Does RK use too much Profanity?
By: Tiderion
Published On: 8/8/2008 7:27:23 AM
Thursday, the Washington Times had an article online that had a very cursory examination of blogs and the profanity within the content. The analysis was that Liberals are more than 12 times likely to use profanity than conservatives on the Web.
Now I don't know about you guys, I consider myself liberally moderate and have been known to use profanity on occasion. The real gem of the article is the theories on what profanity usage means for the political spectrum poles:Some on the right may take this as a sign of their superior intelligence. Others may theorize that it's simply because liberals are angry at President Bush.
More than likely, it is a reflection of how things are offline. Conservatives, especially those who are more religious, are less likely to use profanity in their daily conversation.
You know, I would wager that liberally-minded people tend to have two things going for them that would make them use profanity. First, liberally-minded people tend to be less concerned about social convention. For example, George Carlin had no problem speaking about all the words in the English language. Why? It's our language, we should use it. Words only have the power that you give it. Second, liberally-minded people tend to be quite upset about the condition of the United State right now. Eight years of horror for the Constitution and the nation.
Why would conservatively-minded individuals use less profanity? Well, I do agree that background undoubtedly contributes. Christian morals bar the use of profanity and we know that conservatives somehow have a majority in the dedicated Christian community. One of the comments below points out that there is a huge disparity between liberal and conservative blogs regarding the amount of pages on each and how many comments are posted on each page.
Counter argument?
Left-wing blogs see more activity because liberals feel the need to form communities (echo chambers, really) where they can constantly shore up their bankrupt ideas. Conservatives are more individualist and self-assured in our beliefs.
Sometimes I am shocked that people think that discussion is bad and that faith alone is necessary for good decisions. Oh right... President Bush.
Comments
Actually, here on RK (Lowell - 8/8/2008 7:31:12 AM)
"The use of profanity is strongly discouraged and could lead to comments being deleted or the user being banned for repeated violations."
Source: Posting guidelines
Yeah (Tiderion - 8/8/2008 7:38:13 AM)
This blog wasn't fingered at all. DailyKos was more of the target. I think you have in Virginia a different breed of Democrat and therefore a different bread of liberal. That keeps our nose clean.
Well, the title asks "Does RK use too much profanity" (Lowell - 8/8/2008 9:31:37 AM)
and I just wanted to address that issue. Thanks.
More of the figurative (Tiderion - 8/8/2008 9:46:10 AM)
than the literal.
If we are liberal bloggers then according to them we use profanity. Because we're liberal and liberals curse because they can't reason or use facts. Don't you know. Haha.
Overuse of profanity speaks to a narrow vocabulary (Annie - 8/9/2008 7:17:55 PM)
When somebody cannot get their point across without use of vulgar words on a regular basis, it reflects poorly on them. That said there IS a time and place for such usage. I remember what I blurted out in the pizza place in Leesburg where I saw the news that the Supreme Court appointed George W. Bush president back in December 2000.