I know my suggestion was pushing the envelope. I complately agree about wanting color, vibrance, etc, in language. I’m for free expression. I’m for allowing use of the F word. etc. But your example actually makes my point. Because, if we visited another galaxy with a society that said “penis/vaginal intercourse you” as a way to _insult_ someone, we would find it pretty self evident that, at least to some extent, these people have some issues with sexualtiy, that it is one of their top insults, one of the strongest insults, to say that. Can you imagine if “kiss your face” was an insult? People don’t use the phrase “punch face” (yet) for very similar reasons to why we don’t say “sexual intercourse with you!” as an insult; it would be so obviously a strange choice of words that it would jump out at people almost as much as “kiss your face” as an insult would jump at people. But “fuck you” is just a short ‘package’ we’ve gotten used to. This is not in contradiction to my being in favor of people being allowed to say “fuck you” ; I do want people to be more introspective about what this says about our culture, however, and its views on sexuality (for that matter other top insults include “dick” and “pussy” and “prick” and “cunt” but not “elbow” ;-o) similarly I want us all to be more introspective about what is says about our culture’s ever present violence that our ears don’t even hear the violence in “kicks ass” in part because we hear it all the time, a known, pharse, but also in part because of that ever present violelnce in our culture.

I didn’t really expect you do change that. And I knew this was pushing the envelope and would make even radical/progressive folks pause and maybe a tad uncomfortable to hear this radical perspective. And yes, your cited example that we use the notion of sexuality with another, as one of the strongest way to insult someone, is an excellent example too – don’t ban the F word, but yes, it too holds a mirror to our culture, and both mirrors can be used to evolve our culture, over time, into something saner, healthier, better Peace.

Now for your other suggestion:

I think it’s fine to use kick-ass. It’s very appropriate to how I feel about these cartoonists. It’s short, punchy and visceral. I think anyone reading it would understand it as intended (prolific, edgy, fearless cartoonists that match my sensibilities). I have yet to hear anyone use the word “punch face” for anything so the analogy makes no sense. It makes about as much sense as saying Imagine a world where people say “penis/vaginal intercourse you” when they were angry instead of “fuck you”.

Words mean something, and context is king. You can’t substitute synonyms at will and retain meaning. I personally don’t want to live in a world where language is stripped of color, vibrance, nuances, dual meanings and plain old fun. You’d have to toss out most great music, literature, advertising, and poetry to follow your suggestion to it’s logical conclusion.

“human nature” is multi faceted, and which facet “comes out” depends
on the context, environment, and the economic and political system in
particular, play a huge role…

the question is not whether human nature good or bad the question is,
what kinds of systems and institutions bring out the best and reward
the best, while discouraging the worst…versus what kinds of systems
and environments, including economic systems, encourage the most
selfish and greedy and anti-social and materialistic and short-term
thinking and acting…our present system sadly, does a good job of
encouraging the worst, and under-valuing (at best) or degrading and
looking down on, our best human qualities.

P.S. Dear Clay: I admire so much of your work…one criticism..imagine
a planet where you give something a compliment by saying “that music
is great, it really punches face!” what a violent crazy culture! Yet
we use (and your web page uses at this time) “kicks ass” to mean
“good. Can you imagine a planet where “Cartoonists which punch face!”
is meant to say links to cartoonists you like? How about finding
different language?