--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Americans have an interesting conundrum…" description: "\"Americans have an interesting conundrum, a black and white line: You're on one side or the other of Puritanism or licentiousness. But that gray area wh..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c98/diane-lane-3573_black-and-white_americans-have-an-interesting-conundrum_1415776.jpg" --- # Americans have an interesting conundrum, a black and white… ![“Americans have an interesting conundrum, a black and white line: You're on one side or the other of Puritanism or licentiousness. But that gray area where people abide, between their ears or on the Internet, needs to be fleshed out more in terms of permission granted.” quote by Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c98/diane-lane-3573_black-and-white_americans-have-an-interesting-conundrum_1415776.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c98/diane-lane-3573_black-and-white_americans-have-an-interesting-conundrum_1415776.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c98/diane-lane-3573_black-and-white_americans-have-an-interesting-conundrum_1415776.jpg) > “Americans have an interesting conundrum, a black and white line: You're on one side or the other of Puritanism or licentiousness. But that gray area where people abide, between their ears or on the Internet, needs to be fleshed out more in terms of permission granted.” [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Society struggles with binary moral views; the nuanced online gray area needs clearer permission norms. **In simple terms:** Binary views ignore online nuance. Key Takeaway Define and respect digital gray zones. Themes ethics technology communication Mood critical thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - social media use - online communities - policy making - education Key Concepts digital rights social norms Questions to Reflect On - What permissions should be standard online? - How can we balance freedom and protection? A Different Perspective Legal frameworks lag behind technology. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Americans Interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/americans-interesting-2626549/) [Black and white](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-and-white/) [Gray area](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gray-area/) [Internet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internet/) [Line Puritanism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/line-puritanism-987920/) [More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/more/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [People Abide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-abide-711434/) [Puritanism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/puritanism/) [Puritanism Licentiousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/puritanism-licentiousness-987921/) ## Related quotes > [Americans have an interesting conundrum, a black and white line: You're on one side or the other of Puritanism or licentiousness. But that gray…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/americans-have-an-interesting-conundrum-a-black-and-white-line-you-re/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) > [“Americans are interesting creatures. They criticize those who speak their language with a slight accent but have no issues with butchering most other languages,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/santino-hassell/americans-are-interesting-creatures-they-criticize-those-who-speak/) [Santino Hassell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/santino-hassell/) > [When people can't abide things as they are, when they can't abide the present, they do one of two things ... either they ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-albee/when-people-can-t-abide-things-as-they-are-when-they-can-t-abide-the/) [Edward Albee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-albee/) > [My brothers and sister and I were brought up in an atmosphere which I would describe as 'Puritan decadence'. Puritanism names the behaviour which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-spender/my-brothers-and-sister-and-i-were-brought-up-in-an-atmosphere-which-i/) [Stephen Spender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-spender/) > [Political correctness means nothing to me. Nothing. It's the new Puritanism, darling. Preventing us from expressing ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-humphries/political-correctness-means-nothing-to-me-nothing-it-s-the-new/) [Barry Humphries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-humphries/) > [But pure wit is akin to Puritanism; to the perfect and painful consciousness of the final fact in the universe. Very briefly, the man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/but-pure-wit-is-akin-to-puritanism-to-the-perfect-and-painful/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [“About these developments George Orwell , in Nineteen Eighty-Four , was quite wrong. He described a new kind of state and police tyranny, under…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/about-these-developments-george-orwell-in-nineteen-eighty-four-was/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/puritanism-the-haunting-fear-that-someone-somewhere-may-be-happy/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [“To both the racist and the puritan, childhood is not a time of life that we grow out of, as the life of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/to-both-the-racist-and-the-puritan-childhood-is-not-a-time-of-life/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“It would be safe to say that by the nineteenth century, pietism had long since dislodged Puritanism as the dominant force in American religious life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-j-nichols/it-would-be-safe-to-say-that-by-the-nineteenth-century-pietism-had/) [Stephen J. Nichols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-j-nichols/) > [“Puritanism—the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. —H. L. Mencken (1949)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-c-davis/puritanism-the-haunting-fear-that-someone-somewhere-may-be-happy-h-l/) [Kenneth C. Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-c-davis/) > [There is only one honest impulse at the bottom of Puritanism, and that is the impulse to punish the man with a superior capacity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-is-only-one-honest-impulse-at-the-bottom-of-puritanism-and-that/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Elizabeth knew it was a fast day, but the rumbling in her belly was harder to ignore than the grumbling of the preacher.