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

5 points by timbowhite ↗ HN
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?

2 comments

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zephjc
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
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".