So how often do you see police in your neighborhood,

[Deja Q]

breaking up fights between 2 groups of 12 year old girls whose favorite phrase seems to be "these damn bitches"? Where did they pick up that phrase, and how many guesses do we get?

:eyes:

Or going to the grocery store where one chap tells his wife/girlfriend/concubine/whatever "Hey, they have a damn good deal on these fukkin' hot dogs!"

Nice world we're living in. Civility is going out the door.

Flame me all you want.

[Redstone]

1. "poloice?" We almost never see those around here.

Redstone

[Deja Q]

2. Thanks for letting me know...

Typo corrected.

Now, what's your take on the actual point of the OP - or don't you give a darn about the state of society? (I'll agree I'm probably on the wrong forum these days...)

[Redstone]

10. Dude. Hostility gets you on The List. 'Bye.

Redstone

[Pierre.Suave]

11. HAHAHA

now thats pathetic...

if thats all it takes to get on your ignore list, might as well put me on there too...

[suninvited]

3. what is polo ice?

cold cologne?

[Deja Q]

4. Dunno. I just corrected the typo, TWICE, clicked "Update", and it's not updating.

Hey admins, I think there's a bug...

[Deja Q]

5. It worked the third time. Odd, that...

Odder I even made a typo, but oh well.

[Deja Q]

6. Oh, it's a typo. If you people are too stupid to figure that out, that's not my problem.

:eyes:

[suninvited]

8. who are you calling stupid

and what the f**k for?

You want us to figure out your typos?

[Pierre.Suave]

13. Seriously?

:eyes:

Who the hell are these people on this board nowadays?

[suninvited]

16. I was just joking around with

Hypno.

Sorry to have disturbed you.

[Pierre.Suave]

17. Gosh

that makes me feel better, seriously.

I was wondering just what the hell was going on here.

[Pierre.Suave]

7. If you dont mind me asking

what grocery store was this in the metro?

just so I don't go there by accident...

I see and hear things on a daily basis that stopped shocking me a long time ago. It depends where in the metro you are and the makeup of the local population.

It is sad, people dont care about being civil, or even seem to care that their bad behavior is out in public for all of us to see and hear.

[Carnea]

9. I see the spelling police almost every day. nt

[Chan790]

12. I don't give a damn about the state of society.

Well...I somewhat do...but nothing involving the verbiage used is the actual problem in your OP. Words are weapons...I like to use the full arsenal. I'm anti-censorship, I'm anti-political-correctness, I like my filthy words. There is no such thing as a bad or off-limits word.

[Pierre.Suave]

14. I dont even know what to say to this...

So you think anyone, anywhere, any age should say whatever they want to whomever they want?

[Chan790]

19. No...I feel that any adult anywhere should be able to say whatever they'd like to whomever...

and I'll be damned if the idiocy of 12 year olds will be used as a justification of censorship.

As Voltaire said "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." I believe that universally. Civility is the same thing it ever has been...a justification for censorship and the oppression of ideas antithetical or offensive to the state, society and the power-holder.

[Pierre.Suave]

20. So...

You think it would be ok for me to walk up to an old lady and say...

"Fuck you, you old wrinkly bitch?"

Would that be ok with you?


the above quote is for the purpose of this discussion, I would not actually say that, the DU Faux Pas Patrol does not need to attack me.

[Chan790]

21. ?

What isn't to get here? I think civility is a form of oppression and censorship. I believe in zero limitation upon language beyond the internal filter of the speaker. Beyond that, I'd argue that you alone bear the consequences of your words.

[Pierre.Suave]

22. SO, let me get this straight.

you think that civility is a restraint on your expressions of language, but it is ok if the consequent is getting your ass kicked?

Explain to me how that is civil?

and what ever happened to being polite and kind to each other? Do you think politeness and kindness are oppressive as well?

[Chan790]

29. Answers:

1.) Potentially. I believe that socially-mandated civility or any curb on language external to the self (a concept we'll extend to include experience-memory and personal ethics) for that matter is potentially oppressive.

2.) I'm assuming this question is rhetorical. In case it's not...It isn't. However, you're the one arguing that civility is important. The onus lies with you to prove that, not me.

3.) I'm all for civility, politeness, and kindness as long as they are rooted in the self and not social expectation. I make the very-personal decision based on my ethics and experiences with whom to not be polite, kind or civil. I see no reason to be kind to paid McCain staffers who call my house.

4.) Not particularly, no.

Civility of language is a special case. Communication is bloodsport. Language is a warzone the battle of ideas is fought within. Limitation as uncivil exists for only one reason...to curb those concepts offensive to society. You might not see the point...but that is almost the point. Consider the Martin Niemöller quite:

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;

And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

Sure, you only want to use civility to curb the filthy mouths of shoppers and 12 year old girls. But who decides what is uncivil? What if criticizing ageism, racism, sexism, homophobia; discussing women's rights, AIDS, capital punishment, civil rights, abortion, environmentalism and the legitimacy of the war were suddenly socially-taboo and uncivil? All of these things have run afoul of civility before and all of them will again if conservatives get their way. Can't happen? It already is on some fronts.

