Know how to spot these clowns when their shit goes viral and is widely approved of. Never trust a Greek statue, never trust the Nordic runes

Link: https://twitter.com/trad_west_art/status/1594990274937516033?s=46&t=D8z3jrXsplD9fwnbPB50aA

  • Circra [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Lol dueling covers a lot of different things than these chumps seem to imagine. I'm by no means an expert but yeah first off, a lot of the time it actually wasn't legal at all and you could if you weren't connected or rich enough get into serious trouble for it. Also whether it was legal or not, you really were not supposed to kill your opponent. Usually it would be the first blood that decided it. Dueling with guns for instance back then might even be just both duelists firing off a shot, wildly missing cos frankly early pistols were not known for their accuracy and calling it a day.

    There were also a tonne of formal and informal rules around it. If we applied it to nowdays you wouldn't for instance usually be able to challenge someone to a duel if they cut in before you in a queue. Looking back, a lot of those reasons for duels happening historically seem frivalous to us but they tended to be real and significant insults or slights in the society at the time.

    Apparently in some European countries they'd wear special helmets that protected pretty much everywhere but the cheeks cos that way you could get a dashing dueling scar on your cheek rather than an eye gouged out.

    Not to mention it was usually, whether legal or technically illegal but kinda somewhat tolerated, limited by social class. The closest these chumps would come to dueling would be a punch up outside a pub which yeah, you can totally still do if that's what floats your boat. Sorry mate but being the son of a moderately well off dentist or car dealership owner wouldn't translate to the level of social clout you think it would.

    • KobaCumTribute [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Apparently in some European countries they’d wear special helmets that protected pretty much everywhere but the cheeks cos that way you could get a dashing dueling scar on your cheek rather than an eye gouged out.

      That was Prussia/Germany, and IIRC it pretty much turned into a hazing/rite of passage thing for aristocrats at universities, where the scars shifted from being a consequence of dueling to a sign that someone stood still and explicitly allowed someone to hit them in the face with a sword because the scars were a prestige mark signaling an aristocratic military education.

      • AcidSmiley [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        This is correct. It is known as the Mensur and is practiced by Burschenschaften (far right frats) in Germany and Austria until this day. They get up in historical uniforms , bring out the rapiers and cut up each others' faces as a rite of initiation. In return for conforming to the incredibly chuddy environment, the students get cheap or even free boarding in dorms that are palatial mansions in prohibitively expensive student towns and become part of vast good ole boy networks while developing a serious alcohol problem and singing nazi marching tunes.

        • 7bicycles [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          You're forgetting all the sexual assault that is common at the Burschenschaften

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      There were also a tonne of formal and informal rules around it.

      angry Libertarian noises