BUT I have such an incredible desire to say inappropriate things to a large audience. Maybe this is an inappropriate forum. Or maybe I just don't know how to market my bullshit take on the world.
I once read a line of the Jean-Paul Sartre parable Huis Clos (L'enfer c'est les autres<-- that one) that pleased me. Estelle, a hooker-ish character in the play, says: "Je ne peux pas supporter qu'on attende quelque chose de moi. Ça me donne tout de suite envie de faire le contraire." My translation: "I fucking hate it when people want something from me. I am immediately moved to do the exact opposite."
I feel this way about political correctness. Propriety. And culture.
I have a friend who is incredibly well-versed in political correctness. I feel as though I'm never in the right--- I can't say fuck because it trivializes sex. I can't say bitch because it's insulting to women. I am not particularly prone to using racial epithets, but I can only imagine the lecture...
In the workplace, political correctness makes sense. We build walls around ourselves to protect society from self-discrimination-- to allow the woman to compete equally in the workplace. If the word bitch somehow makes her feel lesser and prevents her from competing, then I will forfeit a piece of my freedom of speech for her. But I will inevitably think the word bitch in the comfort of my own home. AND I will say it. Not because I'm a shit-starter, but because it's a word in the English language, and I won't be censored by society to the point of not even being able to utter a perfectly eligible English word. I hate being silenced. I have a strong distaste for this friend and their pseudo-liberalism. This sort of behavior is not only wrong because it is incredibly pedantic and patronizing:
A high school professor and mentor once said that in an extremely liberal society, where political correctness becomes a rule and not a choice, we forget why it's wrong to say some things. Offensive things. Diminutive things. We must allow for the word bitch in society so that people can make a choice to say or not say the word. People must be able to make choices between right and wrong, lest we forget why the wrong is wrong. Right?
I am a big fan of Sarah Silverman. And her jokes about racism. Or I was before her material started getting a little old. She uses inappropriate words to remind us how horrible it is to use them. But so many blind followers of the cult of the all-important PC have criticized her because even the mention of racism is considered profane. I think what she does (or did) is of great cultural significance-- we must be reminded of what is wrong with certain words as opposed to blindly shutting-up. That's just quietude.
Are people ready for freedom of speech? I doubt that there's a place on Earth where people are truly ready to hear everything that can be said. We fear it. I'm afraid of being called some things. So are you. You know you are. Yes, yes you do.
There are some things that I probably won't say, because I believe in playing fair-- I don't particularly like or hate any one race or gender. BUT I rather make a choice not to say certain words, at least after the age of eight.
I hope to use this blog to say things about society. Things I encounter. Things that piss me off. If you read this, that's tight. Because I am sick of people shutting me up, and I only have enough balls when my bullshit is written under the pseudonym M!
Until next time, bitches.
M!
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