ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

New York Society for the Suppression of Vice

Okay kiddo, imagine you're living in New York City a long, long time ago. Back then, there was a group of people who were very concerned about what they thought was bad behavior in the city. This group was called the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, or NYSSV for short.

The NYSSV thought that certain things were very bad for people to do, like drinking alcohol, gambling, and even going to see plays that they thought were too sexy or too violent. They wanted to make sure that people in the city were behaving properly and not doing anything that they thought was wrong.

So, they went around trying to stop people from doing these things. For example, they might have gone into bars and tried to convince people not to drink or to close down the bar altogether. They also tried to get the government to make laws against things like gambling and certain types of entertainment.

Now, some people agreed with the NYSSV and thought they were doing a good thing. They believed that if people were held to a higher standard of behavior, the city would be a better place. But others thought the NYSSV was being too strict and trying to control people's lives too much.

In the end, the NYSSV did have an impact on the city. They were successful in getting some laws passed, like the one that made it illegal to sell alcohol in the United States (which was called Prohibition). But eventually, people began to realize that the NYSSV's ideas were too extreme and they became less influential.

So, to sum it up, the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice was a group that tried to stop people from doing things they thought were bad, like drinking alcohol and watching certain types of entertainment. Some people agreed with them, while others thought they were too controlling. They did make some changes in the city, but eventually, people stopped listening to them.
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