15 December 2011

Science That Reinforces Beliefs I’ve Always Held: kids are evil, and swearing is good for you.


I’m so in love with science that demonstrates things I’ve always thought were true but that had never been demonstrated. The first is from an article entitled “Kids are Vindictive” (I can’t remember if I read it on CBC or Globe and Mail, and now I can’t find it). Initially, not having read the article, I was all “what else is new?” Having read the article, I know that the headline was way off, and I don’t think the children’s behaviour could be described as vindictive. It’s more that they’re able to recognize bad and good behaviours at very young ages (8-21 months). In my books, this is a really good argument that a lot of our morals are innate and not taught to us by religion. Quirks and Quarks is going to (has already) cover(ed) the study, I believe. 

Second is a study that suggests that swearing actually helps you deal with pain and releases adrenaline. Fuck yeah, swearing is good for you. Who hasn’t been severely stressed out and felt better after belting out some swear words?    

In a related article about swearing, someone made a good point about swear words: “banning words is an arbitrary practice, he says, since what truly offends people aren’t the words themselves, but the thoughts behind them. And thoughts can’t be banned.” For me swearing is okay because there’s no malicious intent. Like when I call my best friend Bitch, it’s not because she’s some heinous woman, it’s a term of endearment because there’s love and 23 years of friendship behind it. However, there are some words I’ll never be comfortable with, no matter how much people try to “own” them or whatever. I think some words have such a history of bad thoughts behind them, there’s no redeeming them.  

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