by codetaku » Wed Apr 26, 2017 2:01 am
Kit. wrote:You're not more enlightened about language. You're more ignorant about social cues.
Yes, yes, you're very adorable. If only you had anything of substance to back up your trite quote of the comic.
PD's point is actually interesting, but even if there's a possible evolutionary basis for taboo words in the cultures that do have them, I personally don't feel that there's any value for modern society in assigning such taboo statuses to words. Now, things necessary to keep society stable, like murder and stealing, sure, but words? Why? The fact that the current status is empirically structured this way (in some cultures) is not a reason for it to be kept this way. I haven't heard a convincing argument from anyone for why that status quo is *good*.
But then, I also don't see a reason for it to be taboo to be naked in public. That doesn't mean I'm going to move to a nudist camp, or rebel by streaking in a non-nudist society, because I appreciate and in fact gain great value from other parts of modern societal conveniences, much of which I would lose by moving to a nudist commune or, say, going to jail. But it does mean that I'm going to publicly *say* that I don't think there's a point, and on a related note, since swearing luckily *isn't* illegal, I'm totally going to continue swearing in public because I think the fact that it's taboo is fucking stupid.
[quote="Kit."]You're not more enlightened about language. You're more ignorant about social cues.[/quote]
Yes, yes, you're very adorable. If only you had anything of substance to back up your trite quote of the comic.
PD's point is actually interesting, but even if there's a possible evolutionary basis for taboo words in the cultures that do have them, I personally don't feel that there's any value for modern society in assigning such taboo statuses to words. Now, things necessary to keep society stable, like murder and stealing, sure, but words? Why? The fact that the current status is empirically structured this way (in some cultures) is not a reason for it to be kept this way. I haven't heard a convincing argument from anyone for why that status quo is *good*.
But then, I also don't see a reason for it to be taboo to be naked in public. That doesn't mean I'm going to move to a nudist camp, or rebel by streaking in a non-nudist society, because I appreciate and in fact gain great value from other parts of modern societal conveniences, much of which I would lose by moving to a nudist commune or, say, going to jail. But it does mean that I'm going to publicly *say* that I don't think there's a point, and on a related note, since swearing luckily *isn't* illegal, I'm totally going to continue swearing in public because I think the fact that it's taboo is fucking stupid.