video; backdated to shortly after Meriken's "let's find America a date" post.

[cautious_knight]

Are there really no simple social rules in the future that people do still follow?

Comments

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

The people who ignore the rules always like to believe that. They probably feel a little remorse for being morons, so they validate it by claiming everyone else is the same way.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

She called me "stiff".

...What rules are there?

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

Most people still get married; usually to someone of close to the same age, but that doesn't matter so much as long as they're both adults.
Adultery is still a bad thing.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

So... you still court someone with the prospect of marrying them?

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

It's called 'dating' anymore. And it is similar, but it's between the two people, generally the parents aren't involved.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

But they will be involved when it comes to the financial safety of the young couple.

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

Perhaps, but kids don't ask permission anymore.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

Parents have gotten that unimportant?

[What happened to the forth commandment ;;]

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

It's not that they're unimportant, but they aren't the one's getting married. Usually, he sign that dating has become serious, is when the prospective man is brought to meet the girl's parents.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

[Imagines dating to be "meet to wander over the field and have a nice conversation", btw. Kissing clearly isn't involved before one is engaged.]

And the other way round?

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

The boy's parents might become involved, but I guess people are just more protective of their daughters.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

They usually are the ones who give their child away, after all.

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

I think it's more tradition. Women can lead their own lives.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

...What do you mean by that?

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

women can't be given away, because there father's can't really won them, even if they think they do.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

They would still marry into the husband's family.

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

It's really just a name. Titles, as such, don't have meaning anymore in most of the world.

[Says the guy who married a princess... but he beat the crap out of her betrothed and they eloped so it's different...]

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

Does family have any meaning there?

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's just not a power structure. It's who you care about and rely on, and who you have responsibilities for.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

But-

It's hard to grasp the concept of that, but it doesn't sound that bad.

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

It isn't really.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

A lot of safety and security gets lost by that, though.

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

It depends. I always looked after my brother, because I'm older and I needed to be responsible for him.

But if my wife had obeyed her father, she would have been the 12th wife of a man she despised.

[watchful-knight.livejournal.com]

Why would he have married her to him?

[Marriages are often due to politics or ensuring a girl's economic safety...]

[2ndhandlion.livejournal.com]

Because he was wealthy and powerful, and her father feared him.