Bleeped swear words: Threat or menace? Now with hilarious statistics!

Fish, barrel, I know, but it's the article comments that explode in wank proper, once bbbaldie opens the floodgates by siding with the PTC:

Not sure how many of you have actually raised children, but in my house in the 80's and 90's, I appreciated not having the foulest expletives on the TV shows my kids (and their parents) watched during primetime.

Ooh, sorry, you liberals, I know that our youngest kids shouldn't be shielded from the f-word, my apologies for offending you.

It's the typical "Exponential increase in swearing = DOWNFALL OF CIVILIZATION" wankery, mixed with the old chestnut "I don't want my kids to watch this, pervert" vs. "then change the channel, dumbass". But quite possibly the most concentrated source of WTF-ery in the whole thread is on page two from Harpua420:

This country will strangle itself on their "freedoms."

(This begs for some kind of '"scare quotes" make you more persuasive' tag.)

There's also some ouroboros-like reoccurring wank with atari030 when he refers back to his comments on last month's Ars article about the Parents Television Council (apparently this is His Thing - if you have an Ars account you can see through his profile that all but one of his posts are on the PTC articles); and an incredibly uncreative self-Godwinizing pro-PTC troll-sock created just for the occasion rears its ugly head at the end of page 4: selfrighteousliberalasshole (Joined: 16 Nov 2010 11:05 | Last visited: 16 Nov 2010 16:36 | Total posts: 1)

ETA: Finally reading atari030's older comments. My god, it's a lulz sundae with point-missing sprinkles smothered in NostalgiaVision sauce topped with a classic passive-aggressive flounce (which he immediately went back on as soon as another PTC article was posted, apparently):

• *Honestly, when one looks back in time in terms of overall generational 'well being' one tends to pick the 50's and possibly the 80's as very idealistic points in American life. Hmmmm, it also just so happens that those time periods were ones of very (50's) and fairly (80's) prudish standards compared to today. Outside of the knowledge-base gained and technological advancements, I can't say there have been any marked strides in our cultural development since then. In fact, I think we've taken a great many steps backwards and regressed.
• *
  "Also, your fear of the youth of today showing a lack of discipline and morals is almost identical to the writings of Plato. Yes, we've been going to hell in a handbasket since 400 BC! "
  If you want to compare my writings to that of Plato, I'll gladly accept that. Thanks, I appreciate the compliment.
• *in relative terms 80's MTV was like Howdy Doody. I think your parents will readily confirm my assertion.
• *
  "And parents in the 80's were complaining about the exact same thing. Their parents did the same. And their parents before them, and so on. Somehow society has managed not to implode upon itself. Do you not see the same pattern? "
  Sure I see the same pattern, but all that pattern tells me now that I'm older and that I have some perspective is that it's true. We're slowly getting worse and worse
• *If you lived through the 80's you'd see that there's no real comarison between what was on in the 80s and what is on now. It's foolish to even try and argue that they're somehow comparable. It's like night and day different.
  I suspect that you didn't experience the 80's directly otherwise you wouldn't even question what I'm saying.
• *Well, I'm out folks. There's only so much negativity one can take. Enjoy further discussions on these forums as I won't be.
  (....'Yay, the only guy that didn't agree with the rest of us left'....)

suggested tags:

think of the children, sockpuppets, godwin's, censorship, language, parents taking shit too seriously

It's more likely than you think.

So, over at ugly_crap on LJ, the comm members amuse themselves by doing the equivalent of telling ghost stories: finding the ugliest/most tasteless products possible and snarking them. Most of the time, things are pretty quiet there - it's quite rare that commenters disagree with the OP's judgement, and when it happens, it's usually pretty civil.

But when moira_aoibheane posts these high heels for babies, things get a little messy.

We have accusations that commenters have no sense of humour, cries of misogyny, and your standard "This isn't funny!" "That's because you have no sense of humour!" "ZOMG U JUST INSULTED MY SENSE OF HUMOUR U H00R!".

And, because no wank would be complete without it: invocation of Godwin's Law for absolutely no reason at all!

Small, but tasty.

...I find that I do not care! Anyway, this doesn't have much to do with the animal posted. It's all about one Librarian Library Technician/English major and her inability to grasp the existence of lolcatese. Someone posts an odd-looking animal. In response, someone else posts the "my pokemans, let me show you them" classic cat macro. And then, the shit hits the fan.

BOGGLE! as LJ user=Ragdoll-Suicide answers the lolcat comment with the following bit of genius:

WARNING: GRAMMAR NAZI ATTACK!

"let me show you them" is a tragedy and a failure.

anyone who passed gr 9 english would know that the correct syntax for that sentance would be "let me show them to you."

/grammar nazi out

SPORFLE! as she digs herself deeper with the following fascinating information:
I just like correcting people's grammar. Just because something is spelled wrong doesn't make it more 1337 or more lol or cooler or whatever. I grew up with a double major (english lit and botany) for a dad, and a mom with a history major and a B Ed. I am currently studying to be a library technician, so its in my nature to desire correct syntax and proper punctuation.

GASP! as lj user=parsnip uses the following utterly fantastic simile:
It's like you're watching clowns at the circus, and sitting there with your arms crossed saying, "Well, for starters that's certainly not the most efficient method of erecting a ladder..."

Here's the entire thread, for those who have some time to kill. Best. Dogpile. Ever.

There are many amazing gems hidden in the gigantic thread, not the least of which is Ragdoll-Suicide's own rather sketchy grasp of the particulars of the English language. I was laughing out loud at work, which is always a good time, and only occasionally leads to my coworkers thinking I'm nuts.

ETA: Someone redlined her comment. AWESOME.

evilgrins delivered a list of bogus food terms to the food_porn community which was kind of amusing but the last definition...

arab coffee: Thick, black, bitter coffee, traditionally served in tiny cups at gunpoint.

...really inspired some, uh, debate.

likeawoman is accused of being likeatroll for staying determinedly offended by everyone but obfuscate brings up Godwins first. "If you replace "arab coffee" with "matzo" is it an insult to Jews? "Haggis" (I hear it's good, but what the hell.. who came up with that?), and it's a comment on how violent those damn Scots are? Put "borscht" in there and you're pissing on the Slavs? "Liverwurst" would then, I suppose, mean that all Germans are violent Nazis."

Nobody likes a laugh more than me. Except for my wife. And Mrs. Johnson.

Define 'Offensive.'

Am I the only one that likes Turkish Coffee?

Why the random-ass definitions anyway?

As a White Canadian Female, let me clarify things for ya'll.



See, this is why I drink tea.