It seems like everyone is talking about the use of Christian profanity recently. I came across another take on it today on the Burnside Writers Collective:
Of particular note is how they take into consideration what do to when writing publicly (like, say, I do):
For many of our readers, discussions of profanity preach to the choir. I’ll admit my own language can, on occasion, fall certainly on the wrong side of the line. The boundaries between my close friends, or old Army buddies, have been blurred over the years. I’ve made jokes in my private life I’d never post here. Partly, this is because Burnside is public: anyone from family to potential employers can look back through our archives…my gestating daughter will likely have access to what I’ve written decades from now. Mostly, though, it’s because there are things I’ve said I’m not proud of.
My guess is, I’m not alone. Especially when it comes to the readers of this site.
Further, when deciding Burnside’s policy on censorship and profanity, we have to remember potential advertisers. We have to remember we’ll be linked to from any number of more conservative sites. We have to remember children might stumble across our pages. Regardless of our personal beliefs on profanity, it’s simply considerate to remember these things, as well. At the same time, this is still our site, and we want to be honest about ourselves and our communication. We like pushing the boundaries of typical Christian media, of being able to say things and address topics other sites can’t.
I’m still curious to know what all of you think about this.
As a result of continued budget restraints I find myself talking more and more about older game titles (the ones you can find in the budget bin at GameStop). At the same time, though, I have been finding a lot of games that have offered strikingly profound experiences. The most resent of these has been with the game “Silent Hill 2″ on the Playstation 2.
Silent Hill 2 is a horror-survival game that takes place in the small, American town of Silent Hill. The moment you enter this town you know immediately that something is a little off. For one, the town is almost completely devoid of life and covered in a thick fog that never seems to lift. The atmosphere of the game swiftly covers the player in a blanket of isolation and dread that pervades the entire game. Even when you do occasionally encounter the few other human beings in the town they do little to abate these feelings. In fact, after a while their unreliability and clear indications of mental unbalance begin to make the player’s character might be insane himself.
This is what Silent Hill 2 does so well. With nothing more that atmosphere, symbolism, and subtle suggestion the game can influence the player to think in certain ways. As Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw put it, it tells a story without words.
As the player progresses through the game they begin to understand that this town seems to attract those who carry with them great guilt over their past actions and incarnate for them a hell of their own creation. It is the most subtle of choices the player makes while progressing through the game that determines whether the character will find forgiveness and acceptance for his past sins or whether he will embrace his damnation and be forever lost.
It is this theme of choosing between forgiveness and damnation that I found so profound in the games story. I found it especially had parallels to real life given the context of my own Christian faith. Contrary to what seems to be popular belief, salvation in Christianity has very little to do with leading a “good life”. Instead, Christianity acknowledges that every one of us has done wrong and gives us the choice to either accept our damnation or embrace the opportunity for forgiveness and redemption that is offered to us. It is a choice that we all have and it is a choice that we all must make whether we want to or not.
I just read through a very interesting article on Kotaku.com about race, how it is depicted in video game design, and how non-white gamers experience gaming culture. Go read it here:
I found it especially interesting to contrast the way a black character is depicted in the games “Left 4 Dead” and “Gears of War”. Two very different characterizations.
There has been this odd ongoing conversation going on between Evan over at Blog of a Once Dead Man and myself. Not too long ago I finally got him to start playing Persona 4 (the game that unexpectedly became my favorite game of all time so far) and an odd reoccurring theme has popped up in our discussions. It wasn’t the game-play or the impact of the story (which I have discussed here before). No, it was our choices in relationships.
As I’ve mentioned before, Persona 4 has a very well written social simulator tied tightly to the RPG game-play that allows your avatar to learn about and develop relationships with the other characters in the game. Along with this comes the option of starting an exclusive romantic relationship with another character. In my play through I chose the character Chie Satonaka while Evan chose Yukiko Amagi and it wasn’t long before he and I started discussing why we made these choices.
Of course my first thought on this conversation was “we must be some silly Yankee Otakus to talk about fictional characters like this” but then I remembered how I had previously wrote that the character I played out through my avatar was really a reflection of the person I am in the real world. This subject works much the same way.
