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Comment by nautilius | Hacker News Reader

Imagine observing American media, from nipplegate, to nipple-censoring, to Carlin's seven words, to censored and sanitized song lyrics in the radio and in the store, to warning labels about 'explicit lyrics', to hyperclean and sanitized Hollowood movie productions, to covered and hidden magazine covers - and still thinking the Americans, as a general default, are not puritanical. Thank you for that.

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Imagine painting with a broad brush an entire nation’s worth of people, one with literally several or many times more people than name a European country.

We’re a country of many peoples with many values and that’s one of the reasons we fight so much. Pretty much everything you listed is a norm which evolved from a strict—and yes, sometimes puritanical view—to accommodations for different people from the heart of the Tennessee River Valley to the beaches of California.

We’re not all still partying like we’re fresh off the boat and it’s 1620. As clean as a Hollywood production might look to you, the people that made that movie were probably all living rather diverse lifestyles, many of whom might make a Roman at their peak blush. The Puritanism is still there, but so is a lot more than that.

> one with literally several or many times more people than name a European country.

I didn't know non-puritanism scales with size! TIL!

> Pretty much everything you listed is a norm

Yes, that's exactly what I wrote. Seems you agree after all!

So, if I am just cherrypicking, where is the majority of states with uncensored radio and music? Where do you see nipples on magazines in supermarkets? Where can you say "shit", "piss", "fuck", "cunt", "cocksucker", "motherfucker", and "tits" on TV and in movies without repercussion? In which states can you bathe nude or even just topless? Or just even change on the beach? Where can I consume alcohol in public as a norm, without brown bag? Where can I simply drink in a car, as long as I am not driving, or, as a driver, not exceeding the legal alcohol limit?

> many of whom might make a Roman at their peak blush.

Man, that made me laugh out loud.

To add onto this point, many states are larger than countries in Europe. Each state is in itself a country in all but name, given the difference in values, traditions and culture. You can travel all across the US and it's exactly like travelling across Europe given the diversity.

Uh, I'm an American who's been all over the country and my biggest complaint about travel in the US is that damn near the only diversity is the physical landscape and which regional fast food chains you see. We're extremely homogenous, with maybe a half-dozen somewhat-different (but not that different) regions. The rural/urban divide is by far our biggest one, not state-by-state or regional. Those differences are so tiny that rural/urban overwhelms them everywhere.

You can drive 500 miles in this country and feel like you haven't moved an inch.

I come from a small, conservative town, so about as American as you can get, and I just flat out don't believe you. Homogeneity in the US is a myth - simply crossing a state border can find you in a whole new world of laws, customs and traditions. I talk to friends who have travelled all over the world, and when they mention to me their experiences with new cultures, I simply shake my head and say "But I can get that same experience here."

While the states have much more diversity than many Europeans I've met assume (especially things like regional cuisine, or local laws) nevertheless Europe does have more diversity. American as just more similar on average than Europeans from different countries.

> You can travel all across the US and it's exactly like travelling across Europe given the diversity.

Yeah, no further questions. Have you ever left the US?

You cannot put graphic sex in, but you can put in graphic violence.

Priorities

The things that get me are blurred bums, logos, and paintings on the wall.

America is extremely polarised. On the one hand it's blurring bottoms and censoring words of drugs in songs and the other it produces the most hard core porn and gun violence...

One might be because of the other.

I once read an article that wrote about different cultures typical curse words. It explained that the principle of cursing is to break a taboo. If you know how a culture curses, you know what's holy to them.

* In North America, cursing often revolves around sexuality. * In slavic countries, cursing involves the mother. * In middle eastern countries, it involves the father. (Not sure if I remember that one correctly, though.)

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