by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
How fortunate we all are to live in a country where the government filters what we hear and read. Imagine how confusing life might become if we were given too much description or information.
Way back in 1966, the year this poor typist graduated from high school, comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested for using nine particularly profane words in a comedy routine. Six years later another comedian, George Carlin, shortened that list by dropping the two least controversial entries, and incorporated his revised list into a comedy album. The segment was called "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television." Carlin, like Bruce before him, was arrested after a public performance of the material.
Today, of course, the culture has shifted and society is more difficult to shock. After viewing just a few hours of cable, Lenny Bruce and George Carlin would undoubtedly have to come up with a whole new shtick.
But never fear, America. If the big cable companies won't protect us from ourselves, Donald Trump stands ready to limit what we hear and see in print. The Trump administration has now come up with its own list of seven dirty words - or in this case seven words and phrases that it will not allow the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to use in documents pertaining to next year's budget, information which should be essential in keeping the public informed about the priorities and activities of this agency which purports to protect the public health.
Trump's seven dirty words and phrases that the CDC must never put to print are: diversity, fetus, transgender, vulnerable, entitlement, science-based, and evidence-based - undoubtedly dangerous words, one and all. Alternatives were provided by the administration for some of the words and terms which have been banned. The phrase "science-based" may be changed to "CDC bases it recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes."
(If the definition of science is going to be based on the standards and wishes of the under-educated, redneck, crime-prone community in which I live, we are all in deep shit - to borrow a dirty word from the Bruce and Carlin lists.)
How lucky we are to have a leader who stands ready to stick his stubby little fingers in our ears as well as censor what we read. That puts us right up there with Russia. Elections really do have consequences, something Putin knew all along. Lucky us!
Citizen Journalist
How fortunate we all are to live in a country where the government filters what we hear and read. Imagine how confusing life might become if we were given too much description or information.
Way back in 1966, the year this poor typist graduated from high school, comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested for using nine particularly profane words in a comedy routine. Six years later another comedian, George Carlin, shortened that list by dropping the two least controversial entries, and incorporated his revised list into a comedy album. The segment was called "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television." Carlin, like Bruce before him, was arrested after a public performance of the material.
Today, of course, the culture has shifted and society is more difficult to shock. After viewing just a few hours of cable, Lenny Bruce and George Carlin would undoubtedly have to come up with a whole new shtick.
But never fear, America. If the big cable companies won't protect us from ourselves, Donald Trump stands ready to limit what we hear and see in print. The Trump administration has now come up with its own list of seven dirty words - or in this case seven words and phrases that it will not allow the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to use in documents pertaining to next year's budget, information which should be essential in keeping the public informed about the priorities and activities of this agency which purports to protect the public health.
Trump's seven dirty words and phrases that the CDC must never put to print are: diversity, fetus, transgender, vulnerable, entitlement, science-based, and evidence-based - undoubtedly dangerous words, one and all. Alternatives were provided by the administration for some of the words and terms which have been banned. The phrase "science-based" may be changed to "CDC bases it recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes."
(If the definition of science is going to be based on the standards and wishes of the under-educated, redneck, crime-prone community in which I live, we are all in deep shit - to borrow a dirty word from the Bruce and Carlin lists.)
How lucky we are to have a leader who stands ready to stick his stubby little fingers in our ears as well as censor what we read. That puts us right up there with Russia. Elections really do have consequences, something Putin knew all along. Lucky us!
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