Why Is America Still So Often Puritanical ?

[Homo Aestheticus]

Precisely what i'm saying. Give them an inch and the first thing you know they'll be discussing how to best express their inner slut, that is, when they are not offing their own unborn children for being such a nuisance (how dare the baby get in the way of her career!).

With all due respect, this is simply a reflection of your own beliefs about women and sex.

I think you are projecting your guilt and self-loathing (?) onto them.

[greg]

This thread is so funny and typical, especially the first 3 posts. You can see them coming from miles and miles away...

[Cato]

Nussbaum!  Ach, Nussbaum!

[Cato]

Actually, this might be more appropriate on all sorts of levels!   

[greg]

Again, I wish I knew more German...

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Actually, this might be more appropriate on all sorts of levels!   

Funny, that looks like the same plot line from Mahler's "Lob des hohen Verstandes" (probably my favorite Wunderhorn song) 

[Homo Aestheticus]

Cato,

Nussbaum is one of the smartest humans on the planet......(and I don't throw that around lightly)

[Anne]

It's not hatred for women, it's knowing how to put them in their place.

Where is their place?

[karlhenning]

It's neither mistaken nor ideological.

[N.] put it beautifully in one line:

[ quote which supposedly answers the point ]

Thanks for the laugh, Eric!  This brief post has it all:  your doe-in-the-headlights elision of the res, and your Johnny-one-note "see who [I imagine] agrees with me!"

In these trying economic times, when wait-staff are supposedly oppressed sex-slaves ground under the heels of corpulent diners-out, one is grateful for all the laughs which may come along.

[Cato]

Cato,

Nussbaum is one of the smartest humans on the planet......(and I don't throw that around lightly)

Which planet might you be throwing around?   

And be careful Nussbaum doesn't fall off!   0:)

[jwinter]

Josquin wouldn't know as he's never had to deal with an actual female of the species in his life.

Nor shall he, if he actually believes drivel like he posted above.

I don't think that the actual answer to the thread's title, "why is America still so often puritanical?" is really so hard to fathom.  Many of the earliest European immigrants to North America were people of very strong religious faith, faith of so strong a character that they were willing to cross an ocean and risk death rather than change the way in which they worshipped.  That type of faith endures, and has always been a fundamental force in shaping how the US views itself.  Puritanism, whether you're talking strictly the New England variety or conservative religiosity more generally, is deeply rooted in American culture.  Look at the way US politics works, or at any modern poll comparing American and European opinions on the existence of God, validity of evolutionary theory, etc.

Now what any of that has to do with the weird thread currently unrolling under this title, beats the heck out of me

[karlhenning]

Now what any of that has to do with the weird thread currently unrolling under this title, beats the heck out of me

Quoted for truth 

[Josquin des Prez]

Where is their place?

Nurturing.

[Homo Aestheticus]

Josquin,

But sex work too can be a form of nurturing.

[Dr. Dread]

Josquin,

But sex work too can be a form of nurturing.

Anything you want to confess? 

[Brian]

It's not hatred for women, it's knowing how to put them in their place.

       

That was a joke, right?

[karlhenning]

I like your sunny optimism, Brian!

[The new erato]

       

That was a joke, right?

Easter is a time for believing in miracles.

[pjme]

Nor shall he, if he actually believes drivel like he posted above.

I don't think that the actual answer to the thread's title, "why is America still so often puritanical?" is really so hard to fathom.  Many of the earliest European immigrants to North America were people of very strong religious faith, faith of so strong a character that they were willing to cross an ocean and risk death rather than change the way in which they worshipped.  That type of faith endures, and has always been a fundamental force in shaping how the US views itself.  Puritanism, whether you're talking strictly the New England variety or conservative religiosity more generally, is deeply rooted in American culture.  Look at the way US politics works, or at any modern poll comparing American and European opinions on the existence of God, validity of evolutionary theory, etc.

Now what any of that has to do with the weird thread currently unrolling under this title, beats the heck out of me

Thanks for this reaction. We could start a real discussion here.
P.

[DavidRoss]

Thanks for this reaction. We could start a real discussion here.

Okay--but that would hardly be as entertaining as watching two intellectual giants like Josquin and Eric duke it out.

These days, of course, the very use of the term "puritanical" reveals nearly insurmountable prejudice, as it is implies an unfavorable judgment regarding (imagined) attitudes toward hedonistic behaviors advocated by the speaker, subliminal guilt about which he blames on our Puritan legacy rather than his own suppressed conscience's discomfort with selfishness and self-indulgence.