Is it Possible to Stop the Evolution of Swearing?

In his essay, entitled “Maledictoratory”, Alan Ehrenhalt discusses how swearing has become more common throughout the decades and how some words that used to be forbidden and avoided are now being used as a common part of our every-day lives.

Although I agree with the author on the sense that swearing has too common and that it is something to be concerned about, the only thing that bothered me about the essay is the fact that Ehrenhalt believes that there is no solution for the problem, and also that he doesn’t know who to blame, he just says that it happens, without giving good reasons for it.

In my opinion, a great share of the blame for the common use of such words is the media. How are people supposed to realize that swearing is bad and that some words should not be said in a formal conversation if they see examples of people doing it on TV, magazines and other forms of media everyday?

I believe that there is a solution for the problem, and that solution resides on the education given to children by their parents. I can’t say if that would work or not, but in my opinion, parents should give an example to their kids by not swearing next to them and by telling them that swearing is wrong, and also by regulating what kinds of TV shows they’ve been watching.

As I already said, I don’t know if these solutions would work, but it is better to try than to give up and only wonder what the future will be like for our children, as Ehrenhalt wonders in the end of his article.

Do you think that there is a way to end this problem or is this a fight which we already lost?

Discrimination: Who are the ones to blame?

In Patricia Rice’s essay, she discusses the issue of racism and discrimination on the process of most companies when hiring people, using a research made by John Baugh concerning discrimination in most companies hiring process.

In his research, Baugh proves that companies use the technique of identifying the job applicant’s race over a phone call, and that the majority of these companies won’t schedule job interviews for some races, such as African Americans or Latinos.

Personally, I disagree with Rice and Baugh when they put the blame only on the companies’ shoulders. Instead of what most people think, these companies aren’t taking it personal when they don’t want to hire some groups, instead, they are strictly thinking about what is best for their business.

Employers are not refusing to hire Latinos and African Americans simply because they “ don’t like them”. Let’s analyze the case of Latinos, for example: Central and South America are composed mainly by poor countries with corrupt politicians who provide no conditions for the population to have access to a good education. On the other hand, education is much more valorized in countries such as Germany, for example. As much as I hate to admit it, if I was the employer in question, I would certainly pay more attention to a person with a German accent than to another person with a Latino one. And I am from South America.

Everyone knows that business isn’t and will never be personal and that time is a big issue when hiring new employees, so we may just have to accept the fact that, unfortunately, some groups have to work harder than others. It is a sad situation, and it would certainly be ideal if differences didn’t exist, but they do, so the only thing that can be done is work our best to overcome them, instead of just complaining.

Do you think that the discrimination in the world is really made by the world of business or that maybe it is made by the world of politics and bad administration by some politicians?