Main Entry: 1.foul
Pronunciation: 'fau(-&)l
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English ful; akin to Old High German ful rotten, Latin pus pus, putEre to stink, Greek pyon pus
1 a : offensive to the senses : LOATHSOME b : filled or covered with offensive matter
2 : full of dirt or mud
3 a : morally or spiritually odious : DETESTABLE (a foul crime) b : notably unpleasant or distressing : WRETCHED, HORRID (in a foul mood)
4 : OBSCENE, ABUSIVE (foul language)
Websters Online Dictionary
The recent uproar over Imus racist remarks reminds me of something I heard a few weeks back. The Right accused (backed up by many in the MSM) the left side of the blogosphere of spewing an endless stream of obscenities with every post. That the of words like fuck, shit, ass, asshole, motherfucker or any combination there of turns the blogoshere into nothing more than a cesspool of juvenile chatter and hateful thoughts. True that curse words can distract the reader or lower the tone of the conversation, but I ask you, what is worse to say "Fuck Bush! I hope he rots in Hell!" or...
"Do I care if the Sunnis and Shiites kill each other in Iraq? No. I don't care. Let's get our people out of there. Let them kill each other."(Bill O’Reilly)
Not a single fuck or shit in that quote...
"OK. No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. ... With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, 'Let's cut and run.' And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' "(Glenn Beck to Rep. Keith Ellison, a Muslim convert)
Clearly, nothing offensive about that, maybe if you said something like...
"Muslims and Arabs" don't "act now" by "step[ping] to the plate" to condemn terrorism, they "will be looking through a razor wire fence at the West."(Glen Beck)
No swear words there, at least I can’t find any...
"I want you to think for think for a moment of how incompetent and stupid and worthless, how -- that's right, I used those words -- how incompetent, how ignorant, how worthless is an adult that can't earn more than the minimum wage? You have to really, really, really be a pretty
pathetic human being to not be able to earn more than the human wage. Uh -- human, the minimum wage." (Neil Boortz)
Saying somebody is poor is not offensive, right...
"If they see someone looting, shoot him. They go up there, they just spray paint an 'L' on him and get about their business, and then after everything is over, they can go collect them all and bury them in a mass grave." (Neil Boortz)
So what if you where left to fend for yourself in the middle of a hurricane ravaged zone and you have a family to feed, nothing outrageous about suggesting corrective law enforcement action to protect private property...
"since [Sen. Barack] Obama [D-IL] has -- on his mother's side -- forebears of his mother had slaves, could we not say that if Obama wins the Democratic nomination and then wins the presidency, he will own [Rev.] Al Sharpton?"(Rush Limbaugh)
That’s right, you win at something you own the losers, that’s the American way!
"The situation here for this kid (kidnap victim Shaun Hornbeck) looks to me to be a lot more fun than what he had under his old parents. He didn't have to go to school. He could run around and do whatever he wanted."
Nothing reprehensible about blaming the victim...
Nope, you can find anything there that would set off the FCC alarms. Nothing that would lead the MSM to be shocked or outraged. Nobody is calling anybody a ho or a bitch or anything like that. Never mind calling for the death, torture and mutilation of their ideological foes or foreigners or anyone else they don’t like. The point is that is not the words but ideas behind them. Ideas about eliminating enemies, degrading people and worse come out of these commentators every second of the day, 24/7, 365 days a year. Not a single curse word is ever uttered but their ideas are foul none the less. In fact, I would argue that they make one of the worse phrases that ever uttered in the English language. Two little words that are so ordinary as to be completely innocuous. Put them together and you summon the most horrid set of images anyone can dream up, care to hazard a guess...
Final...solution...
As in...
"(he Wolf Blitzer, CNN anchor) will do the astonishing act of being the type that would stick Jewish children into a gas chamber to stay alive another day. He's probably the most despicable man in the media next to Larry King ... a close runner-up."(Michael Savage)
Think about that the next time you catch a whiff of Rush’s comedy show, or O’Reilly’s "fair and balance" debates. Uncouth they are not, but they certainly loathsome and detestable.
Crosspoted to Ruins of Empire, all quotes from Media Matters.