Swearing Illegal?
In 2011, a High Court judge ruled that “people should not be punished for hurling obscenities in public because such words are now so common they no longer cause distress.” This makes the assumption that profanity is now mainstream and therefore is in no need of punishment, ethically speaking, is this decision the right one? Lets start with the divine command theory, this would state that unlike the judges decision, swearing should be punished, as god would not want profanity to make it into our everyday language. The only real way to stop such actions would be to punish them. This of course has the implication that the majority of the adult population of most nations would have to be punished as swearing has in fact made into everyday vocabulary. On the other hand, this would reduce the use of the obscene words in unnecessary situations such as basic descriptions of anything that moves. Utilitarianism in this situation has no real preference, as many would benefit f...