Last Stand Of The 50

Like the 300 Spartans who bravely fought at Thermopylae centuries ago, fifty intrepid souls voted against censorship in Middleborough, MA this week.

OK, that IS a bit melodramatic.

But come on, a $20 fine for saying "sh*t?" Are the elders of our villages, towns, and cities really worried about a few salty words?

Rising municipal health insurance costs, suburban sprawl, home foreclosures and unemployment are scary to deal with; I get that. So, the logic goes, let's forget those issues and turn our gendarmes into language police.

Maybe if the would-be linguistic criminals are lucky, the police will be too busy turning foreign born traffic violators over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to write profanity tickets.

Now if this is simply about raising a little extra spending money - and avoid all the hassles of building a casino - the folks in Middleborough may have a point. My teenage daughter and her cohort could erase any need for a Prop 2 override within about an hour.

It seems to me, this is about values not money. You remember, those dreaded "family values" from the Reagan/Bush1 years. Vice President Dan Quayle vs. Murphy Brown/Candace Bergen values. In relation to the words coming from the mouths of babes, a convenience store worker told a Globe reporter, "you're horrified listening to them."

Really? You want horror? Spend a few days in Homs, Syria.

[Miriam Makeba sang a wonderful song in the 1960's called "Four Letter Words," i.e. "kill," "maim," and "harm." I recommend it highly. dg]

You can count on Americans to have weird takes on perspective. But I see this vote against the seven words you can't say on television (unless you're watching cable) as another attempt to turn back the clock to an earlier, supposed civil era in our history.

A time when women and minorities knew their place and only jazz musicians would dare use such language. And play improvised music. Which is so uncontrollable. And thus so un-American.

[OK, now how did I get on this? Oh right, I took a sarcasm pill took today.]

Here's a suggestion: Middleborough is approximately 40 miles due south of Boston. On the count of three let's have everyone stand outside, turn towards the cape, and in unison shout, "This vote is "F*CKED UP!!"

One... two... three!