Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Public profanity seems to be on the rise but if you're living in the West Kentucky City of Paducah, you may be hearing more of it. That's because the Paducah City Commission is repealing a 50-year old law that restricts profanity within the city. This is on the heals of a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling from February 2017 that says government can't, "restrict expression because of its message, ideas, subject matter or content."  But is profanity any of this?  It's not that we need to have our sensibilities offended any more than they are. Carelessly venting rage and dropping profanities is a mark of uncontrolled behavior and disregard for others. An ordinance might not be the best way to stop it but it certainly provided boundaries to remind us of what's acceptable and what's not.