Speaking Ill of Hugh Hefner
&gt;But in every way that mattered he made those changes worse, our culture coarser and crueler and more sterile<p>I know that this is a political and personal, but hope this article and topic does not get shunned as yet another politically incorrect crime of thought.<p>There is something about culture that is at least approaching a resemblance to science: it is inescapable that cultures evolved alongside people over thousands of years as not just individuals, but groups competed for resources to survive. Therefore, our cultures--including ethics and morals--are not just incidental to random variables, but the product of the competition and very bluntly the deaths of untold numbers of people.<p>Since The Enlightenment and subsequent developments in Western ideology such as The Age of Reason, major aspects of status quo Western culture such as god-fearing Christianity have been tossed out as unreasonable. But there is maybe something to be careful about here. We are not as rational as we believe. Even scientists, even the greatest scientist ever, Newton, was a devoted Christian who spent countless hours studying and publishing secret messages in the Bible.<p>I&#x27;m not saying we should be Christians, but perhaps there were certain aspects of organized religion that were productive and the baby is now being thrown out with the bath water. If we are not rational, perhaps there is value in, for the time being, balancing logical reasoning with traditional culture. Right now it feels liberalism has us rethinking and reshaping everything.<p>For me personally, I am not afraid to say porn was an unredeemable and destructive vice in my life. It cultivated low self confidence in myself, and objectified and over-sexuaized women in my mind. I am glad to be away from that now.<p>I don&#x27;t think it is government&#x27;s role to restrict personal liberties either: if it works for you and everyone else involved, that&#x27;s none of my business. But culture could help guide us with this kind of thing.<p>After seeing some recent Bill Nye and Adam Savage productions, this growing theme of sexualizing children&#x27;s minds in particular is why I want to start a conversation. See NSFW: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.imgur.com&#x2F;26YWvus" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.imgur.com&#x2F;26YWvus</a>