[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]
When presenting his popular mid-morning talk show on one of Ireland’s independent radio stations, Today FM, Ray D’Arcy would let it be known when an issue truly annoyed him.
‘Have you got a problem with my faecal matter?’
‘I’m sick of hearing this shit again.’ ‘This is all fucked up.’
Phrases to that effect. They’d invariably come with a pained silence, a deep sigh. You get the idea.
D’Arcy left that gig in December 2014, moving to an afternoon slot on Radio One at Ireland’s state broadcaster, RTÉ. From what I gather, these days he rarely if ever utters expletives on what some describe as a more highbrow channel.
For curse’s sake
When D’Arcy used to do it, it made me uncomfortable, even though I enjoyed the show for a time and was on it once. This discomfort wasn’t due to the important issue he was discussing, it was because I felt awkward hearing him talk in such a way.
It almost always felt contrived, as in ‘I’ll use a few «fucks» here so that listeners will get a stronger sense of how I feel.’ Maybe he was genuinely that angry and the words just came out. Yet, for such an experienced, skilled broadcaster that’s unlikely. He could display his emotions without reverting to swear words. (An Irish politician memorably used the F-word in parliament — and it’s obvious that he knew he was going to use ‘unparliamentary language’, as you can witness here.)
You see, in general, hearing hosts or guests swear on Irish radio is a rarity. Most station bosses would reprimand a presenter for doing so. I’m pretty sure I never did in my presenting days. Nor have I cursed on my podcasts, as far as I can recall anyway. (Yes, I have done so here and in other audio blogs, but they’re part of the story! I don’t utter expletives on the radio ‘just because’.)
‘Remember, out of bullshit can grow the greatest of crops.’
In my everyday life, I do fire off unsavoury verbal volleys from time to time but these are on the odd occasions when I’m angry. Sure I’ve few reasons to be angry in Colombia.
My mild aversion to hearing somebody swear in what I’ll call a more formal setting is down to my upbringing, I figure. Do note, I’m not saying this is a superior outlook to those who are more relaxed about using what some call ‘agricultural language’. I believe the devil is in the deed, and to some extent the delivery, rather than the words themselves.
With that last point in mind, I wouldn’t freak out if a guest on a show I was presenting cursed. And I’d expect listeners to be equally blasé.
Offending Auntie Beeb
So it was with some amusement that I listened to the BBC World Service’s Nuala McGovern get a little flustered when an American political analyst said some US voters were ‘pissed’. (‘Pissed’ as in annoyed, he meant, not drunk. Although, some are no doubt regularly the latter.)
I wager the remark went unnoticed by most listeners. Unnoticed until McGovern jumped in to apologise for his use of the word. For those tuning in with a playback facility, some probably rewound the segment to hear the analyst’s offensive word.
The episode is a microcosm of a bigger, more pernicious problem with much of the legacy media. Claiming to be the voice of the masses, they then try to portray themselves as totally prim and proper. Holier-than-thou defenders of how they consider an upstanding society should think and operate.
The thing is, many who work in such media are far removed from those who they believe they represent. And their idea of an upstanding society is at best unrealistic and unworkable, at worst a mix of the most alarming aspects of communism and fascism.
Wake up and smell the bullshit
Donald J. Trump’s return as president of the USA should force these media monoliths into a bit of introspection. Although, one isn’t too optimistic that this will happen considering little seemed to have been learned from the first coming of Trump.
In fact, in the way they currently operate, they are incapable of change. As Albert Einstein put it, ‘We can’t solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.’
And the legacy media don’t appear to realise that how they conduct themselves is the problem.
One quick fix? Stop trying to be the moral guardians of the masses — as much as they feel this is their calling.
Remember, out of bullshit can grow the greatest of crops.
So rather than the legacy media’s often embarrassing efforts of trying to distance themselves from the offensive bullshit, they should embrace it. Take a good look at it rather than turn away in disgust.
That way, they’ll be better placed to see what’s fertilising the furore of the masses they abhor.
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