I think you & the parent are both correct, despite holding opinions that are poles apart.
Certainly in the kinds of things we are allowed to watch, we are more free than ever before. For instance, wikipedia says the adult entertainment industry is atleast 50 years old, but the kind of material you can access today without fear of repercussions is beyond precedent. For instance, any adult site will happily serve hundreds of atm clips. Even 20 years ago, the term atm was practically unknown, and certainly you couldn’t get performers to engage in atm, let alone film it & host it online.
At the same time, what is and isn’t permissible for discussion in the public sphere has narrowed rather sharply. Especially in academia, this kind of hypocrisy & doublespeak is so blatant & overt, it makes you wonder what else is being swept under the rug. We had an incident at the stat seminar a few weeks back. A Stanford professor was interrupted by one of our professors who simply said “i don’t like lasso”. This became full blown drama, statisticians thumping desks and saying “hear hear” & so forth. What should have been an educational lecture in penalties & their properties got shut down by the moderator! If one can’t even discuss harmless on-point topic like this in an academic setting, what is the point of freedom of speech & rest of the machinery ? Are we so scared of causing offence ?
Certainly in the kinds of things we are allowed to watch, we are more free than ever before. For instance, wikipedia says the adult entertainment industry is atleast 50 years old, but the kind of material you can access today without fear of repercussions is beyond precedent. For instance, any adult site will happily serve hundreds of atm clips. Even 20 years ago, the term atm was practically unknown, and certainly you couldn’t get performers to engage in atm, let alone film it & host it online.
At the same time, what is and isn’t permissible for discussion in the public sphere has narrowed rather sharply. Especially in academia, this kind of hypocrisy & doublespeak is so blatant & overt, it makes you wonder what else is being swept under the rug. We had an incident at the stat seminar a few weeks back. A Stanford professor was interrupted by one of our professors who simply said “i don’t like lasso”. This became full blown drama, statisticians thumping desks and saying “hear hear” & so forth. What should have been an educational lecture in penalties & their properties got shut down by the moderator! If one can’t even discuss harmless on-point topic like this in an academic setting, what is the point of freedom of speech & rest of the machinery ? Are we so scared of causing offence ?