Sin, piercings, crying men and culture wars
When a polling organization in Britain asked a thousand citizens to update the list of Seven Deadly Sins, the results showed an interesting shift in the understanding of sin. The original seven (pride, envy, wrath, sloth, lust, avarice, and gluttony, traditionally remembered with the aid of the acronym PEWSLAG) were replaced by cruelty, adultery, bigotry, dishonesty, hypocrisy, greed, and selfishness. Formerly the essence of sin lay in offending God by failing to curb one's lower nature. In the revised list, sin is equated with causing pain or mental distress to people."
National Review, Feb. 28, 2005
Could the emphasis on political correctness a result of this?
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A recent survey of college students suggests that body piercings may be more than just adornments. Study subjects who had experienced stressful events such as severe injury, illness, abuse, or the death of a close family member were much more likely to have multiple piercings than their peers.
Psychology Today, March/April 2005
I don't know if this one holds water or not. I've suffered stressful events in my life and have no piercings other than my ears (and only two there). I also have friends who have multiple piercings but haven't necessarily had a rough life.
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According to a recent study, British men -- revered since Victorian times for their ability to control their emotions -- have begun to cry more openly. A survey of 2000 men revealed that:
77% felt it was acceptable to cry in public
50% had cried during a sad movie
17% had cried in self-pity
9% cried at a wedding
The shift, it seems, is due to their increased interation with women in the workplace and in society in general.
~www.reuters.com as cited in Stand Firm, April 2005
Not exactly earth shattering, but interesting.
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"After a long battle in the trenches of a culture war, I don't think anyone can say that society is that much better because of it. A culture war may be instrumental in electing a president, but it is relatively powerless in producing any real change in the culture at large. Hot, sexy, and violent shows like Desperate Housewives and CSI are running just as strongly in the red states as in the blue states."
John Fischer in Relevant, March/April 2005
I like CSI. Never seen Desperate Housewives... or had any desire to. I've never watched an episode of Sex and the City either. Am I really missing anything? LOL"