Sitcom Sophistry

I, like everybody, love Raymond. The T.V. show has been (in reruns) a constant bastion of sanity for me in a world of increasingly bad humor. However, I can't help but voice a little something here. In a later episode, Ray's brother, Robert, is finally going to get married to his sweetheart, Amy McDoogle. It is made clear by the show, however (in true Raymond humor), that before and after Robert proposes that he and Amy had sex.
I should have expected as much. This is the kind of day we live in, and though it was upsetting, it was not surprising. I let it slide on by.
I could not, however, let what Amy's mother (the adorable Mrs. McDoogle) said slide by. On Amy's wedding day, Mrs. McDoogle mentions Amy's premarital romps with Robert. When Amy gets offended at this, Mrs. McDoogle responds, "Oh, I know. Times have changed. Now with you kids it's all fun all the time."
Oh really? So that's what pre-marital, non-committal sex is: "fun". Interesting...
What annoyed me more is the context in which Mrs. McDoogle brought up the incidents with Amy and Robert. She was pointing out that Amy was going to wear a white wedding gown, a gown worn by only virgin brides, as its color traditionally represented purity. I say "traditionally," but times have changed; now its all fun all the time.

There are two primary assumptions that Mrs. McDoogle's statement is making:

1. All values are relative to the "times."
2. All values not in keeping with the "times" are the opposite of "fun" (whatever "fun " means).

Values are definite parts of reality; the "times" are merely a cultural thing, and values are not cultural--they are universal, i.e., embedded factors of reality (I see "reality" as the way things are, both elementally and subliminally). Besides, the reason we have definite values is because we have "times," i.e., cultural shifts of opinion. Values are to serve as a definite star in the sky to navigate by, not excuses to have "fun." Calling relative values "fun" drives me insane, because fun, not values, is what is relative: relative to circumstances and the person.

I can remember back in another "times" (specifically, the 90s), there was another show I loved called Family Matters. In one episode, Carl Winslow's son, Eddie, was inquiring on how he should proceed in the sexual realm (a good ol' father-son talk). Carl's advice (as opposed to Mrs. McDoogle's)? "There is only one safe way to go son, and that's abstinence." When Eddie inquires on why, Carl explains, "Sex is not a game [i.e., not mere "fun"]; it's an important step, a milestone in any one's life...My prayer for you is the same my father had for me: that you would find that special someone, fall in love ["fall" in love? I thought "love" was just sex?], get married, and then when you reach the point where you want to express that love physically [WHAT?! I thought love was ALL physical!], well then it will mean something." Wow, I had no idea that sex (let only love) could MEAN something, i.e., be something beyond just "all fun all the time."

Of course, times have changed (as the hell hounds of hypermodernism are quick to remind us). No one had fun in Family Matters. No one had ANY fun back then. Remember, children of Mill, love is a noun, sex is mere "fun," fun is the only true value, values are shackled to times, and white is just another color.