Should we all be cursing in public conversation?

Free speech is losing its civility

By: Rob Miraldi
Gust columnist

..... The invasion of the ICE brigades in Minneapolis was at its height. Hundreds of federal border patrol and immigration agents had taken to the streets of America's 16th-largest metropolitan area.
..... Two people, both 37 years old, a young mother and a male nurse, were shot and killed by ICE agents. Despite sub-freezing temperatures in late January, [2026] thousands of protesters had taken to the streets - across the nation.
..... Minneapolis' 46-year-old mayor, Jacob Frey, his brown hair tasseling down his forehead, was furious. a track all-star in college and a graduate of villa-nova University Law School, Frey, mayor for eight years and sometimes criticized for being too moderate, campaigned on improving police-community relations. and now, this, two killings on his streets.
..... On January 7, [2026] he held a news conference, picked up by the national TV networks at the peak of the ICE chaos. He looked straight into the cameras and said without a stutter: "Get the f--- out of our city." Earlier he called ICE's defense of its killing "bulls...."
..... Last I looked 2 million viewers on YouTube had watched his press conference. Curses equal clicks.
..... Abnormal words spoken in public in an abnormal time - although the words may have been appropriate in this moment of anger and fury. I've always told my own kids that even curse words have their place in expressing certain anger. but the beast was out of the bag: the F-bomb, was right in front of us all on national television.

Should we curse in public?

..... That's not to say it was a first. It's widely known hat in private Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon swore like - well, like sailors and, more recently, like the resit of the population. (Nealy 65% of the population swears daily, experts say.) and twice Joe Biden was caught on a "hot mic" using the f-word, but never in public comments.
..... On Easter Sunday, [04/05/2026] to the shock of much of the world, even President Donald Trump came out of the closet. In a social media post, warning of more bombing, he declared: "Open the f--in' Strati, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH!" even his base was outraged. Longtime conservative commentator Tucker Carlson called it "vile on every level," asking, "How dare you speak that way on Easter morning to the country?"
..... It wasn't the first time. Leaving the White House on June 5, 2025, Trump stood on a law and lashed out at Israel and Iran, who he said have "been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f-- they're doing." Even for Trump - known to use coarse language - this on-camera utterance of the f-word was new. American presidents have typically refrained form using it cubically, even when anger or frustrated.
..... In no instance do I recall a president openly using this term in a public forum," said Russell Riley, a presidential
..... But linguistic norms are always changing. Look no further than the word "sucks," which emerged in the 1970s as an offensive word referring to a sex act.
..... But now it is common parlance on television news and entertainment. The worm has turned - or evolved.
..... But the emergence today [04/11/2026] of a cruder brand of public discourse is different - and worrisome.
..... Don't get me wrong, I am not a prude and regularly pepper my talking with carefully chosen sweat words. (I grew up in a household where "damn it" was the only profanity heard.)
..... And, second, curse words of all sorts, even those said in anger or fop political purpose - they are all absolutely protected by the First Amendment.
..... Obscenity s still not legally protected, at least technically, but it is defined as some photograph or video that crosses over to tough-to-define sexual boundary. But words - curse words, swear words, "dirty" words - have complete free speech protection.
..... In narrow ways, speech hat is labeled "indecent" can be blocked in the shrinking space of the public airwaves. So-called "dirty words" can still get broadcasters fined.
..... Between 1900 and 2004, the FCC fined Howard Stern's radio program $2.5 million, the highest amount ever. But that is rare.
..... And the public airwaves stations that carried Frey's comments likely were exempt because "fleeting expletives" do not get punished.
..... The Minneapolis mayor rebutted those who were "offended" by his explicit language, telling then, "I'm sorry I offended their delicate ears."
..... Frey argued that ICE killing a citizen is the "inflammatory element her, not the f-bomb," adding, "I'm suer we've all heard [the word] before.

Cursing is protected language - but is it civil?

..... And, on that, he is correct. the words are all over the place. this month [04/2026] Brian Cashman, the general manager of the New York Yankees, was upset that reporters keep saying he tells the Yankees manager which lineup to use.
..... "It irritates the f--- out of me. Because it's so stupid, it;s so false," he said.
..... Earplugs need for young Yankees fans.
..... I recently blushed watching "South Park," which once broadcast an episode entitled, :IT Hits the Fans," using the word s--- 162 times, once every eight seconds. But Comedy channel is cable TV. Cable channels are considered private - and the cursing gloves are off.
..... For a moment I thought that today's [04/10/2026] language choices were not really so different. In 1934, Cole Porter penned the lyrics to "Anything Goes."
..... "Good authors who once knew better words now only use four-letter words, writing prose, anything goes," eh wrote.
..... Nah, never mind, it is different. Bitter anger accompanies the language today. [04/10/2026] and it is, pretty much, nonpartisan.
..... On February 23, [2026] democratic strategist James Carville let loose with a barrage of foul words to describe the president after his State of the Union speech, calling him a "son of a b---" and a fat, sorry sack of s---."
..... The gates coming off the language barriers are being propelled by a society increasingly and quickly losing its sense of order, along with reasonable and polite public masked federal agents round up some of our hardworking neighbors, our problems. And it speaks to a shifting hatred. And fueled by curse words.
..... Undoubtedly, media and technology are playing a significant role in the loss of boundaries. The words we might share with a friend on the street, sometimes filled with lots of curses, are now the words that we will "tweet" or post Online in a public space.
..... there are many legal regulations, nor should there be. but, at least in part, free speech was meant to provoke civility, to provide a public sphere where we could disagree with each other and express our differences, and no one could block or censor us. And maybe, just standing - not a civil war.
..... It was also meant to be like a steam valve on a boiler. Instead of turning to violence and blowing things up, we could always let out our fury in peaceable assembly with words.
..... But now, too often, the debate has turned into a Wild West shooting match, with uncivil language coming front and center, from both sides, dividing us further.
..... Neither the president nor the mayor of Minneapolis do us any favors cursing at us. It only makes us poorer, meaner and cruder. Censorship won't work; leadership might.

..... Rob Miraldi's First Amendment writing has own numerous awards. He taught journalism at the State University of New York for many years. Email: rob.miraldi@gamil.com

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