Economist Murry Rothbard occasionally referred to what he called a widespread fallacy most people have in that they assume that the passage of time will inevitably improve our culture. One can disprove such misguided optimism by watching TV shows and news.

Vulgar words:

I can’t avoid being a bit hypocritical here as my own vocabulary can be peppered with the f-bomb, particularly if I stub my toe. I cussed more when I was younger, and now, I feel it works best to deploy the effer sparingly for emphasis, or to comic effect and among the right audience. Having said that, I find it jarring to see it increasingly appearing in TV dialogue and now, even public political discourse. I mostly watch police procedurals for entertainment, so my examples here reflect that.

I started really noticing this when watching a sort of locked room mystery (The Residence), complete with a quirky yet perspicacious detective, and a non-compelling plot. What I noticed was the writers putting the effer in almost every sentence uttered by all of the characters.

While real-life staff in the white house may indeed cuss like a knot of fifth graders sneaking a smoke behind the shed, this usage struck me as the product of lazy and cynical writing. Perhaps the writers are attempting to reflect the sensibilities of the ‘modern audiences’ we hear so much about. I challenge the new generation of writers to elevate their vocabulary, rather than using street talk in a failed effort to write powerful dialog.

Beyond the audible, the visual is getting more disgusting. Here are some things I see on TV and wish I did not–and I suspect very few do:

• Seeing the actual (fake but disgusting) vomit come out of people’s mouths when they vomit.

• People using the toilet or urinal.

Folks, transgressive art is bad art, and potty mouth is lazy writing. Let’s hope the entertainment industry will improve its product.