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anya-seton/elizabeth-knew-it-was-a-fast-day-but-the-rumbling-in-her-belly-was/) [Anya Seton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anya-seton/) > [“The “Howard” in the entry had to be Howard Phillips Lovecraft , that twentieth-century puritanic Poe from Providence, with his regrettable but undeniable loathing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/the-howard-in-the-entry-had-to-be-howard-phillips-lovecraft-that/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > ['Memorial Day' is about 'spring break' girls-gone-wild culture which is the seedy underbelly of our American Puritanism, the inverse side of the coin. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-fox/memorial-day-is-about-spring-break-girls-gone-wild-culture-which-is/) [Josh Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-fox/) ## More by Diane Lane > [I never wished that I was a superstar. Hell, I never even wished that I was an actress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/i-never-wished-that-i-was-a-superstar-hell-i-never-even-wished-that-i/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) > [Love is saying you're sorry. It's the opposite of those cherub posters that say, 'Love is never having to say you're sorry.' Wrong! Love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/love-is-saying-you-re-sorry-it-s-the-opposite-of-those-cherub-posters/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) > [Independent films have a very different cachet than success films.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/independent-films-have-a-very-different-cachet-than-success-films/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) > [The largest room in the world is room for improvement. You know, some mornings my thighs are fat. 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What impact did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/we-live-our-whole-lives-and-in-our-dying-moment-we-have-to-ask/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) > [When I was about seven, I started touring the globe as part of New York's La MaMa theater company - without my parents!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/when-i-was-about-seven-i-started-touring-the-globe-as-part-of-new/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) > [I had a hard time calling Laurence Oliver 'Larry.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/i-had-a-hard-time-calling-laurence-oliver-larry/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) > [I'm done saying 'I'm sorry I wasn't who you needed or wanted me to be' to everybody in my life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/i-m-done-saying-i-m-sorry-i-wasn-t-who-you-needed-or-wanted-me-to-be/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) > [A grandparent will tell you, "Have fun!" and a parent will tell you, "Be safe, do a good job, make me proud." 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I wouldn't trade a mile of that for a minute of being younger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/i-ve-got-a-lot-of-mileage-and-i-love-my-mileage-i-wouldn-t-trade-a/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) [Explore all 127 Diane Lane quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) ## More Black and white quotes > [“In the picture, Ava Gardner's tousled black hair obscured her right eye, and her full, closed lips were pulled slightly to the right, resulting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-gifford/in-the-picture-ava-gardner-s-tousled-black-hair-obscured-her-right/) [Barry Gifford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-gifford/) > [The world doesn't see a lot of gray. The world sees black and white, and then it understands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-c-wolfe/the-world-doesn-t-see-a-lot-of-gray-the-world-sees-black-and-white/) [George C. Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-c-wolfe/) > [We shall be free only together, black and white. We shall survive only together, black and white. We can be human only together, black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desmond-tutu/we-shall-be-free-only-together-black-and-white-we-shall-survive-only/) [Desmond Tutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desmond-tutu/) > [“The world isn't always black and white. sometimes, it's gray, and sometimes that gray explodes into colors you never knew existed before.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-m-darhower/the-world-isn-t-always-black-and-white-sometimes-it-s-gray-and/) [J.M. Darhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-m-darhower/) > [“The Runaway Five's obvious influence is The Blues Brothers. 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Life is either marvelous or notworth living. School…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-pipher/teenage-girls-are-extremists-who-see-the-world-in-black-and-white/) [Mary Pipher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-pipher/) > [I remember thinking all TV was black and white, but that was because we had a really old, broken TV. And then I went…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruby-rose/i-remember-thinking-all-tv-was-black-and-white-but-that-was-because/) [Ruby Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruby-rose/) > [Everything is not black-and-white . I'm really interested in the gray area - not justifying it, not glorifying it, not condoning it, but at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-washington/everything-is-not-black-and-white-i-m-really-interested-in-the-gray/) [Isaiah Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-washington/) > [Anyone who will look at my life from the outside won't see the struggles inside. 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Bartels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-p-bartels/) > [Which is probably the reason why I work exclusively in black and white... to highlight that contrast.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-nimoy/which-is-probably-the-reason-why-i-work-exclusively-in-black-and/) [Leonard Nimoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-nimoy/) > [There is nothing gray about whether a follower of Christ should see 50 Shades of Grey. This is a black and white issue. Don’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-deyoung/there-is-nothing-gray-about-whether-a-follower-of-christ-should-see/) [Kevin DeYoung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-deyoung/) [Browse all 1,368 Black and white quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-and-white/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Americans have an interesting conundrum, a black and white line: You're on one side or the other of Puritanism or licentiousness. 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