Monday - November 21, 2011

foul language in public is not shocking. no. but it’s still offensive.

This is the subject referred to briefly in another post.

There have been times here at BMEWS, when angry at some outrage or so totally frustrated I could not find proper words, that I may have let fly with a word or two.  Sometimes cussing really does act as a valve of sorts.  But still, I know it isn’t the best way to express myself.  The judge may have a valid point however in that it’s so common place now, that nobody is really shocked. But I’d also say that I bet lots of folks who aren’t shocked, still find foul language in public on the offensive side.  Of course, since the acceptance of the ‘F’ word in place of the punch line in jokes on stage in public over the years, what else would one expect?
Even in a major newspaper I recently caught one columnist either quoting or referring to something as, s**t.  Now that did surprise me a lot cos I had not seen that word used in newspaper before.  Not even the less offensive and milder term, crap. Which these days can also be used to describe something as junk, as worthless and even, unbelievable.

Is the world a better place because bad language is an acceptable mode of communication?
Kinda doubt it.

Licence to swear: Profanity is so common that it can’t be offensive, judge rules

By REBECCA CAMBER

Yobs should not be punished for hurling obscenities in public – because swear words are now so common that they no longer cause distress, a High Court judge has ruled.

In a landmark judgment, Mr Justice Bean upheld the appeal of a foul-mouthed thug who was convicted for repeatedly using the f-word while being searched by police.

The ruling paves the way for scores of other louts to challenge their convictions for public order offences – and could force police to pay them compensation for wrongful arrest.

The decision, which provoked outrage among police, comes just weeks after the London Mayor Boris Johnson and Britain’s most senior policeman called for a zero-tolerance crackdown on those who abuse officers.

The case was brought by Denzel Harvey, who was fined £50 at Thames Youth Court for repeatedly swearing at officers while he was being searched for cannabis in 2009. The High Court heard that the 20-year-old launched into a tirade of abuse when he was stopped by two police officers in the street in Hackney, east London, telling them: ‘***k this, man. I ain’t been smoking nothing.’

When no drugs were found following a search, he continued: ‘Told you you wouldn’t find ***k all.’ After being asked whether he had a middle name, the surly yob replied: ‘No – I’ve already ****ing told you so.’

Mr Harvey was arrested for the outburst, and magistrates found him guilty of a public order offence after hearing that the expletives were uttered in a public area while a group of teenage bystanders gathered round.

But the conviction was quashed at the High Court, with Mr Justice Bean saying the ‘rather commonplace’ expletive is heard ‘all too frequently’

He claimed it was ‘quite impossible to infer that the group of young people who were in the vicinity were likely to have experienced alarm or distress at hearing these rather commonplace swear words used’.

Simon Reed, vice chairman of the Police Federation, said yesterday: ‘It’s astounding that you can use every swear word to abuse a police officer and they have got to accept it just because it is common.

‘This gives the green light for everyone to swear and use disorderly behaviour with police.’

The ruling is likely to reignite the row between Mr Johnson and the Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, over swearing at police. 

Mr Harvey was charged under section five of the Public Order Act 1986, which makes it an offence to ‘use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby’.

But in June it emerged that officers had been advised not to arrest those who verbally abuse police, with guidance stating that courts ‘do not accept’ that swearing at officers results in ‘harassment, alarm or distress’.

Last month Mr Johnson said he agreed with the new Metropolitan Police commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, that that guidance should be scrapped.

‘Public servants are not there to be abused,’ Mr Johnson said. ‘They are there to serve society and society must respect them.

‘How can a copper cope with the job if the public are allowed to insult them with impunity?’

Mr Johnson wants a new offence of ‘swearing at or abusing a police officer acting in the execution of his or her duty’.

He told the Conservative Party conference: ‘If people swear at the police, they must expect to be arrested.

‘Not just because it’s wrong to expect officers to endure profanities, but also because of the experience of the culprits.

‘If people feel there are no boundaries and no retribution, then I’m afraid they will go on to commit worse crimes.’

your right to cuss in public

Posted by peiper     on 11/21/2011 at 12:40 PM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Judges-Courts-Lawyers •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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