Thursday, March 2, 2017

Pornosophy: The Pleasures of the C word



“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me” may go down in history as one of the most untrue aphorisms ever written. This is not to acknowledge the power of certain words that are on the shit list of the triggering and affirmative consent crowd. A woman who feels that her self-esteem is fractured by the C word, which is widely regarded as being virulently pernicious, is facing a rather obvious and easily overcome challenge. However, there are other appellations that are more insidious because of the fact that they cannot be so easily shunted to the side as angry emanations that say more about the messenger than the message. Day in and day out people are assaulted with seemingly more innocuous words and phrases that ultimately become sources of stigmatization. For instance would you rather be called a cunt or have your talents and abilities impugned? Children go through school where they're expected to take batteries of standardized tests which determine whether they're smart, average or challenged from a learning perspective. It's the rare child who isn’t smart enough to realize that he or she isn’t considered smart and even fewer children forced to wear the Scarlett Letter “A” for average who aren’t savvy enough to realize that they will not be one of those chosen to attend select high schools and colleges which will eventually earn them a position in what the sociologist C. Wright Mills termed The Power Elite. What’s wrong with our current thought police whose sirens are constantly being triggered by expletives is that they go after the most obvious offenders, the racist or sexist words that are contextually offensive (but may very well earn their place in literature and informed discussion) while missing all the subtle slights that really do  the damage. To carry the law enforcement metaphor further, it’s like going after the petty street corner drug dealer instead of the cartel that provides all the dope.

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