Bursting the Dam

You know how we all tend to chuckle when we reflect on the uproar Clark Gable incited, back in 1939, when he used the "d" word at the end of Gone With The Wind? Well, that's the problem with the world today, or at least one of the problems.
What's the problem, you may be asking. I'll answer. Our chuckling.
You see, if society had clamped down right then and there and said we're not going to allow such profanity, who knows how much better we'd be today. Today, when it comes to profanity, and vulgarity, and just plain public crudeness, everyone pretty much takes much the same attitude Rhett Butler displayed when he uttered his famous line to Scarlett O'Hara. Nobody seems much to care.
While Gone With the Wind was not the first motion picture to include the word in its script, the widespread popularity of that epic motion picture provided an impetus for scriptwriters to become more and more daring. In a sense, when Clark Gable uttered his famous line, it allowed the dam of decency to burst resulting in a flood of profanity.
It is true that "d___" (and, if I used it here, I'd be going against my own argument) is quite mild in relation to the words we hear on television, public, network television, today. I can't think of any of the most well-known dirty words that I haven't heard on network TV. Sometimes they slip out on live programming, but some of the most vile are included in the scripts of pre-recorded dramas and comedies (and I use that term loosely).
I hate profanity. That doesn't make me a saint. It doesn't even make me an especially good person. It's just a fact. I hate cursing. I won't go to an R-rated movie because I can't see paying $7.00 or more to have people curse at me. I can get that for free on a daily basis. And PG-13 movies aren't any better. They're filled with filthy language.
I heard a movie critic discussing the remake of The Bad News Bears. He called it a hard PG-13, which means it borders on an R-rating. He said the language was pretty strong, and then he said, "so, you'd want to keep the younger kids away from it."
In other words our teens are fine being exposed to it. It's the teens that need the most protection, I think. For some reason even a reasonably intelligent kid's brain turns to mush when he or she hits 17 or 18. They're so intent on fitting in with the crowd that they'd do virtually anything to be accepted. And, by today's standards, acceptance requires the use of the filthiest of language.
Something else that really gets to me is the idea that one can slightly change a vulgar word to a non-vulgar word and that makes it okay to say it. The word "freakin'" and it's cousin, "friggin" disgust me. If you're so anxious to show people you know how to curse, just use the real word and bask in the glory. What's sad is that many individuals use the dirty words or their sound-alikes to express the depth of emotion. What they don't realize, is that it only shows the depth of their ignorance.
Why not learn some real words that have real meaning. They do a much better job of getting attention. For instance, rather than saying someone is "freakin' stupid," try "abundantly ignorant." Such words as "absurdly," "gloriously," "profoundly," sound so much better and can be used just as effectively in expressing your emotions, unless, of course, you're speaking to an individual who is abysmally ignorant himself.
If you truly want to criticize someone, grab a good thesaurus and go at it. You can find some real doozies. You may leave the cretin scratching his head in bewilderment, but you'll feel much better about yourself and your vocabulary.
The point is vulgarity has become so commonplace, that it doesn't really have the shock value it once had anyway. And, you only lower yourself by stooping to use it. It may be true that most people don't care anymore. It may be so that you hear it everywhere, but regardless of how accepted profanity is in society today, frankly my dear, I do find it cause for fulmination.