Friday, August 3, 2007

Keeping It Real

When I first read the mail from S.O.A.P and decided to send this article, I decided I will try and play the devil's advocate. It is easy to write off people who indulge in the habit of using coarse language or engaging in lewd talk. But I will rather not take the easy walk. I will rather ask, "why the habit?"

Well, you could blame it on the Americans. Nay, the western way of life. Their music, films and literature do not just regularly depict obscenity and lewdness, it sometimes actually glorifies it. But that can only be correct to an extent. Actually, you can be lewd in any language. Obesere and some other fuji musicians have all proved that to a fault.

Then you could try and blame it on commercialism in the arts. It is not easy to achieve renown as an artiste; you need to stand out. Some try unconventional dressing, body marks and hairdo. Many try to shock us by spitting out four letter words, singing lewd lyrics and cracking lousy jokes. But, as the saying goes, it is only kinky the first time. A lewd artiste will only attract a lewd audience and soon fall out of favor. Rarely can you reach the peak, even in Hollywood, by starting out with porn. So you find that with time the showmanship of true professional must mature to leave lewdness behind.

And then there are those that say they are just trying to Keep It Real . They come from the ghetto and the language of the street is coarse, just like the life of its brow beaten, wretched inhabitants. That almost had me, if not for the lack of village roots of the speaker. Being vulgar might be representing alright, but it represents nothing but the shallowness of the mind of the speaker. As a native of a culture where respect, in all its ramifications, is a valued attribute, you certainly can't convince me that you're keeping it real by using slang that refers to men by their color, two hundred years after slavery was officially abolished. Or calling our mothers and sisters whores. Crudeness isn't cool; it is just verbal terrorism.

Now am all for free speech and abhor censorship. We still thank God for our God granted freedoms everyday. The prevalence of obscenity is a threat to that freedom. Freedom of speech should engender cross fertilization of ideas. Obscenity on the other hand kills creativity, since it seizes the attention of its captive audience by appealing to our lowest common denominator, that which is base and demeaning. It is a threat to true freedom because its popularity is the best argument for censorship.

For the vast majority of people who resign to the interruption of profanity in our daily communication, it is just something we have learnt to ignore. That silence is not social proof. Unfortunately, that silence encourages the easily influenced to accept the use of profanity as part of the attributes of a free society.

In my view, using vulgar language is really nothing more than the outwardly vocal a sign of an unstable ego and poorly developed personality. It is like wearing a T shirt with " Despise Me" written on it. Now, why would anyone do that?

© Kiibaati
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6 comments:

laspapi said...

Well written, kiibaati.

♥♫♪nyemoni♫♪♥ said...

I like, I like, I like.... good job!

IJEOMA said...

hmmm.. i dont agree..

Unknown said...

@ ijeoma - I'm curious to know what you don't agree with...please expand further.

Olu said...

THIS IS GOOD
I THINK IJEOMA USES PROFANITY, DATS Y SHE DOESNT AGREE!
OMG, I CANT STAND PEOPLE THAT CURSE!

Anonymous said...

My theory is that people who use the "F" word are unhappy and depressed; - contemptuous of life in its totality right from the very moment of conception. Time was the name of God was so awesome that people would not pronounce it. Time
was when the act of pro-creation was so respected that the word for it was also held in awe and not pronounced. To disrespect this word, to hold it in contempt, is to despise life itself.