[Here's the deal, when one of my articles is marked "adult content" it sinks like a stone. It apparently doesn't show up in the forums and only registered users over a certain age can see it. Search engines don't see it. It won't get any referral traffic. It sucks. So, I cut the four paragraphs in the middle of this article that caused me to mark it adult content and am reposting it. If you want to see what got cut, open a free account, be over 16, and click here for the original version. Now to the self-censored version of my last brain dropping....]

“And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’” -- Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 8


At the time Macbeth uttered his curse, I'm sure he expected those hearing it to actually fear damnation for interfering. If not actual brimstone-and-fire damnation, then at least a jolly good haunting (especially considering everything else going on in the play).

I'm wondering, though, does damning someone today have the same force as it did in days past? Surely we don't really expect someone to be condemned to hell, or to fear same, do we? Maybe we might hope they get a dose of eternal damnation, but when polls indicate most people who believe hell exists are convinced they won't end up there, we can't expect them to fear it on our say-so, can we?

Cursing just isn't what it used to be. Once upon a time cursing was really, well, cursing, placing an actual curse on someone. What's the point these days? Outside certain superstitious backwaters, people don't still believe in curses... do they?

Okay, maybe I'm giving people too much credit. Watch any David Blaine special to see how gullible is the average human, even in enlightened, progressive America. If people didn't still believe in the power of the curse, psychics everywhere would be out of business and I don't even want to think about what would happen to the market for horror fiction. Heck, maybe you can even chart a person's position in humanity's evolution by whether or not they believe in curses, damning or vitriolic.

Nonetheless, I suspect much of the power of cursing these days comes more from having negative emotion directed at oneself and fearing what possible physical turns may ride on such emotions than any comprehension of what the words actually mean.

There have been many times in my life when the most outrageous accusations have been leveled against me. People have given me all sorts of advice on fighting back, retaliation, and revenge. People start saying, "Boy, if that was me!" and get all worked up as if the hatred had actually been leveled against them. I usually shrug it off. In most instances, I can't see getting that worked up over something that isn't true. Why should a lie bother me? The more outrageous the lie, the less to be bothered by. It says more about the liars than it does about me, and if idiots are unfortunate enough to want to believe the lie, well, they're inadvertently saying a mouthful about themselves too.

There's a practical side to my position. Most people overreact when they respond to an accusation and end up making the accusation look real. Then the cursers/liars/accusers use the reaction for more ammunition, "See! I told you!" I have a saying, "Call someone stupid and they'll have to prove it." It never ceases to amaze me how often that holds true. It's a game I'll opt-out of, thank you very much.

About the only effect a curse is going to have is if you get it into your head and turn it into self-fulfilling prophecy. An example might be a parent constantly cursing a child who then takes those insults for his self-image and personally fulfills the curse. Likewise, four-letter-word cursing can only affect you if you take it to heart or let it get into your head and fester there.

In the end, the only way you can get damned by being damned is if you give a damn. The more mature a people or person, the less cursing there will be and the less impact any cursing will have.