> earlier times (and I’m talking about even the 20th century or so), fistfighting was a normal part of life, slaughtering animals for food was something many if

> earlier times (and I’m talking about even the 20th century or so), fistfighting was a normal part of life, slaughtering animals for food was something many if not most normal people were accustomed to doing from time to time, and people weren’t as squeamish about this sort of thing. pull up murder rates for times in the past. not talking 1950s, but like 1850s, or 1650s. cities were often dangerous places, and the countryside could be scary if you weren't a local (and maybe if you were). examples discussing these topics: https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/23/us/historical-study-of-homicide-and-cities-surprises-the-experts.html https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/23/us/historical-study-of-ho... https://www.jstor.org/stable/43774059 https://www.jstor.org/stable/43774059 from the first link: > Professor Stone has estimated that the homicide rate in medieval England was on average 10 times that of 20th century England. A study of the university town of Oxford in the 1340's showed an extraordinarily high annual rate of about 110 per 100,000 people. Studies of London in the first half of the 14th century determined a homicide rate of 36 to 52 per 100,000 people per year.