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The Big [Censored] Theory

(pudding.cool)
1444 points feross | 1 comments | 29 Aug 22 17:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.211s | source
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joe_the_user ◴[29 Aug 22 19:56 UTC] No.32642764[source]▶
It's worth noting that American censorship in, say, 1960, was at close to the same level.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_censorship_in_the_United_...

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pnemonic ◴[29 Aug 22 20:04 UTC] No.32642876[source]▶
Is it just as worth noting then that China is more than 60 years behind the US in terms of social progress?
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1. Bakary ◴[29 Aug 22 20:41 UTC] No.32643288[source]▶
Social progress is somewhat of a loaded term, but for instance abortion has been legal for longer and is still more widely available in China than in the US. The controversy surrounding abortion is in itself different, since instead of Christian concerns you have sex-selective abortion and population management that determine policy in this era.

Homosexuality actually became less tolerated in the 19th and 20th century through Western influence. Now the West has done an about face in the span of one or two generations and China is comparatively less tolerant.

All this to say that it's difficult to quantify since

- assigning a teleological direction to social mores is perilous at best

- comparing entire societies means you overlook specific cases that often aren't even evaluated along the same axis

- Societies ebb and flow at unpredictable rates and with meandering paths and influence each other in often bizarre ways