The author seems to equate facebook, google, twitter, etc with "the internet". I agree, those are some major heavy hitting players on the network, but it seems the author wants the internet of yore, where it was the wild wild west. That internet still exists, you just can not get there from facebook, google, twitter. So why do we continue to use those services?
Sex censorship killed the internet we love
311–320 of 520 posts
Re: Sex censorship killed the internet we love
#312Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the Americanization of the world. If most of one's movies, songs, tv shows, social media control, search engine biases, etc, come from a single country, with its cultural stickups, that's what you get.
There is almost too much ridiculousness in these two sentences to unpack. From the notion that American hegemony suddenly began post-9/11, rather than 70 years ago. To the assertion that Google is deliberately biased toward violence over sex. The " America == bad, anything I don't like about my country == also America " mindset is a disingenuous rejection of agency. There are a lot of things going on the world today.…
> There is almost too much ridiculousness in these two sentences to unpack. From the notion that American hegemony suddenly began post-9/11, rather than 70 years ago.
That's when online streaming started picking up steam. I think the OP is spot on that American culture influence would shift social mores, because mostly youth consume this content and then 10-20 years later, they're adults directing policy.
Edit: fixed typo.
Re: Sex censorship killed the internet we love
#313Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the Americanization of the world. If most of one's movies, songs, tv shows, social media control, search engine biases, etc, come from a single country, with its cultural stickups, that's what you get.
> cultural stickups *cultural hangups, but I understood you.
He actually meant that people are literally being robbed of their culture at gunpoint, due to hostile American influence. That's what government-enforced censorship is, after all.
Re: Sex censorship killed the internet we love
#314I find the US prudishness thing so fascinating. I'm travelling at the moment, and meeting lots of Americans (and Europeans for contrast). There's definitely a huge difference in tolerance for swearing and blasphemy. Also several well-educated and seemingly intelligent Americans who hold strong racist opinions. But that's another subject. I guess it all comes down to the religion. Americans do seem to be more religiou…
> several well-educated and seemingly intelligent Americans who hold strong racist opinions
At the risk of opening that particular can of worms; I'm curious to know if you can provide more details on this? As an American I suspect I am perhaps too close to the problem and unable to see it but most of the well-educated, intelligent people I know harbor little to no racial opinions.
Re: Sex censorship killed the internet we love
#315Earlier quoted context omitted.
Poor quality food never was illegal in France. For a time, fast food joints avoided France because they thought there would be no market. There were wrong, and they are everywhere now. It doesn't mean the value of good food has cheapened. If anything, now that there is a point of comparison, the opposite is true. Good restaurants, from Michelin 3-star to inexpensive "plat du jour" lunches, are still there. So are lon…
There’s even a McDonald’s on the Champs-Élysées now.
I think there's a distinction between "poor quality" and "bad idea".
Re: Sex censorship killed the internet we love
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
> my perception is that the vast majority of sex workers are not doing it because of free choice, but rather because of exploitation and pressure. Your perception would be wrong. The vast majority of sex workers are doing it for the money, same as any job. > The illegality of prostitution Prostitution is not illegal in many parts of the world, and even decriminalised is some parts. > I hear of no stories where people…
What proportion of people do their day jobs because of exploitation and pressure? There's possibly a lower proportion on HN than elsewhere, but suggesting that most of the population works voluntarily, and not to avoid starvation and homelessness, is going to be a bit of a stretch. Sex work just makes the dynamic more obvious. There will be some who do it because it's a talent and a calling, but the majority do it be…
> Sex work just makes the dynamic more obvious.
I don't see how it's any more obvious. Our culture is replete with examples of people complaining about their jobs, their bosses, their stress, TGIF, hump Wednesday, hate Mondays, etc. There are far more of these than examples of exploitation in prostitution.
If all work is exploitation and pressure, then sex work is still just like any other job.
Re: Sex censorship killed the internet we love
#317I find the US prudishness thing so fascinating. I'm travelling at the moment, and meeting lots of Americans (and Europeans for contrast). There's definitely a huge difference in tolerance for swearing and blasphemy. Also several well-educated and seemingly intelligent Americans who hold strong racist opinions. But that's another subject. I guess it all comes down to the religion. Americans do seem to be more religiou…
Enjoying sex isn’t a sin. Sex is supposed to be held in the highest regard. It’s a wonderful and joyous thing. The point is, I believe, to avoid cheapening it, making it less than the truly awesome thing it is. It’s supposed to be a priceless gift shared with your true love. Packaging it and selling it makes it less valuable. I believe that if you approach the subject with that mindset, a lot of the decisions that so…
Well, while not a sin, it also isn't a panacea.
We get it, you like sex, you think it's great. Lots of people who agree with that also think that having quite so much of it everywhere cheapens it and gives it outsize control of people's desires.
Re: Sex censorship killed the internet we love
#318I find the US prudishness thing so fascinating. I'm travelling at the moment, and meeting lots of Americans (and Europeans for contrast). There's definitely a huge difference in tolerance for swearing and blasphemy. Also several well-educated and seemingly intelligent Americans who hold strong racist opinions. But that's another subject. I guess it all comes down to the religion. Americans do seem to be more religiou…
> I guess it all comes down to the religion. Americans do seem to be more religious, specifically more Christian, and the Christian Church has always taught that sex should only be for procreation. Yes, but that religious attitude also goes through the whole culture, so the puritanical / prudish attitude ends up in the minds of atheists and the public in general, even if they haven't stepped into a church in their li…
> CD "parental advisory" and moral panics of the right
not so germaine, esp. given that your overall sentence was balanced, but 'parental advisory' can most clearly be traced to tipper gore, al gore's wife, and so, if one believes the 'left right' dichotomy valid for US politics, 'from the left'..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipper_Gore#Parents_Music_Reso...
Re: Sex censorship killed the internet we love
#319I find the US prudishness thing so fascinating. I'm travelling at the moment, and meeting lots of Americans (and Europeans for contrast). There's definitely a huge difference in tolerance for swearing and blasphemy. Also several well-educated and seemingly intelligent Americans who hold strong racist opinions. But that's another subject. I guess it all comes down to the religion. Americans do seem to be more religiou…
>Also several well-educated and seemingly intelligent Americans who hold strong racist opinions. But that's another subject.
Bring up Muslims or Roma people to a European and you'll find this isn't a uniquely American problem.
Re: Sex censorship killed the internet we love
#320I find the US prudishness thing so fascinating. I'm travelling at the moment, and meeting lots of Americans (and Europeans for contrast). There's definitely a huge difference in tolerance for swearing and blasphemy. Also several well-educated and seemingly intelligent Americans who hold strong racist opinions. But that's another subject. I guess it all comes down to the religion. Americans do seem to be more religiou…
Enjoying sex isn’t a sin. Sex is supposed to be held in the highest regard. It’s a wonderful and joyous thing. The point is, I believe, to avoid cheapening it, making it less than the truly awesome thing it is. It’s supposed to be a priceless gift shared with your true love. Packaging it and selling it makes it less valuable. I believe that if you approach the subject with that mindset, a lot of the decisions that so…
That's really not what it looks like from the inside of conservative religious communities in the United States, which are probably the single biggest driving force behind prudishness.
Yes, they'll agree that it's "a gift shared with your true love" and want to avoid its devaluation, but even more than that there's a very strong culture of shame around sexual desure.