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Showing posts from September, 2008

A descriptive -ism

Permissiveness, often confused with compassion or tolerance, is really a distorted version of liberality, which deserves a particular suffix, -ism. Permissivenessism is controversial while being an obviously popular attribute to our social ethos since it is in most forms of contemporary entertainment. The controversy is not around its existence, but rather, its intensity. From the time just after the civil war, we have had what is called a “cultural revolution,” that developed into a “sexual” revolution; this turning over and upheaval of the social norms raised hell in an inconsistent, but “moral,” society. The revolution brought idioms like, “if it feels good, do it,” and “it’s all good.” The mentality motivating an “it’s all good,” attitude is what sums up the permissiveness of our ethos. Permissivenessism is well demonstrated in the television show, Friends. Friends is funny, sexually savvy, clever, and, most of all, young. The characters are not well established and imma