Massachusetts Lawmaker Proposes $200 Fine, 6 Months in Jail for Using The Word ‘B*tch’
The language police are at it again.
A Massachusetts state lawmaker is proposing legislation to ban anyone from using the word “b*tch” in certain instances, Reason.com reports.
State Rep. Daniel Hunt, a Boston Democrat, has offered a new bill to outlaw anyone from using the word “to accost, annoy, degrade or demean” another person. Doing so would constitute a “disorderly person” and anyone found guilty could face fines of up to $200 and/or six months in jail.
“Hunt’s bill specifies that either the person called a bitch or a witness to the bitch-calling could report the crime to the police,” Reason reports. The bill goes before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on Tuesday.
The Massachusetts Republican Party and mocked the bill Monday, writing on Twitter, “Beacon Hill Democrats like [Rep. Dan Hunt] are fearlessly taking on the biggest problems facing the commonwealth.”
Beacon Hill Democrats like @repdanhunt are fearlessly taking on the biggest problems facing the commonwealth. #mapoli pic.twitter.com/xxyECXmd6J
— MassGOP (@massgop) October 21, 2019
“Do you believe free speech matters? Tired of [Massachusetts Democrats] dictating what you can say?… Come on Down to the State House. Rooms A1&A2. First floor. Let ’em have it,” MassGOP wrote.
Do you believe free speech matters? Tired of @massdems dictating what you can say?
Judiciary Committee will be taking this up tomorrow at 1 pm.
Come on down to the State House. Rooms A1&A2. First floor. Let ’em have it. #mapoli https://t.co/afowov3IFg
— MassGOP (@massgop) October 22, 2019
Liberal cities across the country have been trying to clamp down on language. In Seattle, for instance, police are no longer calling people suspected of committing crimes “suspects.” Instead, when officers write force reports, they are to refer to suspects as “community members.”
Seattle Chief Operating Officer Brian Maxey said the new term “is aimed at improving police reports since calling someone a suspect could be misleading if they aren’t suspected of any crime.”
“Similarly, we don’t know or inquire about citizenship status, so labeling someone a citizen is arbitrary,” he said. “Neither term is confusing at all.”
Hunt said he filed the bill “upon request from a constituent,” the Boston Herald reported.
“Any time a constituent approaches me with something that is of concern to them, I follow through with it,” Hunt told the Herald. “In this instance, someone asked me to file a bill that they deemed was important and I thought it was a good exercise to let that bill go through the process.”
