Forbidden Words

Those horrible career ending words, that outsiders may not use, but insiders bandy about as they like.

I think the more society becomes restricted, by law, custom and civility, the more it resorts to bizarre and senseless forms of cruelty and malice.

To utter a "forbidden word" is like flapping a red cape at El Toro.... or provoke a swarm of Americanized African Honey Bees. One should know better. One will still, in the heat of anger, or in a certain context, sometimes belt out one of the 'Forbidden Words' and get trampled or stung to death.

Fine, so it's some sort of necessary posturing by bulls and bees to guarantee that no one, but No One, messes with them or their turf. Everyone else puts up with it because, frankly, attempting to tell someone they're out of line for overreacting to a 'Forbidden Word' will provoke exactly the same reaction as using the word does. Bettter to ignore it and hope that it will go away.

Is it right? They're just words. Talk is cheap. Sometimes people use language out of frustration... sometimes they have a hateful agenda. It's not always immediately obvious, so safer just to overreact everytime a forbidden word gets used. Who cares about context or intent. Right?

Living in a diverse culture, maybe forbidden words were inevitable. I suppose people will find any reason to fight and persecute each other. Being insensitive and rude is likely a more fair reason to hound someone than skin color or religion.

If there weren't those annoying 'forbidden words' we'd likely have people at each other's throats for more serious reasons.