http://dualitynature.blogspot.com/ Duality Nature Project: Ice Cream Sundaes and Dueling - Why people SLANDER one another

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Ice Cream Sundaes and Dueling - Why people SLANDER one another



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/State_Street_-_Ithaca%2C_New_York.jpg



Yesterday Google celebrated the birth of the ice cream sundae. I was curious to find out more about this and I discovered that there was a strong dispute as to who get's to claim the right as the birthplace of the ice cream sundae. The credit usually goes (and the one google has also chosen) to Ithaca New York. The above image was taken circa 1901 and is in one of the historical depositories of the United States of America. The city pictured is Ithaca, New York. Ithaca was named after a Greek Island and the name was chosen by a clerk at the time by the name of Robert Harpur. Harpur had many professions, not the least of which was a clerk during this time and he was primarily a teacher and scholar in his greatest capacity because one of his pupils was none other than Alexander Hamilton. Harpur had an interest in ancient Greek and Roman history as was common of the time as there was quite a lot of fervor surrounding the classical ideals that had a large influence on the founding fathers of the United States. I would like the reader to notice the apparent "cleanliness" of the city, for lack of a better term, and how there are no automobiles present yet people seem to be quite busy. You will also notice power lines which carry electricity and were a relatively recent invention at the time. Everyone is well addressed. I hope you will agree that these people are Ladies and Gentlemen. Please contrast that with the current state of affairs today. We do not currently have this level of decency I think and the contrast is stark. So what changed?

I have studied much history and I have to think the difference between then and now is fear. In the modern age of today people don't seem to have much fear. They say what they want, when they want no matter if it is appropriate or not. Back then people wouldn't do that because if they did they might get into a fight. Today if you get into a fight you will most probably be going to jail, so anyone can say what they want, but back then if you said something that was thought to be inappropriate you would often times be in a fight. That is why, I think, that largely people had fear. The formal practice of fighting has typically been known as dueling. We no longer use that term and dueling has since been outlawed in much of the world, so people say what when they want.

There is an irony here in the fact that Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel by none other than Aaron Burr. This has a lot to do with Thomas Jefferson. The reason is because Hamilton and Jefferson were often in dispute with one another. Hamilton was the one who started the Federal Reserve and Thomas Jefferson would often argue and fight against that. I have not discovered any accurate sources for determining when dueling stopped in the United States but it seems to have taken a downturn at this time as Alexander Hamilton was well liked. Personally I do not care for Alexander Hamilton and I don't think Thomas Jefferson did either. The dispute was so heavy that it resulted in a duel between Hamilton and Burr. Burr was a close acquittance of Thomas Jefferson. So if we say that dueling was largely a safety net against debauchery and sinful nature in the case of people blaspheming against one another, you can see it's quite ironic that the person who would name the city would have been the teacher of Hamilton who was largely responsible, due to public outcry in a sense to his death since he was well liked, for the eventual downfall and outlawing in dueling. There were basically two factions: Those who believed disputes should only be settled in courts of law, and those who believe dueling could also be used, in addition to courts of law, to settle disputes. I am personally of the former class and believe that dueling, though violent, serves a great purpose in keeping order in society and preventing men from blaspheming and sinning against each other. If you have ever been in the position where someone was blaspheming and slandering you, you might digress that you would have certainly liked to have challenged and fought that person, and you might also digress that taken the person to court, most of the time, is a waste of time and effort which doesn't usually accomplish anything to the greater effect. So that is why people call you names and there is nothing you can do about it except slander and insult them back.

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