College Student Gets Misdemeanor for Cursing in Airport

A UC Riverside college student filed a free-speech lawsuit against Orange County in February after she received a misdemeanor for shouting obscenities at her friend in a crowded airport and then to an Orange County sheriff's deputy.

The college student, allegedly yelled some expletives to her friend as she was leaving the baggage claim area of an Orange County airport. A nearby sheriff's deputy asked that the girl watch her language as there were several families with young children standing around. In response, the girl asked the deputy a question about whether it was illegal to use bad language, but her question was laced with more expletives.

The sheriff responded that it was illegal. Orange County actually has a law banning "disorderly, obnoxious or indecent behavior" and breaking this law is considered a misdemeanor offense. The girl is now suing for free-speech infringement saying that the law is extremely vague in defining what is "disorderly, obnoxious or indecent."

While most normal people are all for free speech, since when did common decency and common sense get trumped because someone thinks she has the "right" to say whatever she pleases in public? That is almost as bad as someone saying they have the right to shout racial slurs because of their right to free speech. Some people may argue that expletives and racial slurs are not on the same playing field and that one is more offensive than the other. The fact of the matter is that both can be viewed as offensive and because it is a matter of opinion, most people with any sense of common decency would keep their opinions to themselves or keep behavior that some people are on the fence about, to themselves.

Incidentally, people have the right to free speech if they are saying something. Since when does using the f-word or something similar get construed as being a full-on argument or statement for something? The right to free speech affords everyone the opportunity to an opinion, but just because we all have that right, it certainly does not mean shoving that opinion down anyone's throat (though this would be if you are of the mentality that an expletive can be construed as an opinion).

Newspaper editors or other members of the editorial staff voice opinions all the time in editorial pages across the nation. Broadcasters also voice opinions while on air as well. The difference is that we all have the ability to avoid hearing that form of free speech by flipping the page or channel. Was anyone afforded that opportunity in the airport that day?

Sure, many people may say that foul language is a fact of life and with the bad words on TV, movies and video games these days, most kids know what a bad word is and understand they should not talk like that. This does not mean adults should be lazy and feed into what they see on TV or movies because "that's just a part of life." That's ridiculous.

Most people would consider the use of expletives to be a cop-out for not having that great of a vocabulary. Using bad language is akin to saying "whatever" or "like" all the time in your speech or writing. It's an alternative for people who don't have a strong grasp of the English language or who are too lazy to use vocabulary that is specific and meaningful.

Most people are taught that from day one in school. The irony is that the girl slamming the county with the lawsuit is a university student (with a major in dance)who apparently, may not have passed her English 101 class yet or just didn't do too well on vocabulary tests in elementary school. In either case, let's hope she sticks with dancing and doesn't go into politics or communications because the way she expresses herself verbally could use some work.