Articles
Asterisk Vulgarity
Euphemisms – “A representation of good qualities; particularly in rhetoric, a figure in which a harsh or indelicate word or expression is softened, or rather by which a delicate word or expression is substituted for one which is offensive to good manners or to delicate ears” (Webster’s 1828).
Asterisk – The figure of a star, thus, * , used in printing and writing as a reference to a passage or note in the margin, or to fill the space when a name is omitted” (Webster’s 1828).
Acronyms – a word (such as NATO, radar, or laser) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term (Merriam-Webster’s).
Euphemisms, Asterisks, and Acronyms are used to lighten the load of otherwise unpleasant conversations, or a way to simplify otherwise awkward conversations: these supplemental terms are non-offensive. When terms become offensive, there is an effort by the party or parties offended, to try to remedy the problem, i.e., “Then came AIDS.” When “gay rights” activists “were trying to convince the mainstream that homosexuals represented a normal, healthy, alternative lifestyle, along came a modern plague—horrible, incurable, fatal, and spread primarily by promiscuous homosexual men. AIDS—originally named GRID (gay-related immunodeficiency disease) until activist homosexuals pressured the medical establishment to switch to the generic acronym AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)—was the ultimate public relations nightmare. It gave society a brand-new reason to fear and shun homosexuals—namely, CONCERN OVER becoming infected with a nightmarish new disease” (The Marketing of Evil, Kupelian, pg. 20). Society is accustomed to the use of such words or phrases, sometimes unknowingly, and/or out of habit. As a result, homosexuality was dubbed GAY. Changing the commonly used term to denote “lighthearted and carefree,” it now represents “sexually or romantically attracted to people of one's own sex…” (Oxford). The result?
| “When you’re very different, and people hate you for it,” they explain, “this is what you do: first you get your foot in the door, by being as similar as possible; then, and only then—when your one little difference is finally accepted—can you start dragging in your other peculiarities, one by one. You hammer in the wedge narrow end first. As the saying goes, allow the camel’s nose beneath your tent, and his whole body will soon follow”…In other words, sadomasochists, leather fetishists, cross-dressers, transgenders, and other “peculiar” members of the homosexual community need to keep away from the tent and out of sight while the sales job is under way. Later, once the camel is safely inside, there will be room for all” (Ibid., pg. 25). |
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“The Marketing of Evil” was written in 2005: before same-sex marriages became legal, and equity, diversity and inclusiveness became an intrinsic part of the personal, family and corporate world. Before transgenderism, cross-dressing, Gay Pride: flags and parades, and children subject to child-abuse, inflicted by parents and the medical field, became a topic of many newscasts.
As for “Asterisks:” In the world of Facebook, Instagram, X and Chatrooms, there are certain terms that are offensive to good manners or to delicate ears. Therefore, in the place of full-fledged vulgarity the non-offensive * (asterisk) fills the internet with its suggestive vulgarity. Euphemism, Asterisk, or Acronym reveals a condition of the heart, i.e., “That which proceedeth out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man” (Mk. 7:20-23). Interesting thoughts…don’t you think? “The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matt. 12:35-37). Or maybe, every idle * that men shall type, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. ret
- Asterisk_Vulgarity.pdf (108.59 kB)
