Are Most Men Pedos?

[OneLove]

The influence of the US has been too powerful since WWII. We export not just goods and services, but our culture and morality as well. We think we're being good little boy scouts to the rest of the world, but in so doing, we are slowly erasing unique cultures.

I don't know why I'm ranting on about this. Rome, England, Spain, they all did it in their time. It's nothing new.

The basic premise of Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek followed the same pattern and could be taken as a dystopian warning. Mimicking real life politics, he foresaw a universe where the earth was controlled by a central government, which was in turn controlled by an interplanetary federation which sent out exploratory crafts to the outer edges of the known universe, not unlike a futuristic Christopher Columbus. Americans have always loved the intrepid explorer. Despite their orders not to interfere with local culture, the ultimate goal was to bring new planets into the Federation,  thus "protecting" them from the Klingons (read: communists).

What, after all, is an "Enterprise?" A project or undertaking by a large organization that is especially difficult, complicated, or risky.  What would be the objective of such an undertaking? Because the Federation was nice? Are we being nice when we bolster a foreign economy, or is there a strategic ulterior motive? Why do we invest billions in one country and not another? This is the politics of power.

Got a little off track here, but the basic problem is in the US exporting our culture and morals globally. We refuse to believe that the majority of men would be sexually attracted to a budding 12 or 13 year old, just like they're trying to force me to believe that a trans woman is a real woman in every way imaginable. Reality is ignored and circumvented through law in both cases.

[on the rocks]

Somewhat ironically, The United Federation of Planets is post-scarcity democratic socialist utopia.  At least it is up until the Dominion War.

The spread of "western" ideals has at least been a dual edge sword. There have been enough gains in individual rights and reduction in poverty over the last 80 years globally to make up for the whole monoculture thing that came with it.  I think it's much more of an internet age phenomenon for that kind of western morality to assert itself more aggressively over other places.  Especially when it comes to say, porn laws.  But also age of consent; though that has been a western export since long before the internet.

Well it's all coming to an end, an American led West exporting its definition of "good" to the rest of the world.  Just give America a good deal on your oil and you can do whatever you want to whoever you want.

[And I Love Her]

I'd like to throw a kind of "monkey wrench" into this discussion. If values can be so easily exported, aren't they largely arbitrary?

From the Romans to the Umayyeds, the Spanish to the Americans, we've seen that everything from the music people like, to the religion they practice, to even the language they speak, can be changed with money and power. So, instead of asking if 'most men are pedos,' perhaps we should ask if most men can be TAUGHT to be pedos.

There's always been a debate about whether sexuality comes from nature or nurture. I imagine most of us would say both matter and just argue about the degrees. Following that idea: Why can't we nurture people into being pedos? Instead of trying to convince people that we're "good people" (a losing battle), we just need to raise pro-pedos and export pedo culture.

It also wouldn't hurt to start a global empire and colonize a few countries, if any of you are up for it...

[TooLittleTime]

Somewhat ironically, The United Federation of Planets is post-scarcity democratic socialist utopia.  At least it is up until the Dominion War.

T...

I have loved pointing this out to a couple of my hard core conservative Star Trek cosplay friends. I'm mostly ignored

[Malt]

The influence of the US has been too powerful since WWII. We export not just goods and services, but our culture and morality as well. We think we're being good little boy scouts to the rest of the world, but in so doing, we are slowly erasing unique cultures.

I don't know why I'm ranting on about this. Rome, England, Spain, they all did it in their time. It's nothing new.

The basic premise of Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek followed the same pattern and could be taken as a dystopian warning. Mimicking real life politics, he foresaw a universe where the earth was controlled by a central government, which was in turn controlled by an interplanetary federation which sent out exploratory crafts to the outer edges of the known universe, not unlike a futuristic Christopher Columbus. Americans have always loved the intrepid explorer. Despite their orders not to interfere with local culture, the ultimate goal was to bring new planets into the Federation,  thus "protecting" them from the Klingons (read: communists).

What, after all, is an "Enterprise?" A project or undertaking by a large organization that is especially difficult, complicated, or risky.  What would be the objective of such an undertaking? Because the Federation was nice? Are we being nice when we bolster a foreign economy, or is there a strategic ulterior motive? Why do we invest billions in one country and not another? This is the politics of power.

Got a little off track here, but the basic problem is in the US exporting our culture and morals globally. We refuse to believe that the majority of men would be sexually attracted to a budding 12 or 13 year old, just like they're trying to force me to believe that a trans woman is a real woman in every way imaginable. Reality is ignored and circumvented through law in both cases.

United Federation of Planets is a consequence of diplomacy. Canonically Earth was chosen to be the capital as a compromise since humans were neither Vulcan nor Andorian nor any of the other species. Only thing humans had was being late comers and their neutral stance between the various species upholding truth and justice above all even if it was detrimental.

Go ahead. Define me what culture means for you. I can assure you, the definitions you come up with will be mired with inconsistencies. The way you tell the time comes from Babylonians. This is why an hour is 60 minutes and a minute is 60 seconds. And why is a day 24 hours? Because Egyptians decided so. They counted days in 12 hours with sundials and added 12 hours for the night not that they had good ways of measuring time. The calendar you are using is a product of Roman politics. That is why certain days are 31 days. Julius Caesar is why July is named as such. Staples of US culture are not even American in origin. Your McDonald's menu contains a burger which is German in origin and fries which is Belgian in origin. I can give many many more examples.

