Soapbox About Profanity

This is not another complaint about profanity on the air waves, even though that is a sore subject with me. Instead, I really want to vent about some emails that I have recently seen between several of the local hams. Actually I was just a copy on the correspondence but it disturbed me enough that I wanted to vent about it. The writers are respected local hams who I personally know, and I think that is what made me so sensitive. My respect for these individuals has dropped considerably but I hope it is a temproary situation. I rarely hear profanity among my many ham buddies, perhaps an occasional off-color joke but no constant raw language - certainly not like what we hear on TV. In most gatherings - big and small - the converastion could be held inside a church. So I was shocked when I opened an email and read a foul-mouthed dissertation which was a complaint concerning a received email. The ham was upset and incensed over its contents and vented in an improper way. To make matters worse, the respondent sent an email replying in like manner with similar language. I felt ashamed for both of them. They are intelligent hams who know better. I just hope that they do not convey this demeanor when on the air waves.

Proper language should be used at all times lest we forget and use profanity when it could really damage something as important as our images as amteur radio operators.