Dueling:
So many "Wild West" movies play out the following situation: Two lanky men face each other on Main street of some dusty old town. Each man has a revolver around his waist and a hand poised two inches above the weapon. They stare at one another with the beam-like focus of a laser. One of them pulls their weapon and so does the other a split-second later...did they both fire? I only hear one gunshot. One man falls and the victor remains motionless, silent as the dust settles.
It would seem that whoever pulled their gun first would have a huge advantage in such a contest, but my animal instinct says the man who pulled his gun last, shot the only bullet. It looks like he was just showing off, he wanted to prove he was so fast he would wait for the other man to pull first. The Gunslinger isn't interested in showing off. Never. Is it some American form of chivalry? No, there isn't an ounce of chivalry in the WILD West. Is this about the first man claiming that the second man pulled his weapon first so therefore the first can claim he pulled his weapon in self-defense? No, there is no interest in justification or any law-abiding aspect to these men. These logical thought strings all end with no clear answer.
This dueling wild West theme is played so often, and fascinates us Americans on some deep level. It has reached mythological status, like the Wizard of Oz. A story, played over and over again, so simple a child adores it, so profound an adult is mesmerized. The child and adult become one, the past and the future become one, what is is about a riddle that can destroy a mind or replicate itself ad infinitum? The capacity to contain, but not understand, consider, and then forget, and then remember and know the answer is human! This is the type of process a human undergoes to know the answer to "Why did the dead baby cross the road?" Generations of citizens, grappling with the same question, is how things like the Wizard of Oz become mythology.
And so I wish to draw this post to a close, and unlock the myth of the duel. I will unlock it unceremoniously and logically. I believe there were a few legendary gunslingers in our American history, and those men choose not to draw their weapon first, because it put them at a disadvantage. They were slower when their mind consciously choose to draw their weapon. But when their body saw an enemy draw steel, they used their reflexes.
So many "Wild West" movies play out the following situation: Two lanky men face each other on Main street of some dusty old town. Each man has a revolver around his waist and a hand poised two inches above the weapon. They stare at one another with the beam-like focus of a laser. One of them pulls their weapon and so does the other a split-second later...did they both fire? I only hear one gunshot. One man falls and the victor remains motionless, silent as the dust settles.
It would seem that whoever pulled their gun first would have a huge advantage in such a contest, but my animal instinct says the man who pulled his gun last, shot the only bullet. It looks like he was just showing off, he wanted to prove he was so fast he would wait for the other man to pull first. The Gunslinger isn't interested in showing off. Never. Is it some American form of chivalry? No, there isn't an ounce of chivalry in the WILD West. Is this about the first man claiming that the second man pulled his weapon first so therefore the first can claim he pulled his weapon in self-defense? No, there is no interest in justification or any law-abiding aspect to these men. These logical thought strings all end with no clear answer.
This dueling wild West theme is played so often, and fascinates us Americans on some deep level. It has reached mythological status, like the Wizard of Oz. A story, played over and over again, so simple a child adores it, so profound an adult is mesmerized. The child and adult become one, the past and the future become one, what is is about a riddle that can destroy a mind or replicate itself ad infinitum? The capacity to contain, but not understand, consider, and then forget, and then remember and know the answer is human! This is the type of process a human undergoes to know the answer to "Why did the dead baby cross the road?" Generations of citizens, grappling with the same question, is how things like the Wizard of Oz become mythology.
And so I wish to draw this post to a close, and unlock the myth of the duel. I will unlock it unceremoniously and logically. I believe there were a few legendary gunslingers in our American history, and those men choose not to draw their weapon first, because it put them at a disadvantage. They were slower when their mind consciously choose to draw their weapon. But when their body saw an enemy draw steel, they used their reflexes.