3 ms·

I think both of these are wrong. For Germans violence seems to be a bigger issue than sex, while for Americans sex is a bigger taboo than violence. Both of the

I think both of these are wrong. For Germans violence seems to be a bigger issue than sex, while for Americans sex is a bigger taboo than violence. Both of these are completely misguided (IMO) moral policing and disempowering of the population. Both say: people are not capable of making a sound moral choice on their own, they must be protected from seeing things that could negatively influence their character. That being said, if I were to pick between these two bad policies, I personally think sex is a vastly less morally objectionable topic. On one hand you have an activity that (between consenting people) is pleasurable and is essential in propagating the species, while the other is generally undesirable to everyone involved.

trasz 4y ago
Problem is, American media doesn’t just show violence, it glorifies violence, whereas perfectly normal behaviors are being censored out. This of course has a rather obvious explanation, but HN prohibits mentioning it for political reasons.
dahfizz 4y ago
I think you have the causality backwards. In both cases, the publishers are trying to maximize profit. A movie full of violence won't sell as well in Germany. It isn't want Germans want to go see. Vice versa for Americans and sex. Culture dictates what kind of media is desirable, not the other way around.
- short_sells_poo 4y ago
  I don't dispute the cultural aspect, in fact that's a center point of my post. But Germany does have (to the best of my knowledge) a special rating board that even used to enforce censorship in games. E.g. games sold in Germany had to have blood removed. Again, the cultural aspect is core to the entire thing, but nevertheless the overarching theme is that both countries apply a sort of self censorship.
  - watwut 4y ago
    America has ratings and similar censorship for games too. They also have strong cultural/economic taboos that work on top of it. They censor different things and different topics tho. Every country has something that rates or censors entertainment for popular consumption. Some are overbearing or carry criminal offenses (Iran, Russia) and some are more off economic (store wont sell your game).
watwut 4y ago
> Both say: people are not capable of making a sound moral choice on their own, they must be protected from seeing things that could negatively influence their character. Germany became strongly anti-violence after WWII cause the normalization of violence in that period and level of it was extraordinary high in Germany.

trasz 4y ago

Problem is, American media doesn’t just show violence, it glorifies violence, whereas perfectly normal behaviors are being censored out. This of course has a rather obvious explanation, but HN prohibits mentioning it for political reasons.

dahfizz 4y ago

I think you have the causality backwards. In both cases, the publishers are trying to maximize profit. A movie full of violence won't sell as well in Germany. It isn't want Germans want to go see. Vice versa for Americans and sex. Culture dictates what kind of media is desirable, not the other way around.

short_sells_poo 4y ago
I don't dispute the cultural aspect, in fact that's a center point of my post. But Germany does have (to the best of my knowledge) a special rating board that even used to enforce censorship in games. E.g. games sold in Germany had to have blood removed. Again, the cultural aspect is core to the entire thing, but nevertheless the overarching theme is that both countries apply a sort of self censorship.
- watwut 4y ago
  America has ratings and similar censorship for games too. They also have strong cultural/economic taboos that work on top of it. They censor different things and different topics tho. Every country has something that rates or censors entertainment for popular consumption. Some are overbearing or carry criminal offenses (Iran, Russia) and some are more off economic (store wont sell your game).

watwut 4y ago

> Both say: people are not capable of making a sound moral choice on their own, they must be protected from seeing things that could negatively influence their character. Germany became strongly anti-violence after WWII cause the normalization of violence in that period and level of it was extraordinary high in Germany.