Between August 2017 and January 2019, 15 British councils banned swearing or foul language.
No cussing please, we’re British!
I’ve always been a fan of the much-maligned 1993 film Demolition Man. For those who have never seen it, it’s essentially the action-comedy version of 2002’s Minority Report, and is set in a future America which technology has helped make an authoritarian state.
In Demolition Man, cussing has been banned under the ‘Verbal Morality Statute’ in the name of maintaining a polite society, but the mandate is the actually but a small part of the plan of the new totalitarian leader — who has cast himself as savior and benefactor. What he promises is safety and order and what he demands is quiet acquiescence. Such sacrifices are required for the greater good. His goal, as it always is for tyrants, is complete hegemonic domination.
If a lesson can be attributed to the film, it is that the caged bird is safe, but not free.
Naturally, enforcement of the anti-cussing law requires around-the-clock surveillance of not only public streets, but every home and workplace by electronic eavesdropping equipment. It’s like a state-run Alexa or Siri with the ability to issue fines.
Which brings me to this item from The Guardian on towns and cities in Great Britain which have banned cussing and made offenders subject to fines.
As in the two films mentioned above, as in other dystopian films such as the great V For Vendetta, a violent revolution or coup was not required for these good citizens to lose their rights and liberties; under the right set of circumstances they could be counted on to vote them away.
“Popular suffrage is in itself no guarantee of freedom. People can vote themselves into slavery.” ~ Frank Chodorov
Similar cussing bans were proposed in left-leaning Massachusetts — during the Obama years.
In Britain, local councils defend the bans by saying they “help tackle anti-social behavior.” Critics argue restrictions are a heavy-handed curb on freedom of expression.
The critics are right.
When Salford ditched its ban on swearing last week, [comedian] Mark Thomas’s reaction was apt. “Hoo fucking ray” the comedian tweeted, shortly followed by a “Whoo- fucking -hooo”.
Introduced by the city council in 2016, the public spaces protection order (PSPO) outlawed “foul and abusive” language in Salford Quays, the former site of the Manchester Docks that has now been transformed by upscale developments. Offenders faced an on-the-spot fine, which could increase to £1,000.
The order immediately alarmed critics and free speech campaigners. What, after all, constituted foul language? Would a “bloody hell” get you into trouble? Could you be fined for a “damn”?
Censorship, and comedy without cussing
Thomas was due to perform at the Lowry theatre when the order came down in 2016, and has been known to “drag audiences through the streets” on post-gig demos. “In the interests of remaining within the law, I sent Salford City Council a list of words I’m considering using, and asking which are permissible and which are not,” he wrote at the time. “The list runs to 425 words, in alphabetical order, starting with ‘arse’, ending with ‘winnit’ and including the term ‘cat twinky’. I have no idea what that last one means but thought we should check nonetheless.”
Though Salford’s citizens are now free once again to turn the air blue, many cities, towns and villages across England now fine cussing. A freedom of information request by the Manifesto Club, a campaigning group that “challenges the hyper-regulation of public spaces”, revealed that between August 2017 and January 2019, 15 councils banned swearing or foul language.
These include parts of the town of Morecambe, in Lancashire, including the Happy Mount Park, as well as in the village of Heysham. In Nottinghamshire, there are bans in place for areas in Gateford, Worksop and Retford; foul or abusive language is outlawed in parts of Ashford, in Kent. Cheshire East council has banned foul or abusive language in areas of Poynton and Congleton, and swearing is also banned in parts of Canterbury, Dartford and Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent.
Previous FOIs by the Manifesto Club, for the period November 2014 and June 2017, list other local authorities that have introduced orders banning swearing – some of which have now expired.
The PSPOs were introduced by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to tackle anti-social behaviour in public places. The civil rights organisation Liberty argues they are being used as a heavy-handed curb on freedom of expression.
“PSPOs are dangerously broad powers that local councils are systematically misusing,” said Lara ten Caten, a lawyer at Liberty.
“Whether to criminalize rough sleepers or to restrict free speech, these blunt powers are being used with little accountability, often against vulnerable people.
“We have even heard from people with mental health issues who are particularly distressed at the prospect that they might inadvertently breach a swearing ban in their area, and feel that large parts of their local communities are closed to them because these bans are so vague that they make it impossible to know whether you might be punished just for speaking.”
