Watch your language!

Jun 04, 2022 Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – Some people must have their daily “fix”. Some get it by using drugs and end up destroying their lives; others need to release bilious thoughts.
There used to be a man who rode around on a bicycle shouting extremely loudly, the most obnoxious and obscene expletives against the President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo. He did this for years. No one bothered too much with him while he spouted the most vile things imaginable about the government and particularly about the then President.
This was his way of getting a fix. If he did not do this perhaps he would not feel well. He was obviously a man who felt that his mission was to rant the nastiest things imaginable about the government and the President.
Those were his opinions and he was free to have them. But while he was entitled to his opinions, he was not entitled to express those views in whatever manner he felt. He was certainly not free to publicly resort to colourful and expletive-laced language.
While some adults may have found him an interesting character and someone to whom too much seriousness should not be given, it must be also mentioned that there were often children around when he was publicly cursing, and those children are assailed by his terrible language.
Too many of our children are today being exposed to profanity and vulgarity. And they are taking this language into the classroom. Teachers cannot correct this problem since the instruction in profanity is taking place in the wider society and is undermining morals.
The use of invectives is now a public malaise. This is a problem which has been around for some time now and while there was a campaign against bad manners, there has never been a campaign against swearing and the use of profane and unsavoury language in public.
Great strides have been made in creating awareness of the problems associated with child and domestic abuse, alcoholism, stigma and discrimination and a number of other ills within our society.
Every day on the television there are ads on these issues. But what about the ads urging restraint in the use of obscene language in public? There are no such campaigns.
A few years ago, the airing of songs with vulgar lyrics was topical. There were complaints about the lyrics of some songs being played in public transport vehicles, particularly some mini-buses. In fact, it was observed that some school children used to wait on specific buses because of the lyrics of the songs that were played.
Even sadder was the fact that adults used to sit right next to children in the buses where this sort of vulgar music was being played and said nothing, to the drivers and conductors, about the appropriateness of this practice. Yet many of these adults would not have their own children join these buses, but they would sit and enjoy the vulgar lyrics in the presence of another person’s child without saying anything.
Fortunately, this practice seems to have been on the decline and was helped by the initial ban that was placed on the playing of music within minibuses.
There have been criticisms of some politicians ‘cussing down’ one another. Well, as bad as that may be, those politicians do not use expletives when they are at it. But the politicians are not the only ones that are ‘cussing down’ each other.
Throughout this country, there are public quarrels between individuals and it is not uncommon for the most uncommon of language to be used in the “public commons”, the streets of Guyana by ordinary citizens quarrelling among themselves. Some of the things that are said in these public “buse-outs” are unprintable.
The War on Bad Manners is over. Bad manners are still very much with us. But far more urgent than correcting bad manners is the need to restrain the use of swearing in public. This is not healthy for children who are exposed to such obscenities.
A new campaign needs to be undertaken so as to protect the minds of our children from being contaminated from profanity. The police need to do more. There should be a zero tolerance on profane language used in public.
If someone wants to curse, if this is what gives them a fix every day, let them lock themselves into a room, and empty their dirty thoughts in private.
But please, when you are within earshot of the public, when you are in public places, and especially when children are around, restrain your tongue.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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Watch your language!

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