"Hell" and "Damn" as Forbidden Words at a Public Event

We read:

""A school in Reno, Nevada, has attempted to ban a 14-year-old boy from reciting "The More Loving One" by the gay British poet on the grounds that the verse contains "profanity" and "poor language".... The lines in question might appear fairly innocent by the standards of some literature. "Looking up at the stars, I know quite well/That, for all they care, I can go to hell", was one example that the school found unacceptable. "Admirer as I think I am/Of stars that do not give a damn", was another....

Cheryl Garlock, the dean of the academy, said that her policy was to present children only with "pristine" language"

Source


Quite aside from free speech issues, fussing about such trivial words seems to me to be a wasted effort, when there are much more important moral issues -- such as abortion -- to use one's energy on.

Anyway, both "hell" and "damn" are Biblical words! I suppose the prissy Nevada school would also forbid its students from reading out Mark 16:16, for instance.

And what the wonderfully wise Cheryl meant by "pristine" language rather escapes me. The basic meaning of "pristine" is "primitive". Didn't Og and Ugg swear? A strange claim, at best.

The kid did get a court to overturn the ban -- as violating his First Amendment rights.

The Volokhs have a comprehensive post on the legal issues involved -- including the point that the event was not a school event so was outside the jurisdiction of the school in any case.

(For more postings from me, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and DISSECTING LEFTISM. My Home Page. Email me (John Ray) here.)

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