I'm not trying to be humorous, I'm dead serious.
Part of the problem with our society, as I see it, is a lack of respect for each other. There are several reasons for this. Th erosion of family units, the complete lack of responsible parenting in an increasing segment of the demographic, schools teaching rote memorization over real learning and cognitive development, all manner of institutions whitewashing hard facts of life through trophies for participation and the underplay or complete elimination of winners and losers, and the rising welfare state that understandably grows from this offering to provide for all your needs while "the other guy" pays for it.
Well, as someone who considers himself that guy, let me offer you this. f*** YOU!
Back on topic, respect. the elimination of basic respect for others has led to a soiety of people who think they are entitled to all manner of things with no input on their part. Money, posessions, entertainment, general happiness, and ironically enough success and respect. that one makes me chuckle. The thing they were taught was bad and the thing they offer nobody else in kind, they demand. Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.
While certainly the resumption of that age old honorific system practiced by gentlemen of old to settle disputes cannot cure all societies ills, I propose it could definitely cultivate improved manners and at least affectations of respect. Think about this. You are in a club and some guy grabs your lady. What often happens, a fight, destruction of property, criminal charges and lives skewed off course. There is a certain well-considered feeling amongst many people that they can get away with quite a bit if they can come right up to the line without crossing it. It's a game of jerk chicken. I freely admit that I have been the antagonist myself, pushing someone's buttons with impunity because I knew they were either afraid of me or afraid of what would happen if they flipped and threw a punch. I have also been that guy, intimidated into silence or reluctantly leaving the can of whoop a** unopened.
Perhaps the nanny state has turned us not into sissys but a society of chess-playing smartasses who talk a good game, but if there was a means to reconcile disputes without getting in trouble would be a hell of a lot nicer to each other.
Let's go back to the scenario I illustrated before. Some guy disrespects your lady. You are cool and she doesn't want you acting dumb either so you say "Hey buddy, leave her alone." He says, "f*** you, I'll kick your a**." You sigh and say "Tuesday at 6 PM at the designated spot." He realizes he's gone too far, you are ready to square off with him. Here's the thing, this isn't him and his buddies against you in the parking lot. This is him and you on the field with whatever rules are agreed to and no cops get involved, nobody gets charged with anything if the challenge is accepted and if he kills your a** that's just what happens. Me, I'd probably apologize, but for the wannabe badass here's what I propose happens.
Rule #1
The offended party who issues the challenge must identify what has transgressed and what would be acceptable restitution to retract the challenge. Challenges for rediculous things like you took my last twinkie out of the fridge will be discussed later.
Rule #2
If the restitution is too much or if the challenged person feels they are in the right, they may accept. They will have the choice of means of duel. It could be anything and it doesn't have to be violent, but challenging someone to a game of ping pong would seem rather rediculous.
Rule #3
The issuer of the challenge must accept the terms of the challenged or they must retract the challenge. True, this means a huge dude could insist on a fist fight in which case you might have to withdraw, but that already happens now so it's not much of a problem and if you are one of those badass little dudes you can break him off some without going to jail.
Rule #4
Obviously, this system has potential problems. Gun duels over David Lee Roth -vs- Sammy Hagar could be seen, but you know, that's a really dumb thing to get that pissed about so maybe those two idiots need to shoot it out. At least there will be one less idiot out there at the end. Seriously, though, there should be an official mechanism for examining the validity of challenges to try to keep them reasonable. The method of restitution should be open for discussion especially if it deals with a monetary value of some kind. There should be a minimum two day cooling off period regardless of this to allow tempers to calm down.
That's about it. He smacked your girls a**, you told him to chill, he said f-u, you challenged him, he said baseball bats, you accepted, it's been two days and now you are standing before him bat at the ready. Either you will decide your girls a** is not worth getting your head beat in or he will. One less jerk in the world or perhaps, he decides, "my bad man." either way we win. It't just an idea. Want to fight about it?
