How We Can Stop Profanity

       By Jeremy Chen, 15, CIS


        Society needs to learn to embrace human nature. The doll from The You and Me Interactive Play & Giggle Triple Dolls contains a beautiful message society is interpreting: If swearing is wrong, why do we as civilized members of society swear? If we were to ban the doll because it swears, why don’t we make swearing illegal?

       There is a very simple reason to this, and that’s because we can’t. We recognize swearing as something crude, offensive, foul and even at times, disgusting: yet we continue to do it anyways. This is what defines us. This is human nature. The report from AFRO states clearly that parents are more than upset about it, calling the dolls a “potty mouth”, and are not willing to “expose profanity to their children”. The report also says that a recent study states that 80% of adults swear in public, and 70% of teenagers swear. We need to stop blaming dolls and reflect upon our own actions. Children don’t learn to swear from dolls, children learn to swear from us. In order to stop children from swearing, we must stop ourselves from swearing.

        “How can we possibly stop swearing?” is probably what you’re asking yourself right now. The first thing that comes to mind is generally a way to replace it, such as saying words like “fudge” or expressing your emotions by punching a pillow. People often see this as a solution, but it is nothing more than an illusion. The problem with swearing isn’t the word itself, it’s the message and feeling behind it. Society is under the impression that through censorship and labeling words as “bad words one shouldn’t say”, we can get rid of the feeling and message behind it, a way of making the world a better place by getting rid of the emotions we express that are maybe considered negative, such as anger, sadness, and hate. The truth is, we have always had these feelings, we will always continue to have these feelings and there is no changing that. This is what defines us. If we have positive emotions, why can’t we have negative emotions? If anything, the negative emotions improve us. Without them, we would never be able to understand positive emotions.

        We need to stop making excuses. If we really want to improve the conditions of society for children, we must recognize that we are the problem. Banning dolls isn’t going to stop your child from swearing. Waking up from denial and choosing to improve yourself will.