Our Puritanical (Backward) Culture

I know it's been said before but since another thread got me thinking about it I couldn't help but share my thoughts on this...

We live in a country where shootings, stabbings and all out gore are shown regularly on television. Yet the sight of a bare breast or butt results in public outrage and huge fines.

Right, because a naked body is evil but murdering someone is somehow natural and normal? It should be the reverse! Especially if the programming is later in the evening and or on certain channels (not just premium cable either IMO).

If anything, our puritanical quest to stop nudity makes people want to see it even more. Sort of like binge drinking here vs in European countries where families have a glass of wine with dinner and most kids grow up to think "big deal, so I can drink".

Not to mention the fact that the insanely suggestive (and ubiquitous) sexuality on tv is actually worse than less gratuitous and normal nudity (i.e. someone takes a shower and a butt cheek is shown for 5 seconds).

PS---I'll never forget my friend who said he watched the old Patrick Swayze movie RoadHouse while in Canada several years ago. He was shocked to find much of the violence censored out while the nudity was kept in. I couldn't help but laugh (as I'm sure many Europeans do on a regular basis)!

or that seems to be the reason now, anyway.

I've often marveled at this too, how the human body is a horrible thing, but being violent or offensive (like Ann Coulter) is encouraged.

53% in this country don't believe in evolution. 53%!

So we are not nearly as educated as our forefathers were 2 generations ago.

don't depress me, please.

:D

I like the Bill Hicks line: “You ever noticed how people who believe in Creationism look really unevolved? You ever noticed that? Eyes real close together, eyebrow ridges, big furry hands and feet. "I believe God created me in one day" Yeah, looks like He rushed it.”

We have something against natural desires in America. However cruelty is okay.

when we suppress those natural desires they often manifest themselves in completely unnatural (and harmful) ways.

especially among the fundies. Remember Ashcroft's "covergate" at the DOJ, where he ordered $8,000 drapes to cover the nude statues there, because he was tired of having to be photographed in front of them?...:nopity:



One thing I do want to ask the fundies who may be lurking though. If God made us in his own image, how come he's ashamed of our bodies and doesn't want them to be shown?..:shrug:

I had totally forgotten about that.

Apparently the people with the strongest urges feel the need to pass laws to limit anything they believe might tempt them to act on those urges.

I don't think we're puritanical at all. From what I've read on DU, the American porn industry rakes in more net profits than Hollywood.

Seems like sex isn't as underground as we'd sometimes like to profess it to be-- it's not rare to see a seven year old girl wearing sweats with the words "Sex Kitten" embroidered across her butt, a car commercial showing more T&A than car, or the local gym espousing that 'you too can look like this bikini-clad model with big boobs...".

Sex sells-- Madison Avenue knows that and has capitalized on it for longer than I've been alive. Pop stars pull in crowds not because of their heavenly gifts of song, but because they're hot! And I seriously doubt that Victoria's Secret has stayed in business simply because they make quality night wear.

So no, I don't think we're puritanical at all-- we're simply a bit more subtle in selling sex as a commodity.

And as long as violence sells just as well as Sex does (don't many of the most popular console games deal with killing prostitutes, drug dealers and pedestrians...? Isn't there a visceral satisfaction many of us enjoy by coming home and blowing off steam by blowing up a pre-defined bad guy?), it too will remain.

Actually, the only difference I can see is that one is packaged very obvious, while the other is packaged very insidious.

as in any puritanical society we have the madonna/whore complex. Women are either made to feel ashamed of their bodies, or they're whores purveying it. We accept nothing in the middle.

Obviously what we display outwardly and what are inwardly aren't always the same.

We're so hyper-sexualized and violent that I think it's hilarious that they still blur things out. I've seen tv movies where someone's head explodes but 5 minutes later a raised middle finger is blurred.

Or playboy photo shoot type stuff where a nipple is blurred out. Ok, so let's say a young kid stumbles onto this somehow when mom/dad/babysitter/whoever leaves the room or takes a nap. What exactly is the negative impact he/she has by seeing a normal breast vs blurry breast? If anything, the little kid might grow up with a warped idea based on these blurry alien breasts! (ok, so I'm half joking, but only half)

of speech and the press; he put the conundrum into words with the masterful description that follows:

Murder is illegal, but if you take a picture of a murder being committed, you could earn some money for it and maybe even win the Pulitzer Prize. Sex is legal, but if you take a picture of it and try to earn money with it, you can be arrested for "obscenity".

Or the perennial axiom on sex and violence in the movies: "Show a man cutting off a woman's breast, and the movie gets an "R" rating; show a man kissing a woman's breast, and the movie gets an "X".

Crazy mix-up priorities in this country. :eyes: