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Comment by mgleason_3 | Hacker News Reader

But, thats exactly the point. Americans are so bought into the idea that "explicit" images are bad that they can't see another viewpoint. Its become "natural". And, as the author pointed out, Americans are so blind to it that you don't even see the problem with censoring nipples but not beheadings.

You literally cant see that noone should be injured by seeing a womans breast, but seeing a beheaded body could.

Its interesting to see this story come out so soon after the LA times story about libel and the fight against court ordered take-down of posts critical of companies (think Yelp, etc.).

Maybe the point is that censorship shouldn't be allowed?

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A few things. I'm not American (I'm from India) and I think that fact, plus your point about Yelp, gets to the flipside: that American social media giants' standards are actually more relaxed than the media of many countries, especially non-European countries, when it comes to sexuality, political speech, defamation, etc.

As far as beheadings, I'm not sure but I'd assume Facebook is not trying to be a 'gore' destination either. It's the same problem, whether it comes to limits on sex or violence, if you allow any type of media you create havens for that type of content and then it changes the contours of your product. It's all subjective of course, and different companies set different limits--Apple's app store is well known to be more restrictive than Google play, Facebook more restrictive than Twitter, etc.

Americans? How about the British, Mexico, Singapore, China, Japan, Korea, every country in the Middle East except Israel?

Then you have a German freak out over even talking about Nazis.

Almost every country has some hang up or another. Suggesting that 'Americans' have a fear of nipples is short sighted. Every culture has something that causes a collective freakout.

The difference (that mgleason_3 was saying) is that Americans cannot see that other's have different viewpoints. Other countries are able to see that others have different viewpoints and can justify their own decisions in comparison with others.

It's why, for example, they are often puzzled when abroad and note that "some people don't like us Americans" and cannot find out why.

I have noticed this particular way of looking at the world with many Americans when working in global collaborative tech projects - it's a kind of imperialism - a built in sense that their way of looking at the world is the only way. It seems to be a common thing, and not everywhere. It also has the characteristic that those with that mindset are unaware about it.

There are many exceptions of course, and the most successful people are able to work with people from other cultures. But I believe this is what the article and mgleason_3 is trying to say.

If you'd like another metaphor to explain the theory: Privilege. Americans have a privilege as the "top" culture which makes them blind to others below them.

Part of it is that the bulk of Americans don't travel outside the country. Many don't travel outside their own state.

Americans tend to live near other like-minded people and are afraid of those with other views - both in our own country and outside.

Facebook pushes this filter bubble which we gobble up. It's not an accident, and it has a scientific basis. It's also better for advertisers.

Regarding sex and violence and censorship - I agree it's a little odd. The only thing I can think of is that there are more laws and regulations regarding sexual photos than violent photos. Also, our media also has a history of pushing violent stories. If it bleeds it leads.

So I'm an American but to be fair I'd like to think I'm one of your acceptions. Personally I agree with you, the female body as a whole is overly sexualized and part of that is making nipples taboo, but Facebook isn't restricting your ability to show your friends pictures of your nipples, or going to a nude beach. To me, their privacy policy is an expression of their own opinion/ideals (or more likely the opinion advertising firms have decided will make them the most money). And while both I have the right to think nipples are nbd and they have the right to say nipples aren't a big deal, I think telling Facebook they must have pictures of nipples on their servers infringes on Facebooks right to freak out about nipples just as Facebook preventing you from making a nipple collage and showing it to all your friends would restict your rights to think nipples are no big deal. It's all good to say anybody should have the right to express whatever they want, but part of that right is to not express things you don't want to.

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