Letter to the advocate dueling and gang violence:
I read with interest the article in the March 16, 2014 Advocate (http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news):
“Historically Speaking: Dueling and the Code of Honor,” in which the custom of
literally killing an adversary over a trivial dispute is described.
As pointed out by
Dr. Prothrow-Stith (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnP-ngZTPZ0), the similarity between this
historical practice and contemporary violence cannot be missed. The documentary “Shell-Shocked” (http://www.shellshockeddoc.com/) shows
that “New Orleans, Louisiana has
one of the highest per capita murder rates in the United States. … Eighty
percent of the victims are black males, mostly in their teenage years.” Although
the demographics are different, the underlying processes are similar. In both cases, verbal disputes and slights of
honor disproportionately escalate into senseless death by revenge and
retaliation.
From a biological
point of view, anger escalating into violence is an evolutionary fossil, it is
an atavistic relic of pre-civilization life.
Conflicts must be resolved by justice.
As an educator, I know that in every group of students, there are extremely
intelligent, creative, curious, hopeful, questing minds. Our country and world
need these young people to survive and solve the pressing political,
technological and scientific issues of the next century. Their loss is our loss.
The Advocate article
states that dueling became “antiquated and obsolete”, the last known duel having
been fought more than 100 years ago. We
need to make contemporary revenge killing similarly obsolete.
Sent by web form 3 17 2014
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