What values did present day americans inherit from the puritans?
our attitudes about sex, and our inability to talk about it naturally.
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There are many areas in which we can find puritan influence today. At the top of the list stands the structure of the family as we know it. The essence of social order lay in the authority of parents over children and in those days, husband over wife. Marriage, as we know it today, played an important role in creating the fabric of their society and till this day we see it's effect on us.
Another point in which they were influential is the fact that today the American society condemns Alcohol abuse and inappropriate sexual behavior. The puritans themselves allowed the drinking of alcohol in moderation and the partaking in sexual intercourse within one's marriage but they where against abusing these privileges. This is something that we can find in the American society till this day.
Some researches think that the puritans put down the foundations needed for the American democracy to form. This is a point still under dispute but it seems that there is strong evidence pointing in this directions.
Hope I was able to shed some light on the subject.
GIVE a man a fish and you feed him for a day. TEACH a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
SADLY, most fishermen are afraid to touch the worm.
The Puritan "ethic" is primarily responsible for American's neurotic to sociopathic behavior when it comes to issues of sex, normal body function (i.e. voiding, mensuration, etc) , skin (i.e. nudity, whether "innocent", sexually oriented, "accidental glimpse, etc, etc), reproduction, etc.
These taboos, ingrained so deeply in our culture and psyche, have poisoned generation after generation, have lead to obsessions with pornography, and deny many absolutely normal body functions necessary to daily life.
It is any wonder we're screwed up?
The american traits of both obsession AND denial of pornography is one of the best examples. IMO, the PE is also directly responsible for our sex crimes rate, approx 38/100K, while in Europe, where nudity is the norm in "family" publications and TV, where pornography is accepted "art" form and prostitution is an condoned, visible profession, the "adjusted" sex crime rate is 9/100k.
While we owe much of the good in this country to the foundation set by the Puritan ethic, (IMO) this mental illnesses gifted upon us by the PE FAR, FAR out weigh the good.
micky eggs
the puritans came to america for religous freedom. the puritans in america felt they were better than the pilgrims who had other beliefs. today you have some fundamentalists who like wise feel that anyone of a differant religion is going to hell. the other thing we have acquired from the puritans and keep to this day is thanksgiving
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