Hi boris_a; Re: "In medieval European towns, there have been deadly violence rates of 40-80/10'000 (inhabitants, that is). Chicago is at 6/10'000 today, average European towns at 1-2/10'000. I'd call it a civilizatory effect."
I saw the movie "Gangs of New York", a little while ago, and hated it, but by chance I turned out to have a copy of the book, unread, on my bookshelf and finally got around to opening it up. A wonderful little book.
And there is no question that man is slowly become more civilized. Even in the US.
Long after the slaves were freed in the US, it was still possible to take a nap in a bad hotel and wake up enlisted as a crew member on a ship, a position similar to indentured servitude (for the duration of the voyage). In 1860, they did this to the wrong guy in New York City. Here's the story:
mudcat.org@displaysong.cfm?SongID=2633
Unmentioned in the above is that the sloop, when discovered, still had the ax severed fingers of a man who had tried to climb back in after Hicks had thrown him overboard.
-- Carl
By the way, the best long term evidence I've ever seen for the slow civilizing of man is Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", a fascinating book. |
