Cabbage soup without tomato

Recently, in conversations about the publication of my texts, editors ask the same question: "What are we going to do with non -normative vocabulary?" I categorically refuse to replace the mat with all sorts of “figs” and “fucking”, but I agree to outflow.

Otherwise, it is impossible: last year the law prohibiting the mat in cinema, theater and literature entered into force.

True, recently, after six months, the actions of the law, more and more often began to say that it must be softened.

Recently, a group of directors wrote an appropriate appeal to the Ministry of Culture. And from the State Duma, phrases of deputies are already flying through the media that the mat can return to books and films with the limitation of "18+".

Have people began to swear less for these six months? I doubt very much. According to a recent survey, 55 percent of Russian inhabitants use non -normative vocabulary. And this despite the fact that, answering questions, many are trying to expose themselves in the best light. So the real figure is higher.

But several films did not go to the screens: “taped” or drown out obscany expressions in them. Others - including the unprecedented resonance of Leviathan - came out in fact in a censored form. A lot of fields appeared in the books, and some authors "adjusted" the speech of their heroes, making it unnatural.

Really those who banned the mat in art seriously believed that this would somehow affect the general culture and people, without hearing swearing words from the screen, without reading swearing expressions in books, will swear less?

The ban is a typical example of the hypocrisy: we will not be able to prohibit people, but at least we will observe external decency

Having left the cinema to the street, you will hear more profanity in one minute than in the most “swearing” Russian film that has ever been released on the screen. Yes, and those who swear the most, just watch films in which there are no mats, but they don’t read books at all. The ban is a typical example of the hypocrisy: we will not be able to prohibit people with swearing, but at least we will observe external decency.

In addition, "fighters for decency" do not understand that this very language is developing, that it is impossible to artificially control its development. We want it either or do not want it, but the mat has firmly entered the conversational Russian speech, and over the past quarter century, the frequency of its use has increased markedly.

This is not good and not bad. From the point of view of linguistics, there is a “decrease in the level of observation” of obscene words: they are no longer perceived as absolutely rude and completely unacceptable.

Similar processes occurred in other languages, for example, in English. Not so long ago, in a conversation with me, a professor of American university noticed - albeit with a certain share of humor - that now the word f *** is permissible even for preschoolers.

By the way, in the series on the largest television channels in the USA this word is still prohibited. But in cinemas, the ban was lifted many years ago, there is a system of age restrictions - and that’s all.

I do not urge to swear in any case. This is a personal matter for each person: to consider obscene vocabulary permissible or not, and if so, in what situations.

But if we talk about books and cinema, then to solve creative problems, the author and director often need real speech of people. The rejection of it for the sake of compliance with the dramatic "decency" only deprives texts and films of reliability.

Vladimir Kozlov - writer and journalist