Something struck me as weird the other day when I was reading some online news. The entertainment editor of The Monitor, a Texas newspaper in McAllen, Tx., was fired for doing something that doesn’t seem like a big deal to me.The Deftones were playing a show in Texas and along with the paper’s story about the band, the editor ran a photo. In the controversial shot, Deftones frontman Chino Moreno was wearing a sweatshirt that said “fuct,” which is a clothing brand name. I could understand if this were some sort of a “family newspaper” and Moreno was wearing something that blatantly said the f-word. However, this is a screaming, distorted hardcore band (probably not appealing to a “family newspaper”), and Moreno was just wearing a brand name.Since I’m an entertainment editor for the Daily, I was a bit concerned that one day in my future, I could randomly do something like this and possibly lose my job either at Iowa State or elsewhere.I began reading the Daily when I was in high school and was always shocked to find words in the paper I would never have seen in papers such as The Des Moines Register.One Daily issue that sticks out in my mind is when former ISU basketball star Kenny Pratt was arrested by Ames police, and everything good ol’ Kenny said in the station was printed in the Daily.Needless to say, Kenny didn’t have the cleanest mouth.But at that time, I was told that the Daily is a liberal paper and printing stuff like that wasn’t any big deal. So when I began writing here, I was pretty pumped to be able to swear — something my high school paper had never allowed.So every time I get the chance, I swear, whether it’s something a person said in an interview or just me throwing in little words here and there just to spice things up. I just don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.I’ve never really understood how two words can mean the same thing to a person, but one is socially acceptable and the other isn’t. For instance, poop is much more acceptable than one of its four-letter synonyms.But that whole “the Daily is a liberal paper” stuff that I heard hasn’t really held up as the different editors-in-chief have come and gone. I’ve received my fair share of lectures on my language — but with no real affect other than making me want to swear more.I’m sure people will call my excessive language immature or say that I’m just not educated, but people use obscenity routinely. And using profanity in writing makes a piece more communicative to those who speak like that in their everyday lives.There is always the argument that little kids shouldn’t hear bad words because it pollutes their minds, but I just won’t buy. I just watched an episode of “Seinfeld” about faking orgasms. Then, I watched an episode of “Boston Public” that featured a breast implant being thrown across the hall and a kid pulling a gun on his teacher and classmates.Kids can view all this in one night of watching TV before 8 pm, but then they hear deeply angry gangsta student use the word “crap.” It just doesn’t make sense, and it gives an improper balance of what real life is really like.To me, the “F” word is much better than taking the Lord’s name in vain, but for some reason “God” can be blurted out in a negative fashion on sitcoms while no one ever drops the F-bomb.Words are just words — they are a form of expression. I understand it’s all in how people perceive what they hear. But think about it: who sat around and decided which words will be socially acceptable in the media and which ones won’t? And why do we have to follow rules that are probably hundreds of years old anyway?You know, it’s funny, I just wrote a column about swearing and didn’t swear at all … shit.

Kyle Moss is a junior in journalism and mass communications from Urbandale. He is assistant arts and entertainment editor of the Daily, unless this column gets him fired.