A Nation of Vulgarians

Pennsylvania woman cleans
bathroom with son’s tootbrush,
returns it to its holder.

Apropros of my blog of last night I have been thinking of a related matter, vulgarity. When was the last time you heard anyone describe something as vulgar? I suspect it must have been some time ago as the word seems to have virtually disappeared from everyday language. You rarely, if ever, hear something described as vulgar. Shocking, perhaps, or inappropriate, maybe “off the wall,” perhaps even in bad taste, but never vulgar, not any more. Why is this so?

Vulgar, like so many words in the English language, has several meanings, but all pretty much related to one another. Vulgar is, for example, associated with “common” people, but this has meaning only if you understand that this is meant to compare common people with uncommon people, where common people is basically meant to be pejorative. “Generally current” is also associated with being vulgar, but this is much the same in that current speech or current behavior is meant to mean what the masses are doing at the moment, also regarded as “plebian” or common and thus of less value. Vulgar also means “lacking in cultivation, perception, or taste,” “morally crude,” and basically “gross.” I would suggest that American culture in general has become far more vulgar than it used to be. Indeed, I think it is not too outrageous to suggest that we have become a nation of vulgarians.

Think about it, speech and behavior that formerly would have been considered vulgar has more or less become the norm. Words that were once considered far too vulgar to be uttered publicly are now commonplace. Virtually all comedy now trades on vulgarity. Much of our contemporary music (if it can be called that) is vulgar almost beyond belief. I have no doubt that baring much of your body, especially in a bikini, for example, would have been considered vulgar. Dying your hair and using lipstick was considered vulgar not so long ago (even when I was a child). Women smoking was regarded as exceedingly vulgar. Mentioning sex or telling off-color jokes was also quite vulgar.

For something to be considered vulgar is not merely a matter of using four letter words. I have no doubt that Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Beck, and most of the ultra-right wing blowhards would have been considered just plain vulgar, if only because they so obviously catered to the “common” psyche. Lying and demagoguery, although they existed, were certainly considered vulgar as they were deliberate messages to the common people. Indeed, I think that even displaying intense emotions in public was considered vulgar, one was supposed to “keep a stiff upper lip” and all that. Similarly, you did not discuss your personal problems with others, certainly not those involving your bodily functions, and you did not discuss your finances either. Boasting about how much you paid in taxes, for example, was terribly vulgar, even discussing the subject of money was vulgar. People who were recognized as upper class were also wealthy and could not be vulgar by definition.

Virtually everything I have mentioned above, formerly thought of as vulgar, now represent the common, everyday behavior of Americans. With rare exceptions, perhaps, even the wealthy are likely to be just as vulgar as we “commoners.” Why is this so? I have no doubt that television has played a very important role. What could have been a wonderful educational and instructive medium for promoting the best of human behavior and thought simply degenerated into a mass of unbelievably awful schlock. The programs for the most part are so bad as to un unwatchable, the commercials are insulting, the news is no longer news but infotainment, and most Americans spend hours every day being bombarded with this utter nonsensical crap. Television has doubtless done more to “dumb down” the public than any other media. Most everything is geared to the lowest common denominator, in this case probably about the level of the fourth grade. This has helped to foster an attitude of anti-intellectualism that permeates our culture, disvalues, even mocks education, and results in a population of voters that have little or no idea of what or who they are voting for or even why (if, that is, they vote at all). Vulgarity is no longer an exception or deviation from the norm, it has become the norm.

LKBIQ:
Vulgarity is, in reality, nothing but a modern, chic, pert descendant of the goddess Dullness.
Edith Sitwell

TILT:
Trigger is mounted, not stuffed.