A(nother) Modest Proposal
Boston University has implemented a ban on swearing at sports events. I’ve heard that this is an especially big deal at hockey games where BU students are (locally) infamous for lots of screaming of obscenities and slurs.
So the school has a policy now. The local TV news covered it and here is where my modest proposal comes in – students were asked what they thought about the policy. One of them immediately invoked Nazis and the Gestapo. Another one said, “It’s stupid” but was then unable to articulate any kind of reason why it was stupid.
I don’t care about this issue, but I do care that a) college students are unable to articulate any kinds of reasons for being opposed to this measure and b) that if they do say something they go right to Gestapo. That’s just lazy and boring and predictable (also totally inappropriate).
This is a perfect time to invoke “thought police” people! Or if you want to be very hip try the “thought po po” – this is a legit literary allusion. It is apt and appropriate when talking about something that you think is a ridiculous infringement on your speech rights and something that will be hard to enforce.
That’s just step one in sounding smarter – I think sounding smarter is a 23-step process so there’s a tough road ahead. And if the BU students interviewed on the local news were any real representation of the intellectual capabilities of the student body (let’s hope not), the university has bigger fish to fry.
Boston University has implemented a ban on swearing at sports events. I’ve heard that this is an especially big deal at hockey games where BU students are (locally) infamous for lots of screaming of obscenities and slurs.
So the school has a policy now. The local TV news covered it and here is where my modest proposal comes in – students were asked what they thought about the policy. One of them immediately invoked Nazis and the Gestapo. Another one said, “It’s stupid” but was then unable to articulate any kind of reason why it was stupid.
I don’t care about this issue, but I do care that a) college students are unable to articulate any kinds of reasons for being opposed to this measure and b) that if they do say something they go right to Gestapo. That’s just lazy and boring and predictable (also totally inappropriate).
This is a perfect time to invoke “thought police” people! Or if you want to be very hip try the “thought po po” – this is a legit literary allusion. It is apt and appropriate when talking about something that you think is a ridiculous infringement on your speech rights and something that will be hard to enforce.
That’s just step one in sounding smarter – I think sounding smarter is a 23-step process so there’s a tough road ahead. And if the BU students interviewed on the local news were any real representation of the intellectual capabilities of the student body (let’s hope not), the university has bigger fish to fry.
Labels: 2006
2 Comments:
Are you kidding me? Okay, that's a little out of control. I mean, are we talking the usual crowd chant "bullshit" at a bad call... or is it going above and beyond that?
I think that younger generations do throw around the f-bomb more in public then my generation did. In fact, I am a little surprised how much people swear LOUDLY in public with no thought to who might be around.
But the swearing police? Again, I think I'd have to investigate a little more before I could actually form an intelligent opinion.
No - it's worse than that. I think the start with f-bombs and go downhill. Plus they actively enjoy using racial and ethnic slurs as cheers. I've lived in three states where it wouldn't have been incredibly hard to find a Klan meeting (if one was so inclined) but even in those states nobody cheers with racist/slurs. Weird, huh?
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