3 ms·
In different places and times there were different thresholds on the level of violence acceptable to society. We should be careful to not project our current
by sorokod 3y ago
In different places and times there were different thresholds on the level of violence acceptable to society.
We should be careful to not project our current norms on the entire history of humanity.
A quote from A Distant Mirror The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman:
In village games, players with hands tied behind them competed to
kill a cat nailed to a post by battering it to death with their heads, at
the risk of cheeks ripped open or eyes scratched out by the frantic
animal’s claws. Trumpets enhanced the excitement. Or a pig enclosed
in a wide pen was chased by men with clubs to the laughter of
spectators as he ran squealing from the blows until beaten lifeless
and another one:
The citizens of Mons bought a
condemned criminal from a neighboring town so that they should
have the pleasure of seeing him quartered.
- itsacomment 3y agoBoth cases are arguably examples not of individual violence but organized group violence.
- sorokod 3y agoGo for it, argue...
- itsacomment 3y agoThe criminal was a) condemned, so organized state violence and b) brought over by the entire village, so a group of people. Not an individual outburst of violence, then. The group of people trying to head-butt the chicken to death are playing a sport. Often enough to at some time add trumpets to it.
- sorokod 3y ago* Mons is not a village, it is a city in present day Belgium. * head-butt the chicken please re-read the quote, it doesn't mention chickens. * When the entertainment committee invests in quartering of a human being, it reflects the norms and attitudes of the general population. If you are interested in the topic, "THE WANING OF THE MIDDLE AGES" is open source and text is available here https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Waning_of_the_Middle_Ages https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Waning_of_the_Middle_Ages
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]