Words come just too easy

“THE guys showed massive bravery and courage,” said the voice just caught at the end of last Saturday’s early-morning radio news bulletin.

I expected it to be another heartbreaking tale from Aleppo. But no, it was Europe captain Darren Clarke praising his Ryder Cup team for their first day’s recovery.

How did words become so meaningless?

For example, obscene and offensive language evolved as a powerful safety valve, a barrier between losing one’s cool and resorting to violence, a marker that one was on the edge, so everyone should proceed with caution; however, with the media in general and broadcasters in particular insisting that obscenity is now just common currency, we should not be surprised that rage and violence are erupting everywhere simply because people no longer have adequate words to express extreme frustrations.

Actually, I vividly remember the first reported instance of UK road rage. It was extensively reported. And it was quite shocking, a retreat from civilised behaviour. A generation later and rage, in all its manifestations, is everywhere.

The lesson is clear. You don’t need an ology in anything to grasp that you never turn your back, literally or metaphorically, on someone who liberally communicates using obscenity. Huw Beynon, Llandeilo