George Carlin’s Seven Dirty Words: Morality as Defined by the Government

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Recommended: Controversies of the first amendment

Profanity is a subject that many of us find ourselves not only intimidated by, but also unable to define. Is it simply a particular group of words that should not be uttered in polite company, or is it drastically more complicated? During the last 60 years, the American populace has found themselves spinning into what many consider to be a downward spiral with the issue of morality. In the following pages I am going to discuss what I consider to be the definition of profanity, by giving an overview of the now infamous “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” monologue performed, and written by George Carlin. I will also discuss some of Lenny Bruce’s ideology, and the legal, and public persecution both groundbreaking, 1st-amendment-advocate comedians faced. I am going to show how through these men’s actions we now have more freedoms, and their influence of the definition of profane behavior in mainstream media, and also that the idea of profanity is a farce that should be buried next to slavery, war, and marriage being between a man and a woman in the list of human idea’s that simply do not make any sense.

I love words. I thank you for hearing my words. I want to tell you something about words that I uh, I think is important. … They're my work, they're my play, they’re my passion. Words are all we have really. We have thoughts, but thoughts are fluid. … And, then we assign a word to a thought, and we're stuck with that word for that thought. So be careful with words. … The same words that hurt can heal. It's a matter of how you pick them.

When discussing something like words and ideas it seems much simpler to allow someone who has done both for a living do it for you. This quote, quite succinctly, summarizes language, and ...

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...Internet.

Carlin, George. Seven Dirty Words. {http://www.erenkrantz.com/Humor/SevenDirtyWords.shtml/}. Other Quotes. {http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_carlin.html/}. Internet.

Merriam-Webster. Indecent. {http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/indecent/}. Profane. {http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/profane?show=0&t=1301257435/}. Internet.

People VS Lenny Bruce. {http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bruce/brucemonologues.html/}. Internet.

Wikipedia. Seven Dirty Words. {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words/}. Class Clown. {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_Clown/}. George Carlin. {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin/}. Lenny Bruce. {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Bruce/}. Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show Controversy. {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XXXVIII_halftime_show_controversy/}. Internet.

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