We hold the line at the breach because we must. There is an elephant in the room...we've been losing for two decades because in the best of times we allow conservatives to define language (The motherfucking ass-bag fascists made "liberal" a dirty word for fuck's sake.), framing the dialogue of the debate in the war of ideas; in the worst of times we do it for them and call it "political correctness".

Civility is a weapon of the right. Theocons are really big on "civility" because they dig oppression and hate and it gets a lot less attention with linen gloves and the mask of a pretty face. I mean...really...who opposes civility? You'd have to be a idiot to argue that civility is bad. :evilgrin:

[AlCzervik]

15. i haven't seen that yet but there's always next week so who knows what could happen?

And i've never heard anybody swear at the supermarket i shop at. "Damn these bitches" doesn't sound like anything new or very creative so i'm guessing maybe the 12 year old came up with that all by her self, maybe that's her catch phrase.

[Pierre.Suave]

18. To actually answer your question

A few blocks away from where I live there is some Section 8 Housing, the police patrol through there quite a bit.

A few weeks ago I woke up at 7:30 in the morning to a lot of yelling, swearing, name calling, etc..

I fully expected there to be gunfire at any moment, then the police showed up.

[IDemo]

23. Never. But we had 10 cop cars and an Elvis impersonator in a T-bucket roadster last weekend

all at the same time. Now that was entertaining.

[Pierre.Suave]

27. I laughed for hours about that thread

thank you so much for sharing it with us.

:rofl:

[IDemo]

32. There were more smiles I don't remember if I shared or not

Two of the (Boise) cops were, shall we say, a bit height challenged. He - about 5' 4", and she - around 5' even. They seemed to follow each other around a lot as all the post-arrest activity was happening...
:loveya: :loveya:

It was fun watching our 250 lb. neighbor lady getting into the roadster with the help of a stepladder. Then the hot rod wouldn't start and Elvis had to do some mechanic's work. She let out a loud "wooo!" when it started and continued woo-hooing and pumping her fist in the air as they drove off, with the suspect sitting in the back seat of a squad car soaking it all in.

[femmocrat]

24. Since our crazy redneck neighors moved out, NEVER.

And life is so much more peaceful now!

[NMDemDist2]

25. shit if I see a sheriff car around here twice a year

it's a freaking miracle.

I don't mind the run of the mill speeders, but I hate see the tanker trucks rocketing down my road at 60 MPH

about once a year I call the sheriff's office and give em an earful, I see a cop for a couple hours, then not again unless I'm in town and driving by their office in the courthouse......

[Forkboy]

26. They're banging on my door right now!!!

Fuck 'em! The coppers will never take me alive!!!!!

BANG BANG BANG

[mokawanis]

28. There's seldom any real consequence for foul language

I was walking down a street with my 3 year old grandson when two guys standing on the corner happened to say "fuck" about 8 times in 10 seconds. Didn't seem to mind at all that they were acting like assholes by using foul language in the presence of a young child. So I said "clean up your fucking language you goddamn bastards". Ok, I didn't say that but I was thinking it.

As for your post - I see cops in my neighborhood frequently, mostly for domestic disputes or to break up loud parties. I live in a low-income neighborhood by choice (my wife works here) and have been here for years (though I'm currently house hunting). My neighborhood is roughly 1/3 caucasian, 1/3 african american, and 1/3 hmong. I find it laughable that so many people talk about diversity but don't actually want it in their neighborhood.

[Withywindle]

30. There's a good deal on fuckin' hot dogs? Where the fuck is that?

:evilgrin:


Some people just have potty mouths. I do, it started when I was younger than those kids, and where'd I pick it up from? My classmates, of course.

Just words. Emphasis, punctuation, adjectives.

[Mojorabbit]

31. I don't live in a neighborhood

but only once have the cops been here and that is when my phone mysteriously decided to dial 911 repeatedly on it's own. They came four times from late evening thru the middle of the night. It ended up being some sort of short in the wires by the highway. Still, it was creepy.

As for language, I think the kinder we try to interact with others the better all around. Negativity seems to get a response of the same which can lead to escalation of tensions. There is a difference in saying, "fuck you!" in a kidding way to your best friend and saying the same to a stranger who bumps you on the street. Context can be the defining point.. so the language in itself is not the problem.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

33. in 22 years I have only seen a policemen or car in my woods of the neck 5 times

[FloridaJudy]

34. How often do I see the cops? Almost every day.

One of my neighbors is a cop. I think they give him a discount on the rent if he parks his unit prominently outside the building. It certainly cuts down on the speeders!

[Bennyboy]

35. Just a minute ago......

They have come to an addy on my street 320 times in the past year. I got some crazy-ass Mofros around me. We just managed to weed out the biggest ones but we still got a long ways to go....

[OmahaBlueDog]

36. On the advice of my attorney, I'm going to decline to answer