Philosophy
Not the wild and woolly West as we were taught...that there were leagues of justice and mythology should be taken lightly.
"In a thorough review of the “West was violent” literature, Bruce Benson (1998) discovered that many historians simply assume that violence was pervasive—even more so than in modern-day America—and then theorize about its likely causes. In addition, some authors assume that the West was very violent and then assert, as Joe Franz does, that “American violence today reflects our frontier heritage” (Franz 1969, qtd. in Benson 1998, 98). Thus, an allegedly violent and stateless society of the nineteenth century is blamed for at least some of the violence in the United States today.
In a book-length survey of the “West was violent” literature, historian Roger McGrath echoes Benson’s skepticism about this theory when he writes that “the frontier-was-violent authors are not, for the most part, attempting to prove that the frontier was violent. Rather, they assume that it was violent and then proffer explanations for that alleged violence” (1984, 270)."
Read the rest...
"The Culture of Violence in the American West Myth versus Reality" by Thomas J. Dilorenzo
- What Is Genocide?
Sat in on a colleagues class yesterday and they were working on a piece by psychologist David Moshman called "Us and Them: Identity and Genocide" where Moshman argues that the traditional definition of genocide is too broad in that it only looks at the...
- Police Brutality At Uc Davis
Agree or disagree with the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, there are a few things that no one can really dispute. For one thing, this is a non-violent grass roots movement intent on raising consciousness about corporate greed and corruption. There...
- Steven Pinker - The Better Angels Of Our Nature
Having just published a voluminous book whose title was inspired by the immortal words of a guy who met his tragic end by having his brains blown out in public :), Steven Pinker argues that despite some obvious fluctuation, violence has seen an overall...
- Violent Videos Is Ok For Minors
1st Amendment rights would be violated. Well, what about pornography? Maybe you don't need to be 21 anymore. "Supreme Court lifts limits on sale of violent video games to minors" California's restrictions on the sale of violent video games to...
- Violence And Micromanagement Of The Human Psyche
"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom,...
Philosophy
Myth/reality--the old American West
Not the wild and woolly West as we were taught...that there were leagues of justice and mythology should be taken lightly.
"In a thorough review of the “West was violent” literature, Bruce Benson (1998) discovered that many historians simply assume that violence was pervasive—even more so than in modern-day America—and then theorize about its likely causes. In addition, some authors assume that the West was very violent and then assert, as Joe Franz does, that “American violence today reflects our frontier heritage” (Franz 1969, qtd. in Benson 1998, 98). Thus, an allegedly violent and stateless society of the nineteenth century is blamed for at least some of the violence in the United States today.
In a book-length survey of the “West was violent” literature, historian Roger McGrath echoes Benson’s skepticism about this theory when he writes that “the frontier-was-violent authors are not, for the most part, attempting to prove that the frontier was violent. Rather, they assume that it was violent and then proffer explanations for that alleged violence” (1984, 270)."
Read the rest...
"The Culture of Violence in the American West Myth versus Reality" by Thomas J. Dilorenzo
- What Is Genocide?
Sat in on a colleagues class yesterday and they were working on a piece by psychologist David Moshman called "Us and Them: Identity and Genocide" where Moshman argues that the traditional definition of genocide is too broad in that it only looks at the...
- Police Brutality At Uc Davis
Agree or disagree with the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, there are a few things that no one can really dispute. For one thing, this is a non-violent grass roots movement intent on raising consciousness about corporate greed and corruption. There...
- Steven Pinker - The Better Angels Of Our Nature
Having just published a voluminous book whose title was inspired by the immortal words of a guy who met his tragic end by having his brains blown out in public :), Steven Pinker argues that despite some obvious fluctuation, violence has seen an overall...
- Violent Videos Is Ok For Minors
1st Amendment rights would be violated. Well, what about pornography? Maybe you don't need to be 21 anymore. "Supreme Court lifts limits on sale of violent video games to minors" California's restrictions on the sale of violent video games to...
- Violence And Micromanagement Of The Human Psyche
"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom,...