Freedom of Speech

I'm on a mailing list for people with infertility who are LDS. I posted a link to my blog, and copied the "Inconceivable" post I wrote. (Inconceivable was cancelled this week!) After doing that I received the following email......

From : M Eagar
Sent : Tuesday, October 4, 2005 5:47 PM
To : intorainbowz@hotmail.com
Subject : Your Blog

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I belong to the 2ofus4now website. I don't ever post but often read when people have to say. I went to your blog link about the Inconcievable show in NBC. Just wanted to ask you that next time you provide a link to your personal thoughts and blog - maybe you should take out the F word that is so big and bolded for everyone in the world to see. Come on, you know that most of the women on the 2ofus4now website are mormon. Why would you tell them to go to your blog when you have the F word bigger than day on there? Please be careful next time. I for one don't know you and don't care if you hate President Bush or not or if you chose to use that kind of language. I just don't want a link to it without a warning of what might be on there.

Thank you for your time. Hope that you continue your blog for those people who like to read that sort of thing.


I must be doing something right because I have officially offended someone. I changed my profile to now have a warning on the top of my blog.

To M Egar:

No, I will not edit my blog. Had you actually read that post, you would find hurt, anger and fear in my words. Had you read my blog, you would find that I am a sensible person. Yes, I swear. If that makes you uncomfortable, please no longer read my blog. I try not to swear, but I do. This blog is my way of expressing what I am thinking about. The real world swears. I swear. My husband swears. My boss swears. My friends swear. My co-workers swear. There is a time and a place for swearing, and on my blog I feel free to express how I am feeling, even if this is offensive to some. Oh, and the FUCK work is in yellow, not bolded.

She must have scrolled down, because I don't use FUCK in the Inconcievable post.

Penn and Teller are magicians, who delight in explaining how the tricks are done, have a show called Bull Shit. It airs on Showtime. (Penn is a real loud mouth, Teller never talks in their act). On their show, they call Bull Shit on different topics, such as PETA, psycics, chiropractors, etc. In their last season, they called Bull Shit on the anti-profanity movement. They showed a lady who runs a campaign to clean up swearing. They point out her hypocrisy, that it is offensive to her if someone swears by her God, but she swears by others. She uses "Santa Vacca" and I swear to Budda, instead of Oh my God, or Jesus Christ. It is not OK to swear by Christian Gods, but it is OK to swear by Budish and Hindu Gods.

Penn and Teller point out that people are not angry about how things are being said, but the words used. People are not saying be nicer or less angry, just use baby talk or other words not on the "swearing" list. In one example, Penn talks in a very sweet tone to a dog, talking about how he wants to skin the dog and kill it. He then shouts at the dog how much he loves the dog and how cute the dog it. The dog wags when talked to in a nice voice, but cowers in fear when shouted at.

I chose the language I use carefully. At time, the only words I have to express my outrage or other strong emotion is the swear word. Fetch or fudge would not have expressed what I was feeling. In order to express my emotions, words that shock are the ones to use. Sometimes I don't find the need to use these words.

Oh, and Balderdash and Humbug used to be swear words. Pregnancy could not be used on television.

So M Eagar, Yes I know the LDS church takes a strong point on swearing. I'm not there yet. J. Golden Kimball swore like a trucker. Thank you for pointing out a fault and sin of mine. Your arrogance and perfection are greatly appreciated. I know I am not perfect and will freely admit this. I would never ask someone to change what they wrote because it offended me. Freedom of speech goes both ways. My thought are as protected as yours are. Voltaire said "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to my death your right to say it." Popular speech is not the only speech protected, unpopular speech is protected as well. So no, M Eagar, I will not edit my blog. I will keep writing as I see fit. I will write with the words I have in my vocabulary, and not keep something out because it is offensive to some.