"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power ..." -- 2 Timothy 3:1–5
PureWord is designed with the noble aim of restoring civility to the internet. While it comes with a predefined list of words, you, the user, can freely customise it.
The tool is not intended for broader purposes, such as politically sensitive language, as mentioned in your example. That may be a concept for a future tool or an expansion pack.
It does not alter the meaning of a sentence; it merely makes it more civil. Users can still hover over the replaced word to view the original.
It is like watching a movie with the bad words bleeped out... you would still know what was said but even if you did not, the meaning of the scene is not lost.
If PureWord in allows the user to replace “shit” by mapping it to “poop” then it allows that same user to map “poop” to “shit”, and by extension “black” to “[not going to write this word]” or “trans|gay|lesbian|jew|palestinian” to “[not going to write those either]”.
Sure, I can see convincing oneself that there’s nobility in empowering people to pretend “bad” words don’t exist on the internet, but it seems you’re still empowering people to pretend arbitrary “good” words they don’t like don’t exist either, by replacing them with arbitrary “good” words they do like.
Sure, they’ll still be able to mouse over to discover they’re just pretending their personal version of civility has been roughly plastered over their personal version of incivility, I’m just not sure there’s an overall social benefit to that.
Those who need it will recognise its value. It appears that many today have abandoned personal restraint, mistaking obscenity for trend or entitlement.
Even traditionally professional spaces, such as news outlets and heads of state, now use language unfit for civil discourse. This tool enables continued internet use without compromising the quality of the experience.
Only the weak would agree with a statement like "perhaps the internet is not for you".
I'm not of that breed. I intend to stamp my brand on the internet, just like those who use such language, even if I end up being the only PureWord user.
"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power ..." -- 2 Timothy 3:1–5