Judaism has an idea called Loshen Hora, or The evil tongue. Speech is considered to be lashon hara "evil tongue" if it says something negative about a person or party, is not previously known to the public, or is not seriously intended to correct or improve a negative situation, I guess we would also call it gossip. Judaism recognises the strength of words and also most of us are very bad at speaking before we think. While I write this blog I try to think about how I construct the words, to convey my true meaning. to make sure I don't confuse or offend, I'm aware of how it all works, especially in the world we live in today. It has always been that the tyrants of the world have controlled free speech, in recent times we have had Goebbels, Hitler's minister of propaganda promoting the burning of books and more recently the global use of Twitter to spread ideas within minutes, we all know, you and me, words count and words are power. So when a comedian such as Ricky Gervais uses inappropriate words in his routine, should we be upset, or just say he is joking, it means nothing, its a laugh? Mr Gervais himself claims we are too PC, he didn't mean anything offensive , the world is just over sensitive. Really? Do we believe him? Do we really think a 'comic genius' doesn't know the power of words he chooses to use? Is he just being funny? I know what I think that's for sure, and I for one do know the power of the language I use.
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