What part of your culture is original to you? The answer is none of it and all of it. Culture mixes, moves and morphs with influence and change. Even language changes. The language you speak today would be unintelligible a few centuries ago. You cannot even read Old English and understand it. Neither can the British. It is effectively a different language with some commonalities here and there.

As for your remark on trans people. Have you ever considered why people turn trans? It isn't culture. It is genetics. Weather you believe in it kind of is irrelevant.

Just so you understand... In the womb you start with genitals that resembles reptiles/birds than to what resembles a vagina which may close up along the way after or before letting what become testis and/or ovaries through. You grow a clitoris which may morph into a penis. That morphing can even happen as you hit puberty.

Any one of those steps could be disrupted, reversed with gene expressions which can suppress or express other genes which in turn do the same. It is a very complicated set of interactions.

Independently your brain develops. You can in general use MRI Scans on the brains on human men, women, gay men to see morphological differences. In trans individuals their brain aligns with the gender they align with which diverges from their sex. It is simple as that.

Just as you are a social outcast, they are too and it is wrong in either case.

[OneLove]

I'd like to throw a kind of "monkey wrench" into this discussion. If values can be so easily exported, aren't they largely arbitrary?

There's no monkey wrench there as far as I'm concerned. I've stated over and over here over the years that I don't believe there is such a thing as an inherent morality. It changes with culture, politics, and power. It will eventually change here when our influence wanes.

The US is no different from any other dominant culture in history. We self-protect by surrounding ourselves with allies, whether that be by force, politics, or economic incentives or threats.

What I dislike is the Americanization of unique cultures, some of which have morals in conflict with ours. That doesn't mean it didn't happen in the past and won't continue to happen. I still dislike it.

[Malt]

I'd like to throw a kind of "monkey wrench" into this discussion. If values can be so easily exported, aren't they largely arbitrary?

There's no monkey wrench there as far as I'm concerned. I've stated over and over here over the years that I don't believe there is such a thing as an inherent morality. It changes with culture, politics, and power. It will eventually change here when our influence wanes.

The US is no different from any other dominant culture in history. We self-protect by surrounding ourselves with allies, whether that be by force, politics, or economic incentives or threats.

What I dislike is the Americanization of unique cultures, some of which have morals in conflict with ours. That doesn't mean it didn't happen in the past and won't continue to happen. I still dislike it.

Ah that. Arguably the influence is more European in nature and I for one am happy certain aspects of cultures did not survive to today.

I think it is not as dominant as you may be lead to believe. I do think world needs more freedoms and not less. Many countries have this restrictive right wing push that wants to silence any view different from their own while abolishing any restriction on themselves.

For example, Europeans have been "forced" to ban pot under US's war on drugs. It kind of fell apart in the recent past. It is not like it was fully observed either. I am a non smoker of anything so I do not care if it is banned or not but as far as I can tell, banning it was an overreaction and it had ulterior motives for American domestic politics.

Yes MPAA has kind of forced their prude ways by dominating the industry by making movies adhere to a certain way if they wanted to make money. That influence is fading away with streaming even in the US. The prude US ways are a relic of Puritan ways of old evangelists and other religious nutters are/were pushing.

That is the thing about culture. It is never constant. It always changes with the times.

[on the rocks]

At the same time, I don't feel it's entirely accurate to look at culture solely through the lens of something being thrust upon a population.  Sometimes it is just the case that this thing those foreigners do is better and/or cooler than our thing, so let's start doing their thing.  The cynic might characterize that as "appropriation" but I generally feel that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, so enjoy the gumbo of culture.

Like I don't think anyone forced hip hop on Latin America.  They heard it, liked it, and made it their own.  Now half of every starting lineup in the MLB walks up to some sort of Latin hip hop.

[Malt]

At the same time, I don't feel it's entirely accurate to look at culture solely through the lens of something being thrust upon a population.  Sometimes it is just the case that this thing those foreigners do is better and/or cooler than our thing, so let's start doing their thing.  The cynic might characterize that as "appropriation" but I generally feel that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, so enjoy the gumbo of culture.

Like I don't think anyone forced hip hop on Latin America.  They heard it, liked it, and made it their own.  Now half of every starting lineup in the MLB walks up to some sort of Latin hip hop.

You cannot force people to adopt a culture if they do not choose to follow it. Culture mixes.

Pizza is not strictly Italian in origin. Tomatoes are not European to begin with and the Pizza is a result of multi millennia trade in the Mediterranean. Multiple civilizations rose and fell and people of all sorts of origins contributed in their own way over a very long time period.

It also goes both ways. It is not like US was not influenced by cultures of other countries. Anime was influenced by American culture but it is its own thing. It made its way back to the US to influence culture. Give enough time and such back and forths will result in a constant morph of all involved cultures. All it needs is time.

[And I Love Her]

What I dislike is the Americanization of unique cultures, some of which have morals in conflict with ours. That doesn't mean it didn't happen in the past and won't continue to happen. I still dislike it.

I have a whole host of issues with American imperialism, but I'll push back on this particular point. As I see it, the global spread of American culture is just a result of modern technology. If the communication and transportation technology we have had existed 2,000 years ago, the Greek, Roman, and Chinese culture would have been just as pervasive as today. America just happened to be on top when globalization took place.