A ban on f&%$#ng cursing, could you even imagine it happening in New Jersey?

No, it’s not going to happen here.

But imagine if it would.

And considering how lawmakers are looking to squeeze every last penny out of us, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.



Would you be ok with a no cursing ban in NJ?
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Flickr User rtgregory

According to this report, one Massachusetts town is considering fining its residents for cursing!

According to CBS Boston, Middleborough Police Chief Bruce Gates made the case for the initiative.

"We have a lot more important things to do, but these are things that are quality of life issues, community policing issues that a lot of people don’t want to see downtown," Gates told the station.

If the proposed law wins enough votes at the Middleborough town meeting Monday, residents caught cursing in public could face a $20 fine. The proposed law would target those who accost or address another person with profane or obscene language in a street, notes WCVB-TV.

But whether or not the law will hold up constitutionally is questionable, Ken Paulson, president of the nonprofit First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Moreover, Middleborough already passed a similar law back in 1968 making swearing a criminal offense. But police have not enforced the law, viewing it as not being worth their time.

Moves to ban profane language can be traced back to early American history. According to TIME magazine, General George Washington banned profanity in the Continental Armies in July of 1776.

And as I recall, there have also been ordinances as far back as the 1800s banning cursing that had already been taken off the books.

However, given the amount of incivility we, at times, seem to demonstrate toward each other, do you think a fine would be appropriate to curb the practice.

If cell phone fines won’t work, honestly, do you think this would?

Besides, if I couldn’t curse, I’d be mute.

Posse Poll:

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