If you are of a certain age, you can remember the comedian George Carlin whose most famous act was "Seven Words You Can't Say on TV." He was referring to seven words deemed obscene by the FCC. Interestingly enough, if you look into the history of euphemisms, you discover that they are created to replace words--usually describing body parts or bodily acts--deemed vulgar or obscene but inevitably the euphemisms become vulgarities in their own right and must be replaced. The terms change over the course of decades, until they frequently are replaced with the very terms from which they were protecting polite society! So now we have a media environment that uses the terms vagina and penis but cannot say p@ssy or c$ck*, unless they are talking about cats and chickens, wink-wink.
*I think there is a strain of bro-powered podcasts that regularly use the most vulgar and obscene terms they can, but since they are streamed rather than broadcast, they don't get flagged.
Luckily for America, the Washington Post reported on the Trump administration's new list of words we cannot say. This list is apparently the terms that are being searched for in a review of all National Science Foundation grants to find the grants they will cancel, but I'm pretty sure they will soon ban these words everywhere. The list:
It is interesting that 'Women' is on the list, but 'Woke' is not. I guess that means no more research on cervical cancer. Oh well.
So, I am going to give this my best shot:
As a man married to a ______ for the last 43 years, I support _____ for ______ and other people. Growing up in Springfield, Ohio, I knew many racist people, so I became an _______. I worry how I will refer to my wife's _______ and ______ since these impact our lives significantly, but I guess that is why we are no longer to consider _______. I grew up in very ________ neighborhoods and we did not have a lot of money, which is why I care about _______ justice. (Writer's note: They friggin' forgot to put JUSTICE on the list. Someone should get fired for that! I guess you can't weaponize the Justice Department if you can't say justice.) Working in Higher Education (is it a mistake to admit that right now?) I have spent a significant portion of my career focused on _______ and _______. I believe we are stronger as a nation when we support ___________, ___________ and ___________ __________ and fight back against _________ and ___________. I have to admit, I was shocked that they put the word _________ on the list because their ________ complex is such an import part of their identity.
Sorry, I failed. I could only use 18 of the 24 words (I repeated one). I do not understand how people will attack downtrodden (not on the list), violated (not on the list) and powerless (not on the list - how could they miss that one?) people if their favorite attack words are banned. I guess they will still have 'woke.'
Euphemism it! I will not abide cruelty.
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