Let's be clear: I'm not one. A gentleman, that is. Although, I'm frequently mistaken for one. It must be my smooth manners and elegant bearing. But inside, as I'm the first to concede, I'm a fucking barbarian who longs to shed the blood of our foes. Violence, after all, works. In this, I admit, I'm leagues ahead of my contemporaries, most of whom still don't understand what's happening, and therefore a bit isolated. But that's a topic for another day. Although I adhere to several of the behaviours on this list--firm handshake, eye contact, stand up straight, well-groomed, punctuality--the rest of the items seem fashioned for hollow-chested Christian chaps. As I've written before, the code of the gentleman was designed by weaklings to hobble stronger, more violent men. It is a truth unacknowledged by most that the survival of our civilisation will require the application of force and violence. As it stands, the gentlemen of the West are hardly up to the task. The situation demands an alternative code of values.
14 May 2013
The Rules To Always Being A Gentleman
Let's be clear: I'm not one. A gentleman, that is. Although, I'm frequently mistaken for one. It must be my smooth manners and elegant bearing. But inside, as I'm the first to concede, I'm a fucking barbarian who longs to shed the blood of our foes. Violence, after all, works. In this, I admit, I'm leagues ahead of my contemporaries, most of whom still don't understand what's happening, and therefore a bit isolated. But that's a topic for another day. Although I adhere to several of the behaviours on this list--firm handshake, eye contact, stand up straight, well-groomed, punctuality--the rest of the items seem fashioned for hollow-chested Christian chaps. As I've written before, the code of the gentleman was designed by weaklings to hobble stronger, more violent men. It is a truth unacknowledged by most that the survival of our civilisation will require the application of force and violence. As it stands, the gentlemen of the West are hardly up to the task. The situation demands an alternative code of values.
Truly you are a man who knows himself.
ReplyDeleteQuote from Henry V:
ReplyDeleteFor he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother: be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition.
Commoners become gentlemen through honourable combat. Gentlemen, as men of honour, are duty-bound to endure no slight without seeking blood vengeance. In the absence of a duelling culture, you are obligated to respond to an insult from a ruffian with a barstool to the back of his head. When the police ask you why, reply "it was my duty as a gentleman".
“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”
ReplyDeleteLao Tzu
6th cent BCE
"Know thyself."
Delphic maxim
"...speak that I may see thee."
Ben Johnson
(1572-1637)
"Those prancing little pants-wetters come here to learn the colorful and gentlemanly art of fencing, with its many sporting limitations and its proscriptions against dishonorable engagements. You on the other hand, you are going to learn how to kill men with a sword.”
Scott Lynch
(1978-)
The Lies of Locke Lamora
2006
So does that sound about right?
ReplyDelete"My duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures in the smallest degree."
Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest
I've now actually read this weird stuff: 'have a romantic sensibility...', 'love well...' - this is you, Cod, at least as you 'envision' yourself. Marvellous stuff.
ReplyDeleteAlexander was one of the first gentlemen in Western history... at least when he felt like it. Remember that stuff about the Theban lady and the well? Or Darius's family, captured at Issus?
ReplyDeleteWas his behaviour "designed by weaklings to hobble stronger, more violent men"?
The various concepts of noble and gentle behaviour throughout history have been created by the strong, sometimes for superficial reasons, sometimes because they genuinely demanded more from themselves.
Don't get your definition from some internet dipshit who draws up cute posters and uses bad grammar, or from vague notions held by the mediocre.
Also, violence certainly does work sometimes, in ways that our society is increasingly incapable of understanding. But to heal a civilization that's destroying itself at every cultural level?
You have to overcome the power of the establishment in every Western country, consisting of academia, government and the media. As it stands, you have an enemy, to one extent or another, in the majority of people, including decent people. They have been directly and indirectly indoctrinated by the above institutions for many, many decades. Many or most of those people are the rootless masses who are materially comfortable in this cultureless world, who have their TVs, cellphones, cars, expensive healthcare, and far, far worse, have the vote.
Can you cure cancer with explosives? This is far more complicated and invasive than cancer.
I deeply and viscerally hate the people and forces destroying my civilization. If you have some truly effective violent solution to our problems, then I will be the first in line to help you. If I would die to preserve the true form and values of my culture, and I think I might even, then you can believe that I would kill for them without hesitation.
But my heart sinks when I realize that it's going to be a lot harder, and a lot less satisfying than that. We have to try anyway.
Sorry my comment is so long. It just means that I actually take you seriously.