Edited sentence: "  Only useful activity is moral - as if we were sired by John Calivin with Jeremy Bentham as midwife.Although we may get there sooner, we have enjoyed little of the scenery along the way.Although we modern ascetics no longer purposely inflict pain upon ourselves, a remnant of this inclination is evident in the belief that prophylactic measures are beneficial to the degree that they hurt or cause discomfort.Even our pornography is not erotic but simply graphic.Even the playboy reveals a certain earnestness in his efforts to maintain his reputation; he doesn't "make love," he pursues conquests.In our other appetites, we are less gourmets than gormands; we wolf down "fast food," just as we drive fast automobiles.In the words of critic Walter Kerr [The Decline of Pleasure], "We are all of us compelled to read for profit ... lunch for contracts, bowl for unity, drive for mileage, gamble for charity [and] go out for the evening for the greater glory of the municipality.Like our Puritan forebears, we remain distrustful of pleasure in most of its forms.Meanwhile athletic coaches spur their charges with the admonition, "No pain, no gain.The Puritan legacy can be recognized in our inability to engage in recreational avocations for their intrinsic pleasures.The charge of hedonism rings hollow.The influence of worldly asceticism is widespread, but it is most evident in the United States.The vestiges of Calvinist asceticism continue to impinge upon modern secular culture in the West.To paraphrase Max Weber: the ascetic ethic "once in the saddle" no longer requires religious motives to spur its impact upon individuals and institutions.We are generally more comfortable with violence than sex in our entertainment media.We must participate for some good cause (an extrinsic justification)