At any rate, as Evan and I progressed through the game we both found ourselves going towards the girls that were “more our type” and this colored our perception of them. I was drawn towards Chie because I saw in her personality a trait that is very dominate in my own—namely the trait of the protector. In the game Chie feels a strong drive to protect her best friend Yukiko and sometimes falls victim to the pride and insecurities that come with that. This is something that I felt was a very close reflection of my own feelings and actions towards those I am close to in my own life.[*] Really, it is this ability to connect back to real life that will most often endear me to characters in stories and this connection did not happen with the character of Yukiko like it did for Evan.
Now, if I may be so bold, I would like to ask Evan to take a moment and respond. What has been your experience with this while you’ve been playing? Also, if anyone else has had a similar experience I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Update: Evan’s response has been posted in the comments bellow. Go read it already.
[*] There were other aspects of Chie’s personality that I enjoyed like her sometimes confrontational nature and tendency to get embarrassed easily but the aforementioned was the most profound.
So there was a post I wrote awhile back about swearing. Well today I came across an article on relevantmagazine.com on the same topic entitled “Watch Your Mouth“. The thing is, I don’t know if that article is proving me wrong or if it is saying the same thing I was in a different way. Perhaps I need to improve the clarity in my writing.
Excerpt from my post:
As a result I have had to re-evaluate how, when, and where I use certain aspects of my vocabulary. For instance, I’ve put some thought into why certain words are considered profane. There are certain common phrases that I will not use because they are in fact swearing in the classic sense.Basically, I will not use any phrase that is disrespectful to God or to any other person. Other words, though, change status on a generational and cultural basis. There are many words and phrases that, in a certain time or location, are terribly offensive but in another are completely acceptable or even meaningless. Words like this I am more lenient on usage.
The primary thing I take into consideration each day is my audience. I do not wish to insult, offend, or cause anyone to stumble so I am very careful about adapting my vocabulary to the audience at hand. It is something I try and keep to the forefront of my mind and I am often bugged by people who are flippant about what runs out of their mouths with total disregard to those that may be within earshot.
Excerpt from Relevant Magazine:
Not using profanity in today’s world is noticeable. It’s the sort of abstaining activity people will take note of. What an opportunity for Christians to truly show restraint and demonstrate the difference of the Christ-like life! We shouldn’t chastise non-Christians for using bad language or avoid movies or music with salty language, but we, as Christians, should set an example by being different.
Certainly the case can be made that a well-placed swear word might be appropriate for a Christian when no other word will get across an idea or express a certain level of emotion/emphasis. Some of my favorite Christian artists will occasionally throw an expletive into their lyrics to really drive home a point.
David Bazan, for example, in his Pedro the Lion song “Foregone Conclusions”:
And you were too busy steering the conversation toward the Lord / to hear the voice of the Spirit, begging you to shut the f— up.
Or Over the Rhine, in their beautiful song “Changes Come”:
I wanna have our baby / Somedays I think that maybe / This ol’ world’s too f—-d up / For any firstborn son.
And most recently, Derek Webb caused a stir when his record label refused to include the song “What Matters More” on his new CD because of this lyric:
‘Cause we can talk and debate until we’re blue in the face / About the language and tradition that he’s comin’ to save / Meanwhile we sit just like we don’t give a sh— / About 50,000 people who are dyin’ today.
So there is definitely a place and a time for a well-placed cuss word. But it has to be used sparingly and with a real meaningful purpose behind it.
Stumbled across this tonight (via stumbleupon) and thought it was very interesting.
I’m still trying to gather all the facts before I figure out where I stand on this but I must admit I am leaning this way (as if I had much say in what happens).
It seems like everyone is talking about the use of Christian profanity recently. I came across another take on it today on the Burnside Writers Collective:
As a result of continued budget restraints I find myself talking more and more about older game titles (the ones you can find in the budget bin at GameStop). At the same time, though, I have been finding a lot of games that have offered strikingly profound experiences. The most resent of these has been with the game “Silent Hill 2″ on the Playstation 2.
I just read through a very interesting article on Kotaku.com about race, how it is depicted in video game design, and how non-white gamers experience gaming culture. Go read it here:
