Ultraconservative Protestants were kicked out of England centuries ago hundreds of years before the founding of the United States and have been flavoring the environment here ever since.
It seems ultimately the net result is that England is mostly atheist with little church attendance and the United States is one of the most churched societies in the West with many of those churches being fundamentalist Christian ones a large minority of the total.
The fundamentalist Christian ones as well as the Catholic ones regard all nudity as immoral and to be avoided.
That is one reason why all nudity is banned in the media in America except pornographic nudity which is heavily regulated and is only available on a paid basis porno magazines premium porno cable TV channels and porn movies at theaters that only show porn movies or video rentals from porno shops.
The only reference point most Americans have is porn.
So even people like Mark Zuckerberg founder of Facebook get it dead wrong.
Hi I am a person born in Canada of German parents live in the states have been to Germany several times and am fluent in the language.
I think Germany has a much more natural and humane environment.
But America and to some extent Canada are the way they are.
The mentality is so deeply ingrained here among the majority of the population that I do not think it is ever going to change.
But Hollywood has to find some way to titillate for ratings so it uses violence instead. The religious conservatives have railed against that for decades as well have forced it out of TV but not entirely out of movies. And it also shows up in the news.
So violence has become very acceptable or at least tolerated but nudity is regarded as a cardinal sin.
Decades ago when violence was more prevalent even on TV and I was visiting in Germany people there actually asked me why there was so much violence in the media in "the land of the free" but no nudity was allowed. They said to me that they thought it should be the other way around would be a lot healthier like it is in Europe. I thought so to and still think so. They were very confused and wondered how America could be so screwed up. I did not have a good answer for them other than the above. They said they were glad they lived in Germany instead of "the land of the free".
But then fundamentalist Christian religion does not exist in continental Europe the way it did in England and now does in America and to some extent Canada.
Even American news anchors have said in recent years that nudity violates American sensibilities (of the majority of the population). Since the news anchors are dependent on ratings (TV news in America has commercials) they cant risk it.
Intimations of nudity on broadcast TV and in print media are allowed. Not actual nudity. In other words egging people on.
In other words the worst possible combination.
And people have no active clue as to the effects.
But I am convinced it is why we have so many rapists here convicted or otherwise.
If I could live in Germany I would but there are reasons I am not doing so. That is a separate discussion.
To say the environment in America Canada England is different from continental Europe is putting it mildly.
Yes and that is why I am convinced that progress in Canada will not be real fast, either.
Sadly the UK is between the USA and Europe in attitudes and the “special relationship” keeps us that way. The echoes of fundamentalist religion still exist here, we still have 24 bishops in the House of Lords. I doubt very much if the USA will stay the same, it is just that the change will be slower than we would like. They may well change as a result of other moves towards human rights. I doubt anyone in the 1950s here or in the USA would have predicted the change in attitudes and law related to gay people, their success has been amazing. I am an optimist, you never know. It is up to all of us, end the secrecy over nudity, come out and celebrate!
I think you are completely right.
And yes the issue is time.
And I think it will be necessary to get people to realize that nudity (non pornographic) is good.
Part of that will be to overcome and even end the secrecy over nudity.
Will have to see how long it takes to get there.
I know I intend to do my part once I am in a position to do so.
We can make a start, right here.
Yes we can but it will take time.
As I already noted even I myself am in no position to do anthing for now.
I am not going to spend time going into the details of that in part because I already have a change in circumstances developing
but that change will probably take at least several more months to run its course and I won't be able to do anything at least until it is done and possibly for a while longer.
It will probably take less time in Canada
and I may be able to help out there I am a citizen and know Canada well.
And yes the fundamentalists have more power than the population numbers warrant.
But as I noted above Americans are complacent. I do not think most of them will scream until and unless they are directly affected by the fundamentalists.
Canada is different.
I think you are right
As you say
"At some point, the majority will demand that their centrist, tolerant vision of life becomes the Canadian way. Harper and fundamentalist religion have gone too far as far as most Canadians are concerned – where is the love that these fundamentalists chant while bashing everyone and everything that is different from their narrow version of the world?"
I think that is particularly true of Canadians in the east, where most of them live. Harper is from the west. But it is true of many Canadians in the west, as well.
Unfortunately for America, there are plenty of American fundamentalists in the American east, as well.
I really wonder if that will happen.
Or if it simply will happen too late.
Americans are extremely complacent.
See my comment above. And yes it is driven by money.
My fear is that by the time middle America wakes up to what is going on it will be too late. I am watching it.
I am aware that the news is heavily controlled in America. Especially TV news. That is why I get my news from other sources. But I also did not mean to imply that conservative values are the only American values. But they are the only values that the conservatives relate to and that is why I put it in quotes.
Canada tends to be the anti U.S.
Canada was created in 1867 in direct response to the victory of the American north in the Civil War. As far as I have been able to determine the people in what became Canada feared they would be next. So they formalized as a country in an effort to minimize the chances. They have continued to at least kind of go their own way ever since. In other words Canada came about in fear of the U.S.
and the U.S. now has 10 times more population than Canada.
So it is very unlikely that Canada will have much influence on the U.S. in the future.
The U.S. does not like to be dictated to and Canada is based on being an anti U.S. in the sense of having formed to try to ensure that the people there would not become part of the U.S.
I have had reason to look into this because I am a citizen of both countries. I have two passports. I was born in Canada but came to the states as a child. We still have relatives in Vancouver BC which is why I was there. But we were actually living in Regina SK where they were sending the immigrants by the time my parents arrived in Canada, they arrived separately by the way, they met in Regina. They were both planning to go back to Germany eventually but did not make it, ended up in the states instead. I was born in Regina.
I hear what you are saying. btw. You know you can "nest" replies?
Not that you have to, just that you can 🙂
No I did not notice that I could nest replies. Did it now. I have been very busy with other things most of the day including on the internet. Not all forums allow for nesting and I did not see the very small faded blue (on light blue background) choices for reply and report (don't think I will ever use that one!) until you pointed it out. I saw the like and dislike but they stand out more away from the other text and I have noticed that some people have liked some of my comments.
Yes the American right wing has some very interesting points of view. I get the impression they are so self absorbed in their own society and American "values" that what makes sense elsewhere just does not register with them.
I am also saddened that the US has had so much influence with its warped values and disappointed Europe has not had more influence. I have been saddened by it for a long time.
It is indeed what it is.
That is one reason why I try to live my life outside of the American mainstream.
I find it interesting that the right wing answer to gun violence in schools is to put even more guns in schools. Sadly this can only lead to more incidents like that a few months ago where a father accidentally shot his son dead in the driveway mistaking him for a prowler in a prank gone wrong.
I'm saddened the US has had so much influence with its warped values, and disappointed Europe has not had more influence.
I guess it is what it is. Eventually people will get disillusioned with it, and change will come.
Yes the American right wing has some very interesting points of view. I get the impression they are so self absorbed in their own society and American "values" that what makes sense elsewhere just does not register with them.
I am also saddened that the US has had so much influence with its warped values and disappointed Europe has not had more influence. I have been saddened by it for a long time.
It is indeed what it is.
That is one reason why I try to live my life outside of the American mainstream.
That's the right way.
I mean, it's ok to be uncomfortable about something, but there's no need to ban it or punish it, just because you have an internal response to it. It would be nice if Canada had a greater influence on the US.
And pigs might fly, but we have to do what we can.
Something that I've found interesting is how few people seem to question the status quo and just blindly follow the flock.
You notice this most when you see exceptions. Those handful of people, that have chosen not to be taken in by it all. Perhaps like yourself. Occasionally their choice becomes mainstream. Organic produce could be one example; though now commercialised to a point of stupor.
If you stand back for a moment and ask yourself why, perhaps you only need look at mainstream media. Consider the "news" for a moment. Is it really news? Does it report things in your local community that directly affects you?
Look carefully. Is it news, or "1984" like propaganda? Open your eyes, clear your mind. What has been accomplished in Afghanistan that wasn't accomplished in Viet Nam? How much different is Afghan life now compared to 20 years ago after the Russians gave up on their 10 year campaign?
It's almost like we live in a world of zombies. They don't eat brains. They mindlessly consume.
I'll leave it at that as I could keep going on, but it bugs me.
For all that we could go around naked, would the zombie mass actually understand why?
I completely agree with you. And I am one of the exceptions.
I became that way because of trips to Germany where I saw a completely different and also much more eco aware lifestyle because there are so many people living so close together there.
It is also where I picked up on nudism and eventually became a nudist myself when I realized why they were doing it. I realized it was a much more positive thing than I had thought or even imagined.
And the news is an issue too.
I watched the news in Germany (I am fluent in the language understood everything). It was real news.
Then I came back to America and watched the "news" here again. Nonsense and junk that has the label "news" on the screen. It is what is fed to the Americans as news. No wonder the Americans don't have a clue. I no longer watch it just can't stand it anymore.
I hope change can be effected. But I fear it will be a long road. I will try to do my part given my background and knowledge and experiences. But for now I can't do much I am kind of trapped at a personal level. But an opportunity is developing in my life which I can't talk about more for now that will probably greatly increase my freedom soon and that is why I was willing to sign up for this website already.
Guns for "freedom". They lead to this:- http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/may/03/five-year-old-shoots-toddler-sister-rifle-video. Edit:- I tried nesting this under Shane's post, it slipped.
I think the 'right to bear arms" is the single most misinterpreted "right" in America today. Most Americans have just heard it as "a right to bear arms".
The Amendment actually reads
"A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
I would hardly call today's right to bear arms, as it is actually enforced, well regulated.
A feature of the English language is that only all proper nouns are capitalized. That means the Founding Fathers meant something formal in terms of a Militia.
Something along the lines of what the Swiss have for an army.
And I found it interesting that during the recent gun debate, the lobby of the NRA was shown in the report I saw.
There the NRA had prominently on the wall their version of the Amendment
"…the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed"
notice they left out the first part of the Amendment.
I think this is intentional.
They do not want people to think in terms of a formal Militia because that would reduce the power of the NRA.
In fairness to Rainer, he did say "and to some extent Canada…"
Canada is more liberal but also has fundamentalist Christians.
For example I was in Canada and saw coverage of the naked bike ride in Vancouver on the local news. In America they would have electronically fogged out all the "naughty bits" including breasts if they had covered the bike ride at all. Or they would have done very strategic camera angles. In Canada they did not fog anything out and the men's parts were visible from a distance and the breasts and nipples were visible even in closer shots. The news anchors were visibly uncomfortable with it but there was no active attempt to hide anything.
This is why we end up with mainstream and highly influential social media (like Facebook), permitting videos of women being beheaded(!) but banning simple nudity. A ridiculous state of affairs.