The article, and the OP, aren't saying throw in all the swear words you can find into what you say. Yours were just deragatory and purposefully put there as some out of context hyperbole.
Nice try but you didn't provide a very good argument.
The point here is that people have opinions on this. Which is great. OPINIONS are great people. The simple fact that you're discussing this is because you have an opinion on it.
When someone goes out of their way to provide emotion in a speech that should reflect that the person cares a lot about what they're talking about. He uses swearing because he has an opinion and strong opinions that he feels necessitate using strong words.
That's the same emotion and strong opinions that people like you have towards this particular topic of swearing in a talk.
It isn't any different. He chooses to communicate how he does because it shows emotion. Why does everything tech related have to be so dry? Many people love their Apple products (just an example) because they relate to it in a way. They have strong opinions and strong emotions about them.
This is no different.
Give me a break.
If he wasn't effective as a communicator he wouldn't be doing talks in front of large numbers of people would he? Clearly he's doing something right.
The point I guess that I'm trying to make is that we shouldn't be so strung up on one or two words that show up in a presentation. The overall picture is what matters the most. If he's doing that well then who are we to argue with what he does?
Everyone presents their ideas differently. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates… Meg whatever from HP…
Some are great, some are terrible, a lot are inbetween. But I'm in the camp of people that just simply don't care so long as the message is clear. If I'm learning something, I don't care if someone swears. It just doesn't bother me. Maybe that's a problem, but there are at least two sides to this.
People that care about the swearing and those that don't. I'm sure there are others who just don't give a damn either, just like me.
If what he is doing is so wrong and terrible, then he won't be speaking anywhere again right? The concensus would be "he isn't effective at communicating and uses bad language that offends our audience. We can't have him."
At which point, he'd be forced to change, or not speak.
You're welcome to an opinion, same as I do. But you can't bend over for every single person out there. If we had to worry about people's feelings all the time the world would be dull and dry.
I would agree there are limitations to what someone should do or say in a presentation though. I don't think the f-bomb once or twice is a problem though. If he was dropping it left and right, that's another story altogether.
As you allude to, it is easy to offend people unintentionally, often without realizing it. In certain parts of the Middle East, crossing your legs in such a way that the bottom of your shoe or foot is exposed is highly offensive, but most Americans wouldn’t even notice. The movie "The Last Airbender" had some issues in Britain because "bender" has a slang meaning there that has nothing to do with either elemental control or reshaping objects.
You cannot worry about the possibility of offending anyone if you want to make any kind of point at all. Rather, you take your audience into account. If I am addressing a group of Infantrymen, swearing might be quite appropriate and might both help me connect better with my audience and emphasize the part I really want them to get. If I am addressing a group of Church Elders, then swearing is probably distracting at best.
Sure, if you're holidaying in Saudi Arabia, you shouldn't walk around badmouthing Mohammed. But for the most part you can be certain that a small percentage of your actions will offend a small percentage of the people you meet. Such is life.
Fun fact: here in the UK, the word "git" is mildly offensive (I mentioned GitHub amongst family and got a bit of an incredulous look). The company the guy works at is an offensive word.
Git is not a harsh word, it's used more playfully than anything IME.
This is a lesson that i keep learning over and over again in life through my various amateur creative endeavors (music, writing, art etc)...just because you feel an emotion when you're creating something, doesn't mean that that emotion is somehow magically conveyed. This is cringingly obvious whenever i read old writing or listen to old music...i remember the emotions i felt at the time but, often, none of it comes across with fresh eyes.
If you want to convey an emotion, you'll have to figure out a method to creatively help people adopt a frame of mind, which then allows them to be receptive to your subsequent message. Cursing out of the blue isn't enough to do that. It's jarring and cringey, and you (or him) will look back on it in 5 years and realise that.
It doesn't/shouldn't take away from the main content of a presentation though.
Anyway, since helloworld1 is a newly registered account, and is acting like a dick, and I thought it might be worthwhile to say that I'm not helloworld1.