As I was driving home to day, I heard a snippet of commentary on the radio. I was listening to X96, which is pretty much the only station I listen to, unless they’re playing that gawd-awful piece-of-shit song “Girls” by the Beastie Boys, which they seem to do at least twice a day just to piss me off and get me to change the station, in which case I listen to KBER.
I digress.

So recently, my favorite morning show, Radio From Hell with Kerry, Bill, and Gina celebrated it’s 5,000th episode – pretty damn cool and a real milestone by most standards. They have this feature they’ve done pretty much from the start called “Boner’s In The News“, which, as they describe it is “the feature that won’t go away, three stories ripped from the headlines, of bad, funny, or stupid behavior.” Although there is certainly innuendo in the title, one of them is always certain to clarify that a boner is simply a mistake. Don’t believe me? Just do a Google search for “boners in the news” and see what you get.
Well, to celebrate their longevity, billboards were erected (no innuendo intended) around the valley that said “5,000 Boners and Counting!” and then said something like “thanks for 13 wonderful years”… I don’t remember and I can’t find one of the billboards to take a picture, even though Megan and I drove downtown and back looking for one with no luck.
Anyway, back to this little snippet I heard on the radio. Todd Nuke’ Em, the program director for X96 has a comment line available where anybody can call in and record a message, and sometimes he plays them on the air. Well, the clip I heard was some lady just going off about how disgusting these billboards were, how they should be taken down, how it offended her sensibilities, etc. – basically a 30 second diatribe about how offended she was and how she was going to enroll all of her friends and family to boycott the station.
Now, first of all, a boycott of this scale isn’t really going to have what I would presume to be the desired effect. I mean, take a look at some of the great historical boycotts and the vision behind them. Although I absolutely agree with this ladys right to boycott the station, if you’re really that offended, do something that has a chance in hell of having an effect, or at least something that someone will notice.
Second, let’s consider this nifty little thing called the First Amendment. Now, I respect this ladys right to voice her opinion on the signs and how offensive it was to her. But calling for their removal? C’mon, I don’t agree with that crackpot A-hole Reverend Phelps and his band of wackadoo Westboro Baptist imbeciles that protest funerals, but I absolutely support their right to speak their truth. Yeah, living in a free society sucks, because it means that you have to allow others the same freedom that you claim for yourself. Freedom ain’t easy, and it’s probably not supposed to be.
And finally, they’re just words. They only have the meaning or significance that you attach to them. As Mark Twain said, “Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them.” The words only mean what you say they mean, and they’re only offensive to you if you decide that they are. Here’s a great example. When I was growing up, our family didn’t use the word ‘fart’ – it was a “bad” word. So instead, to describe the exact same bodily function, we used the word ‘fluff’ (which just makes Megan laugh). So, two words that mean the same thing, and yet one is more “acceptable” than the other. Why was fart a bad word? because mom and dad said so. Now that I’m at an age of accountability, it really doesn’t matter what mom and dad say, it matters what I say. I decide what meaning I attach to words.
And just to emphasize the point, I challenge you to visit the link below. It may be offensive to some, and it may be comical to others. My invitation to you is to just notice how you feel, and then ask yourself ‘why’?
Proper Use of the ‘F’ word