Wednesday 11 November 2015

Vulgarity

When one speaks of vulgarity one refers to that which is lewd and base and related to bodily functions and, especially, sex. And yet, in an obsolete meaning, the vulgar is that which relates to the crowd or the mob. In other words the first meaning is related to that which we all have in common, namely bodily functions including sex. One, therefore, has to ask the question why does the very fact of commonality signify disgust when it could, equally, signify something we share in common and which unites us in a kind of democracy.

One can argue that it is precisely the delicacy of the better educated and bred (if that's not too old-fashioned an idea) as opposed to the mob, which leads them to wish to avoid these subjects and it is indubitable that there are such things as better and worse educations. However one might also wish to ask why is it assumed evidence of a virtuous, educated delicacy to avoid speaking of the components of which our mortality is made?

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