The Politically Incorrect Show - 07/02/2002

PARENTAL ADVISORY - CONTAINS COARSE LANGUAGE. LOTS OF IT.

Profanity is a poor substitute for profundity. So say the unfailingly solemn among us. Recourse to naughty words, they say, bespeaks paucity of intellect & vocabulary.

Of rap "musicians" & other kinds of brute, this is undoubtedly true.

There are times, however, when a profanity fills the bill in a way no "legitimate" word can. A profanity - especially THE profanity - is as economical as it is unambiguous. Who could mistake the intent of "Fuck off" or "Fuck you"? It can be screamingly funny in a situation where humour is sorely called for. Who would begrudge the mechanically-minded muso in the late Bruno Lawrence's rock band, who, when their bus broke down in the middle of the Australian desert, examined the engine & drolly reported to his colleagues, "The fucking fucker's fucked"? Who would begrudge Noah his "Scattered showers my fucking arse"? Who would nay-say the admittedly tasteless wag who attributed to the Mayor of Hiroshima, "What the fuck was that?"

Equally, who would begrudge the following response to my editorial the other day on legislation turning de facto relationships into marriage?:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!

"ARGH ARGH ARGH!!

"What the fuck is this? Where the fuck did this come from? What the fuck is wrong with these people? Why the fuck can't somebody come up with a fucking expletive that fits these fucking fucks?? I'm fucking speechless.

"Fuck!"

The obscenity, I submit, lies in what is being responded to, rather than the response. Would that more people would react this way, rather than politely acquiescing to the totalitarian legislation in question. That acquiescence, too, is obscene. In its intended rage & its unintended humour, in its explosive indignation, in its sheer atavistic honesty, this response - contrary to its writer's own assessment - is magnificently, admirably eloquent.

The bastards actually DO IT to us routinely ... why shouldn't we throw the word, at least, back at them occasionally?

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