Middleborough has approved a fine for swearing in public.

[tigerclaws]

Screw the free speech, its a good law. Free speech is not all encompassing. Try using foul language in front of a judge and see what happens.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by tigerclaws

Screw the free speech, its a good law. Free speech is not all encompassing. Try using foul language in front of a judge and see what happens.

If you swear in front of a judge outside of a courtroom, nothing will happen (except, obviously, being judged by those who overhear). It may be in poor taste, but it's not illegal nor should it be illegal.

If you swear in front of a judge in a courtroom, you'll be held in contempt for interfering with the process of the trial. And you should be.

I, for one, am grateful that everyday public life is not the same as being on trial in court. Judging by your post, you'd be happier in a country like North Korea where they run a much tighter ship in the "free speech" department.

[Crank1]

I don't think the constitution was written with being able to say the F word out in public and in full song in mind but do we really need more laws that govern us to death. What's next? Can't wear shorts that are higher than 6" above the knee? I think a lot of parents have failed to raise their kids to have more respect for others right to not want to hear their trash filled mouths. Yeah, even when parents did raise their kids the right way, their kids still learned from their peers at school that were allowed to trash talk at home.

[tigerclaws]

We are turning into a society of animals with the "free speech" mumbo jumbo. There is even a guy mentioning North Korea for god's sakes shows us how far we have fallen. WHat is next, should we be allowed to walk around naked as well.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by tigerclaws

We are turning into a society of animals with the "free speech" mumbo jumbo. There is even a guy mentioning North Korea for god's sakes shows us how far we have fallen. WHat is next, should we be allowed to walk around naked as well.

You're missing the point. What separates humans from animals is that a human should be able to determine what's right and wrong for his or herself whereas the animal doesn't have that ability. Animals learn (to some degree) right and wrong when they're trained by humans. We're not animals because we can supposedly make distinctions as simple as this one by ourselves. The fact that a municipality feels they have to step in an intervene says otherwise.

That free speech "mumbo jumbo" should work just fine because we're not animals. If one individual should abuse it by swearing or causing a scene, then it's on them. There should need to be no law in place because it should be common sense that bad language in public is not something that most people want to hear. We become "animals" when we need laws put into place to control the words we say in public. Most of us are smart enough to know that it's just plain rude to swear in public. It's an insult to the vast majority of us who do act civilly in public that the town of Middleborough seems to think people are incapable of deciding something as simple as which words are "ok" for use in public.

As far as people being able to walk around naked, there are plenty of places that allow people to be nude. Many beaches right here in Massachusetts allow it and a number of towns in other states allow it. The entire state of Vermont has no law against being nude in public. Major cities like San Francisco (can be nude anywhere except public parks) and New York (laxed laws allow females to go topless and full nudity so long as it's not sexual) allow it too. The sky hasn't fallen and the vast majority of people still wear clothes in those places.

[ogre]

Reminds me of "Demoliton Man". For those unfamiliar, the movie is set in the future in a politically correct utopia where anything "unhealthful," "offensive," etc. is illegal, minor offenses punishable by fines calculated in "points." The people there also don't use toilet paper, as it's viewed as unfriendly to the environment. (The substitute is mentioned a few times but never fully explained.) In this scene, Sylvester Stallone's character uses the society's laws to his advantage (warning: some language):


Demolition Man - Out of Toilet Paper - YouTube

[mdovell]

Without providing a list of what is offensive and specifically why it is offensive it doesn't really work well.

More importantly what about other languages of which you can say the same thing (if not worse)? Are police supposed to know a few dozen languages to enforce this law?

[tikaram]

Originally Posted by mdovell

Without providing a list of what is offensive and specifically why it is offensive it doesn't really work well.

Yep, I agree. I once witnessed my friends' parents argue. Wife said: "You are as slow and difficult to deal with as an old iron, that just wont heat up and iron the clothes". Husband got really offended. She wasn't screaming or even speaking very loud. And none of the words used in the sentence can be called curse words in most languages I know. (Well, in Russian people say "you swim like an iron" meaning you cannot swim at all, but it's still a figure of speech). Another phrase I heard: "You are such toxic person, flowers even wilt with you in the room", and again the person got extremely offended...

[wawa1992]

Not cursing in public? A good idea.

Using governmental authority to ban cursing? Not a good idea.

[Bruins_Fan]

I tend to swear alot...better stay out of Middleboro.