Actually, the radio station which broadcast Carlin's routine lost that court case, as I recall, though I'm not sure they lost their license. I'm personally a big Carlin fan and that routine is hilarious, but it is also obscene, at least in the context of broadcasting it over public airways where children and sensitive people can hear it. Words cannot physically harm anyone, but reasonable decorum demands that some words are considered too vulgar for a public forum, or even a by-invitation forum like this list. As I said in a previous post "boner", to old farts like Dale and me is a quite innocent contraction of "bonehead" but some of the other words in your post were unambiguously vulgar. Women, thank God, are generally less vulgar than us guys and we have too few female members already, in my opinion, without driving them away with a public display of lockerroom language. So let's reserve some of the words we know for more appropriate venues.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Houston, TX
>
> To the list:
>
> Dale has asked me to formally apologize to the list regarding my post from
> yesterday.
>
> I heard privately from a number of listees, and the closest I got to a
> complaint is "I'd be offended if I could stop laughing", and "Man, you are
> fearless. Maybe more diplomacy next time though?". However, I suppose
that
> is really irrelevant as this is Dale's list to do with as he chooses.
> Dale's garage, and Dale's rules.
>
> Let me explain my thought process and why I posted as I did.
>
> At times some of the CR listees can be way too full of themselves (myself
> included), and many are too hypersensitive. The fact that they are
willing
> to argue over something so minor as "boner", despite the fact that "Pam's"
> "complaint" was an obvious troll, makes me want to just hit them over the
> heads to get them to wake up to reality. Boner, and everything else I
said
> are just words ... and words cannot hurt you unless you choose to let
them.
>
> I wasn't objecting to "Pam's" trouble-making, but to the fact that others
> were making such a big deal of it ... on both sides, including my own
> original response pointing people to George Carlin's web site and the
"Seven
> Dirty Words" Supreme Court decision.
>
> I was not calling anyone a derogatory name ... I was not directly
insulting
> anybody. Sometimes, however, you have to shock people in order to make
them
> realize how idiotic they sound. I guess I pushed too far.
>
> Dale, I really don't want to be kicked off the list, but I don't know how
to
> apologize without sounding or feeling like a hypocrite. I can explain
> myself and my thought process, but it's difficult for me to say "I'm
sorry"
> unless I really mean it.
>
> Dale also asked me if I was testing the limits of the list and his
> tolerance, and the answer is probably "yes" ...
>
> A bit of rebellion, yes ... but not as an attempt to assert my personal
> politics on the list, but more at the mildly restrictive rules of the
> benevolent dictatorship (a term Dale has used in the past), combined with
> the really restrictive nature of the city/state in which I currently
reside.
>
> I can take full responsibility for my actions, however, and I will
endeavour
> to fully think through the possible consequences of similar future actions
> before taking them.
>
> And I hope that's good enough.
>
>
>
> --
>
> Steven L. Sheffield
> stevens at veloworks dot com
> veloworks at mac dot com
> aitch tee tea pea colon [for word] slash [four ward] slash double-you
> double-yew double-ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash