A population who practices self-censorship is worrying to me as well. I'm no psychologist so take this with a grain of salt, but I read a LOT. I recall reading that when a population practices self-censorship, they engage in other censorship behaviors as well. I forget the details but in short, it's bad for a society to self-censor for many reasons.
Open to correction and addition, whatever I read it was many years ago so the details are quite foggy and I could even be misremembering. Lmk 😎
Vsauce video on swearing: Why Are Bad Words Bad?
I occasionally swear emphatically, but usually self censor to increase the impact of the rare uncensored cases.
Would I experience the same negative effects you describe?
I would add that curses in society also often point to bigger problems/issues in society. For example, in Germany, people say shit all the time (and fuck only rarely), maybe because people here have a kind of neurotic relationship to cleaning and stuff. In great brittan its bloody bastard I think, in america its fuck.
Self-censorship in public places where small kids hang out is normal and has been happening since medieval times
Of course, but would that description be applicable to this situation? It's a subjective question of course so both answers work, but personally I do not think that this space matches that description.
I get that parents don't want their children hearing curse words because children are basically parrots, and I have no issue with that.
