Duelling in Spaaaaaaace!

Lord Carnifex · 05-20-2012, 07:43 PM

I'd argue that dueling never went all the way away, anyway. It's just today (in the U.S. at least), the weapons of choice are lawyers and PR flaks.

The shifts that reduced dueling aren't technological,they're social: a feeling that dueling is "might makes right", that non-combatants are entitled to have their cases heard, the rise of the criminal and civil justice systems, expanded police powers and capabilities, the spread of egalitarianism and the fracturing of 'society', a reduced expectation that the members of high society are necessarily trained combatants, and so on...

Which is why the examples from my space campaign are almost all military. Dueling is a way of showing off military prowess, and that's more valued in militarized cultures. Even today, U.S. Marines have a reputation for fistfights as a means of resolving disputes, an activity that isn't condoned by the the chain of command, but not quite entirely condemned, either. (One PFC my acquaintance was told off the record by his master sergeant that worse than being involved in a bar fight with rangers was being involved in a bar fight with rangers and losing. But both were better than failing to defend the honor of the USMC.)

05-20-2012, 07:43 PM	#36
Lord Carnifex Join Date: Oct 2005	Re: Duelling in Spaaaaaaace! I'd argue that dueling never went all the way away, anyway. It's just today (in the U.S. at least), the weapons of choice are lawyers and PR flaks. The shifts that reduced dueling aren't technological,they're social: a feeling that dueling is "might makes right", that non-combatants are entitled to have their cases heard, the rise of the criminal and civil justice systems, expanded police powers and capabilities, the spread of egalitarianism and the fracturing of 'society', a reduced expectation that the members of high society are necessarily trained combatants, and so on... Which is why the examples from my space campaign are almost all military. Dueling is a way of showing off military prowess, and that's more valued in militarized cultures. Even today, U.S. Marines have a reputation for fistfights as a means of resolving disputes, an activity that isn't condoned by the the chain of command, but not quite entirely condemned, either. (One PFC my acquaintance was told off the record by his master sergeant that worse than being involved in a bar fight with rangers was being involved in a bar fight with rangers and losing. But both were better than failing to defend the honor of the USMC.) __________________ An ongoing narrative of philosophy, psychology, and semiotics: Et in Arcadia Ego "To an Irishman, a serious matter is a joke, and a joke is a serious matter." Last edited by Lord Carnifex; 05-20-2012 at 07:48 PM.