Is the Content Warning worth it?

It has recently been brought to my attention that my..ahem...liberal use of profanity peppered throughout my little corner of the blogworld is shall we say, "superfluous." By "shall we say superfluous" I mean that there was a direct comment to the effect that the swearing was in fact superfluous. I don't think I could ever get tired of saying the word superfluous and the more often you say it, the more it starts to sound like a word from some weird alien language, which makes it even more enticing. Page 598 of my spine-broken and well worn Mini Oxford Dictionary defines the word "superfluous" quite succinctly and in a mere two small points as: more than is needed or wanted, useless. Ouch. Now I suddenly realize why I shouldn't have ever felt proud when people have said things in the past such as: "Well now that Brent has enlightened us with his superfluous commentary, has anyone else got something interesting to add?" I always thought that meant my ideas were somehow super and that those to follow could not possibly be anywhere nearly as interesting. I also need to contact a certain professor whose front-page-of -the-assignment scrawled comment of "What a pile of superfluous bullshit!" has suddenly taken on new meaning. I must admit, "pile" and "bullshit" should have set off some alarm bells through the self-satisfied fog I was in after receiving a "SUPERfluous." Sadly, the emphasis has been in my head all this time.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't take offense to it in the least. In fact it got me to thinking about the nature of all of this get-yourself-out-there, look-at-me-world, I-need-validation blogifying(?). It occurred to me that maybe I was wrong to choose the Content Warning for my little pulpit. Although the only people who will ever read it will undoubtedly be family and friends with (obviously) nothing better to do, what if some random person were to think my title seemed somehow more appealing to them than say,"Oh, for Fuck's Sake," or "Oh, for Fu*k's Sake," or even "Oh, for F**k's Sake" (trust me, they are all out there). Maybe this random person would think that my asterisk-filled title somehow set me apart from my foul-mouthed blogren, and that I was just giving a cheeky wink to the others with my almost-naughty name. Now let's just imagine this guileless avid reader spending a lazy Sunday afternoon reading random people's blogs and they decide to click on mine. Up pops the Content Warning. Goodness! One can imagine the thoughts racing through their head at this point: What am I in for? they might think. Why is there a Content Warning attached to this blog? they might ponder. What does it all mean? they might query themselves. I would hope that they wouldn't be worried that scantily-clad Amateur Housewives and self-gratifying monkeys lurked behind their next mouse click, but how would they know for sure? Could it possibly cost me a new person's access to my insanity? Do I care? And am I already selling myself out right here by not saying: "Do I give a fuck?"

I guess what all this introspective claptrap has shown me is that maybe I do care. My family and friends already know me and, warts and all, accept me for who I am, including my sometimes (always?) salty language. It does bother me a little to think that a stranger might judge me a cad due to my random use of the F word and its associates. By the same token, I have no respect for anyone who is offended by the use of a word just because they happen to find it offensive. In order to sound as pretentious as possible I will mention some other words and phrases that have been found offensive in the past: "Communist," "Democracy" and "Gordon Campbell." Okay that last one was just pandering to public applause, and technically has not lost its offensive lustre. I will stipulate to the fact that swear words are all too prevalent today for all the wrong reasons, and I am as guilty as anyone in their misuse. That being said however, I "clean up real good" in proper company and can hold my own without the use of profanity. The real issue for me is that I like to use it, and I live in a world where its non-use would be considered weird, so I am going to have to keep on walking the razor-thin line between just enough and too much. Much like offensive television programming in which viewers have the choice to change the channel, people are welcome to make a choice to participate or not. Hopefully I don't lose too many along the way. We might just have some fun here.

I am going to leave the last (paraphrased) words to a gem of a television show with the ability to produce hilarious comedy without profanity. In the Flight of the Conchords episode "What goes on tour," the boys' manager, disgusted with their (not so real) tour antics has decided to stomp out in protest. Their exchange goes somewhat like this:

Murray (the Manager): You guys make me so mad, I feel like swearing!
(He never swears on the show.)

Bret (band member): Aww, Murray you wouldn't do that.

Murray (face looking like a tomato about to explode):

Go fuck yourself, Bret!!