Ask HN: Why is depicted violence more acceptable than porn in America?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2725404

by timbowhite • 15 years ago

5 2 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

For instance, why are murderous video games more morally acceptable than videos of people procreating?

Is it Judeo-Christian ethics? The result of American foreign policy? Or is porn worse for children than Call of Duty?

And what's it like in other countries?

zephjc• 15 years ago

You can boil it down to religious extremism: Puritans (the New World's original religious extremists) propagated their values well. Puritan values (which are ultimately Judeo-Christian) stuck longer in North America.

The Judeo-Christian tradition of heavy authoritarian social traditions (top-down, male oriented, "might makes right" mindset) mutated into what is basically a modern jingoist mentality.

Eventually, you arrive with what we see today: a culture which values strength and fierceness, and reflects this in its movies and tv, while simultaneously holding onto an antiquated fear of/confusion about human sexuality.

timbowhite• 15 years ago

It's interesting that US grade school focuses on the Puritans/Pilgrims being persecuted for not being Catholic. I didn't realize they were religious fundamentalists to this extent (from wikipedia):

"They preached the belief that bicycles should be used for utilitarian purposes only and any pleasure derived from cycling was a sin".

Ask HN: Why is depicted violence more acceptable than porn in America?

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