use has been enforced, through punishment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrighty Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Don't know. Part of me thinks this stupid woman should be shot in the face and blinded and then subjected to the same kind of abuse to really find out what it feels like. Then again, to arrest somebody for saying something that causes offence? I'm a little concerned by that because who defines what is and isn't offensive? Would 'naming and shaming' be a better option? Put this woman's photo on the front of the local paper with a description of her actions. I doubt she'd win many friends from it. Edit - to correct typo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurricanII Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Defo +1 for name and shame. Also there is a real risk that anyone shouting bang at this poor bloke would have caused a breach of the peace ranging from an assault from an aggrieved relative to a full on brawl depending on numbers involved. The police can I believe arrest to prevent a breach of the peace, which would have been the correct action for the stupid mong that shouts bang in this case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La_Dolce_Vita Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Right, so you think a person should be punished because of the possible reaction of those who hear it? I certainly don't. The reaction is another person's responsibility. And in this case, no breach of peace happened, I presume, so such a hypothetical law would be covering for something that never happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.