Wait, aren’t about half of the Cypriots Turkish Muslims?
Much of Europe (Eastern Europe, Central Europe, the Baltics, Faroe Island) is more conservative with regard to issues like homosexuality and homosexual rights, etc. Most of Europe is more conservative with regard to abortion. Most of Europe is more conservative with regard to fiscal policies – the American fiscal policies would generally be considered irresponsible left-wing populism even by the socialist parties in Denmark.
Less than 20%
They Muslims don’t live in “Cyprus”. They live in “Northern Cyprus” which has it’s own government which is recognized by no one except the government of Turkey.
Muslims and Christians and Cyprus used to live together, but following the invasion and the events that prompted it, the Muslims were ethnically cleansed from the south and the Christians from the North.
Roughly 20% of all Cypriots are Turks/Muslims while about 80% are Greeks/Christians.
In some ways relating to behavior and culture, though, even the more progressive metro areas remain very conservative. Back in the 1970s they tried making a section of Venice Beach clothing optional and it did last for a year or two IIRC. Somebody must have simply decided that anybody who didn’t want to see that could look at something else or go to another section of beach. It’s hard to imagine such a thing happening now.
On the other hand, for the time being at least, it’s easier to get cannabis in some areas of the U.S. than it is in Amsterdam.
I think you could make the case that Canada would qualify in many regards.
Think about it, beer and liquor sales are only available through the government store. There are things you cannot say without getting into trouble. (Hate Speech, Malicious Lies) That whole, ‘every video is strippers shaking their action in your face’ thing is not nearly as embraced here. While parents still fight with their teenage girls over clothing, there seems only a much milder version of ‘teenage girls dressed as strippers’ thing.
We have all the same things, but just not to the extremes that American’s favour.
I guess I kind of consider a country preferring an effective social safety net and health coverage for all, to be a more ‘conservative’ value. Not in a political sense so much as, more pragmatic and prudent and thus more ‘conservative’. Rather than the view of every man for himself, let him sink if he can’t swim, that American’s seem to value so highly. (Even though yes, one is republican and the other democratic in America)
I sort of feel like not killing your citizens with capital punishment is more ‘conservative’ than doing so too.
Funny, thinking of Joe Liebermann mentioned in the same breath as Dodd and Feinstein now. Given the far more favorable context of western European politics, I’m sure that a great many American Democrat voters and pols would prefer a center-left party like the Social Democrats in Germany, or (gasp!) a Socialist party like the one in France.
In short, different political environments result in different outcomes in Realpolitik.
Good God, I already posted about nude beaches upthread, back in 2002. I didn’t know about Venice Beach in the 1970s at the time, however.
I guess Australia is similar to the US, but on a lower scale… And yes nudity on some beaches are acceptable, but you would have to drive out of the main cities, but for being topless, its legal everywhere. Porn and softcore nudity is non-existent on TV unless if there a channel for porn (There 2 channel for porn on the pay TV, none on free TV). Prostitution legalization is dependent state by state (in my state NSW, prostitution is legal). But however i tend to notice that girls my age group (18-25) tend to not sunbake topless on beaches and whatever shit, in which its piss me off
Shops on weekend tend to be open everyday… but however bosses can’t bully you to work on weekends…
With alcohol and tobbcaco, they are really strict with it… Alcohol cannot be sold alongside food and other shit (they require alcohol to be sold in a separate store and its can be explained that they wouldn’t sell it in 24/7 or gas stations). Ciggys on the other hand can be sold in stores, gas station and whatever, but they have to be hidden or whatever. Also they have introduce plan packing ciggys for all brands. Also i noticed that places will be strict with carding people, but if you come to places frequently, they will stop asking
Where do you live that you can only buy beer through the government?
Holy crap… the Trojan Mountie would star in the best commercials ever!
Like others have said, a lot really depends on where you live, even sometimes within a state, and even a city. For example, in Houston, there aren’t any special laws on alcohol or sexually oriented stuff outside of the normal State of Texas ones, and beer/wine is common in every grocery and convenience store, and dedicated liquor stores are common as well. However, in the Dallas area, there are dry counties, wet cities, cities where you have to be a member of a “private club” and any number of other shenanigans concerning alcohol sales, including very restrictive zoning, etc… For a long time, that meant that depending on where you lived, you may have had to drive 10 miles to get hard liquor, while being able to buy beer at your corner gas station. Or you could be a member of a “private club” and have beer at a bar or restaurant, but not buy it in the local stores. Or any number of other idiotic things.
In Sweden liquor sales are also only available through the government stores. Their restrictive anti-prostitution laws are also way more restrictive than in the USA. Drug laws are also more restrictive in most of Europe than in the USA. And of course, gun laws are more restrictive. Funny how liberal drug laws are considered “liberal,” whereas liberal gun laws are considered conservative.
That’s true of so many country pairs. Britain has a hereditary nobility, and an established church with reserved seats in the upper house of the legislature. Sounds pretty conservative, but they also have a more socialized medical system than most countries in Europe, let alone the US.
I don’t see how you figure that. It’s not illegal to sell sex in Sweden, only to buy it. In the US (apart from some counties in Nevada), both parties are criminalised. Associated acts such as pimping, brothel-keeping etc are illegal in both countries.
“Where do you live that you can only buy beer through the government?”
In Ontario the only outlets (I’m talking off sales, should have specified!) for beer by the case is the government regulated Beer Store. No corner store sales, or grocery store sales, or private beer stores, or gas station sales. that’s what I was referring to, actually. You can buy from the brewery, but the outlet is still a government regulated Beer Store.
Where are you buying beer by the case?
The beer stores in Ontario are not part of the government. They’re operated by the brewers themselves. Heavily regulated, of course, but you’re not buying your beer from the government.
You cannot get beer without going to that store, heavily government regulated, more conservative perhaps than, countries where anyone can sell beer, corner store, gas station, etc., that was the point I was making, sorry if it was not clear.
Video games - Australia, Germany, and other countries censor to a great degree more than the US would dream of. Things like turning blood green/white or removing it completely, and of course WWII games in Germany feature the dreaded “red flag with a white circle.” I have heard of people in Australia importing their games, I think from NZ.
State liquor stores - 18/50 states have some form of control, often state stores. I am glad to live in a land where I could buy booze no trouble at 3 am, if I wanted to.
So, lots of things depend on state. Similar to what Gary_Oak talks about, in e.g. Florida, you can buy beer and wine in the grocery story, but no hard alcohol (interestingly, you can buy margarita mix?). You have to go next door for the good stuff. Also I notice that San Francisco had made tobacco sales in drugstores illegal, but that city is hardly an example of typical anything.
This wasn’t always the case. One example, Cesare Beccaria was a liberal of his time and one of the first people to come out against capital punishment. Also gun control.
Interesting case here, and I’m not sure which more is “more conservative”: NV says brothels are good, street prostitution is not okay, same with, I think, Germany and others. Other places say they don’t care what you do, but you’d better not rent a building for prostitutes to work in!
![I got hoes/In different [del]Area[/del] Country codes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prostitution_laws_of_the_world.PNG){kind=link}
Germany doesn’t have a single nationwide policy and some localities allow street prostitution, at least in designated areas. Several other European countries allow indoor prostitution as long as it does not take place in brothels, and some also effectively ban street prostitution by prohibiting public solicitation. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any Western country where simply the act of selling sex is illegal, as it is everywhere in the US outside of those counties in Nevada.
Selling sex is not illegal in Canada, but there are so many other restrictions that it is effectively so: you can’t solicit to buy or sell sex in public, you can’t live off the avails, you can’t do it in a house or a car or other public place, etc.