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View Full Version : Cussing Banned in California Town --Started by a 14 yo


3littlekeets
03-06-2008, 08:54 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/06/cuss.free.zone.ap/index.html

So, do you think this is a good or bad move as we work towards a more civil world? I'm impressed it was started by a 14 year old ;-). Some kids are just smart ;-)

Small excerpt...

SOUTH PASADENA, California (AP) -- What the $%*&*? This community on the edge of Los Angeles has become a cuss-free zone.
http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/US/03/06/cuss.free.zone.ap/art.cussfree.kid.ap.jpgMcKay Hatch, right, the founder of the No Cussing Club, jokes with his father, Brent Hatch, on Wednesday.


http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/base_skins/baseplate/corner_wire_BL.gif


So if you're headed to South Pasadena this week, be sure to turn down the volume on that Snoop Dogg CD, and, if the little old lady from Pasadena cuts you off in traffic, don't even think about flipping her the bird.
Not that police will slap cuffs on you and haul your sorry, er, butt off to jail in light of the proclamation passed Wednesday by the City Council. But you could be shamed into better behavior by the unsettling glares of residents who take their reputation for civility seriously.
"That's one of the purposes of this," Mayor Michael Cacciotti said of his city's proclamation designating the first week of March as No Cussing Week. "It provides us a reminder to be more civil, to elevate the level of discourse."
The proclamation will be in effect until Friday, and then the first week of every March hereafter.
South Pasadena, a tranquil city of tree-shaded cottages at the base of a mountain range eight miles north of downtown Los Angeles, isn't the first to try to rein in potty mouths. Earlier this year, the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles, Missouri, proposed banning swearing in bars. Last year, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons called for an industrywide ban on racially and sexually charged epithets.
But what's different about the latest push to stop public cussing is that it was proposed by a 14-year-old boy.
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"My mom and dad always taught me good morals, good values, and not cussing was one of them," said McKay Hatch, the founder of South Pasadena High School's No Cussing Club, during a recent break between study hall and tennis practice.

sdWTMer
03-06-2008, 08:58 PM
Although I really don't like cussing in any form, I'm not really all that into denying people their rights to speak the way that they want to! Yikes, this scares me the more I think about it.

Sue G in PA
03-06-2008, 09:03 PM
isn't this going against freedom of speech/expression? How in the world was this actually passed? Next thing you know they will have somebody wanting to ban the name of Jesus in public. This is very dangerous and just sets a dangerous precedent. Anybody agree? What is considered profanity? Are there specific words that were banned, expressions? What about gestures? Wow. Just dangerous. JMNSHO :)

Michelle T
03-06-2008, 09:41 PM
Not that I go around cussing in public, but if I wanted to, I should have that right. Is free speech no longer protected in South Pasadena?
Michelle T

tess in the burbs
03-06-2008, 09:45 PM
in the resort area. There are signs all over the place with !@#$% and a red circle and line through it ;)

although you can't stop people from speaking the way they want, they are trying to encourage a family friendly area in the resort part of town. Oh, and they play elevator music too on the main strip :cool:

hana
03-06-2008, 09:47 PM
I'm not big on government intervention, so if it were actually a law, I would find it quite upsetting.

But it's a one-week-a-year non-enforced proclamation, from what I understand. As such, it might serve as a good reminder about the language we use.