Profanity Is Not Unintellectual

There is an arbitrary societal perception that using profanity in an explanation of an important issue somehow lessens the quality or soundness of the explanation.  Not only is profanity regarded by many as a lesser form of communication in such circumstances, but it is even often seen as something that reflects poorly on the intellect of the communicator.  Profanity is not unintellectual despite it often not being perceived as acceptable within intellectual communication.

Something is intellectual if it pertains to the exercise of the intellect.  Though the intellect's grasp of the laws of logic (logic and the intellect are by no means synonymous) is necessary in order for someone to have even immediate, understandable experiences, the word intellectual is typically reserved for references to more rigorous uses of the intellect, such as syllogistic reasoning.  As several moments of reflection can demonstrate, there is nothing about engaging in thoroughly intellectual activities that excludes the use of profanity, whether the profanity appears in writing or in verbal speech.

The reason why many people consider profanity to be "unintellectual" is the same reason why some people perceive profanity to be immoral or distasteful in the first place: social conditioning.  Ultimately, there is no reason to consider profanity out of place in an otherwise "normal" essay or speech.  It does nothing to inherently detract from the structure, intelligibility, or impact of a given message.  When someone is socialized to equate the use of whatever arbitrary words a culture deems "profane" with a lesser intellectual capacity, they are ironically the one who is demonstrating intellectual deficiencies.

Profanity is not unintellectual because an absence of profanity is not intellectual.  A highly intellectual essay or speech could use profanity, and a very unsophisticated essay or speech might not feature any profanity at all.  Using profanity is not an indicator that a person possesses either low or high intelligence, nor is not using profanity an indicator of a person's intelligence.  This being the case, it is impossible for profanity to hinder intellectual communication just by its mere presence, as if all it takes to render something unintellectual is the use of an expletive.

Logic, people.  It is very fucking helpful.