Wednesday 24 June, 2009

Arts
UK
Family
Education

By Charles Gardner

The fact that an increasing amount of young children are being sent home from school for bad behaviour should ring alarm bells for those who care about future generations.

According to the BBC, apparently some of the children are as young as four and it is swearing that is causing much of the offence along with inappropriate sexual conduct.

Of course it says much about the type of home life they experience, but this rising incidence of bad language reflects the appalling example being set by adults in general and broadcasters in particular, and the increasingly urgent necessity of it being cut out of usage altogether.

I am appalled by the sound of children playing in the streets to the constant accompaniment of foul-mouthed expletives and shudder to think where it will all end – before a judge, or behind bars, perhaps – because no-one has drawn a boundary around their behaviour. An unbridled, loose tongue simply releases the shackles of discipline so that, in time, other no-go areas became a challenge to explore.

The news of worsening child language comes at the same time as a new BBC report on ‘taste and decency’ which reflects an apparent growing distaste among the general public for bad language in particular.

The report was commissioned in the wake of the notorious Jonathan Ross-Russell Brand affair last autumn which saw them chastised following the public outrage over their obscene language and behaviour on a radio show.

A more recent incident has brought popular television presenter Kirstie Allsop under the spotlight over her frustration at having to re-shoot scenes from her new property series in case her blaspheming expletives offended viewers.

Producers feared that she had broken Channel 4’s compliance procedures, which are based on the broadcasting watchdog’s decree that “offensive language must not be broadcast before the (9pm) watershed” unless justified by the context.

The incident occurred while shooting a new series of Relocation, Relocation with co-host Phil Spencer, due to be screened early next year.

Miss Allsopp, famed for her refined accent and no-nonsense dealings with prospective homebuyers, is reported to have written on her Twitter web page: “I am so sick of compliance I could scream! Aah!”

And the Campaign Against Political Correctness, which shares her exasperation, said: “We understand the need to curb excessive language but terms like these have been common parlance in Britain for centuries. It’s ridiculous that such stern action is taken against anyone using these phrases – they are just figures of speech. It’s not meant to be offensive.”

But it is offensive and, more to the point, blasphemy and taking the Lord’s name in vain breaks one of the Ten Commandments! And since when has following the Bible code been politically correct?

The BBC, Channel 4 and your posh young ladies like Miss Allsop just don’t get it. Swearing and blaspheming are as unacceptable today as they ever were and, if not reined in, will unleash a tirade of abuse in succeeding generations that will soon get completely out of control.

The Apostle James, brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, made an impassioned appeal for the taming of the tongue! He compared it to a small rudder that steers a large ship, and to a small spark that sets a forest on fire. He said it was a “restless evil, full of deadly poison”.

But in posing the question of whether both fresh and salt water flowed from the same spring, he suggested there was something seriously wrong with those spewing out curses!

It is indeed time for a national spring-clean of our language.

Photo: Wikipedia, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2