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Deadly honor? Macho guys more likely to get killed
MSNBC ^ | August 15, 2011 | Brian Alexander

Posted on 08/15/2011 12:00:45 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

People do stupid things all the time and they do them in all geographic regions, but as any regular viewer of Comedy Central’s "Tosh 2.0" can tell you, there does seem to be an uncanny correlation between certain regions of the country and the kind of risk-taking behavior that could get you seriously hurt or even killed.

That’s the premise of a new study out today in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. The three authors, all from the University of Oklahoma, found that states with a “culture of honor” –- in the South, and the West, mainly -- also have higher rates of accidental death for white males: 42 per 100,000 compared to 36.8 per 100,000 in non “honor” states.

So what’s a “culture of honor”? “The relentless, and sometimes violent, defense of masculine reputation,” according to the study.

“This is an adaptation to what the Ulster Scots [also called the Scots-Irish] experienced over 800 or 900 years in southern Scotland,” one of the study’s authors, Ryan P. Brown, explained. “That’s a breeding ground for the types of dynamics we are looking at.”

Interclan raiding and warfare led to allegiance to family and a high value being placed on one’s personal bravery; think Mel Gibson and his blue William Wallace face. Then, when those people came to the United States, they tended to move to some pretty wild areas.

“During the 1700s they came to Appalachia and they were dirt poor,” Brown said. “So they didn’t get the nice land, they got pushed into the back country” where there wasn’t exactly a cop on the beat.

They defended themselves against threats real or imagined, including threats to their reputations as manly men. Hence the fabled Hatfield-McCoy feud.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine; Miscellaneous; Society
KEYWORDS: clans; cultureofhonor; defendinghonor; duh; feuds; godsgravesglyphs; holdmubeer; holdmuhbeer; honor; macho; manliness; men; raids; risktaking; scotsirish; stupidity; yagonnatakethat
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Hold muh beer...
1 posted on 08/15/2011 12:00:47 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees.

Figuratively and literally.
2 posted on 08/15/2011 12:01:59 PM PDT by OCCASparky (Steely-eyed killer of the deep.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

This is news? I’ve been reading about this phenomenon for something like 30 years, and it was covered pretty well in “Outliers”.


3 posted on 08/15/2011 12:02:45 PM PDT by Doctor 2Brains (If the government were Paris Hilton, it could not score a free drink in a bar full of lonely sailors)
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46 Days And FR Is Still Short Of Its Goal

We Are In A Fight For Our Republic

Are You In Or Are You Out?

Support Free Republic

4 posted on 08/15/2011 12:03:25 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (America! The wolves are here! What will you do?)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

They also build nations, win wars and create a culture that makes things, instead of one that lays back and takes them.


5 posted on 08/15/2011 12:04:49 PM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: Doctor 2Brains

Yeah, but this time it was probably paid for by shovel ready money.

Cowards die a thousand times.


6 posted on 08/15/2011 12:05:17 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Half the people are below average.)
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To: SJSAMPLE

Good point. I was thinking more along the lines of that clown who somehow crashed his 4x4 onto the roof of his house.


7 posted on 08/15/2011 12:06:32 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (It's the Tea Party's fault!)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Remembering the old Richard Pryor routine:

“I’m MACHO MAN....I’ll take that knife and shove it up your a$$.”

You’ll go very quickly from “Macho Man” to “Dead Person.”


8 posted on 08/15/2011 12:07:23 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

So Alexander and MSNBC want everyone to be a Mr Sissypants like their boys Hussein 0bama and Chrissy Matthews? Hell no! I rather be a REAL man and die young, than to be a coward and live forever!


9 posted on 08/15/2011 12:08:52 PM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (Psalm 109:8 Let his days be few and let another take his office. - Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

The three authors, all from the University of Oklahoma, found that states with a “culture of honor” –- in the South, and the West, mainly — also have higher rates of accidental death for white males
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why is this honor culture limited to white males?


10 posted on 08/15/2011 12:09:33 PM PDT by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Well nobody at MSNBC has ever been accoused of defense of masculine reputation.
11 posted on 08/15/2011 12:11:41 PM PDT by usurper (Liberals GET OFF MY LAWN)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks Tolerance Sucks Rocks.

This can be found way back in human history. It can also be found among the Muzzies, and during WWII it was a huge impediment to the Japanese armed forces.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


12 posted on 08/15/2011 12:13:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Yes, as a matter of fact, it is that time again -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: mamelukesabre

True. I’m pretty sure that Black and Hispanic cultures also have the honor thing going for them.


13 posted on 08/15/2011 12:15:26 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (It's the Tea Party's fault!)
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To: mamelukesabre
Why is this honor culture limited to white males?

Some Asian cultures too.

14 posted on 08/15/2011 12:15:26 PM PDT by Hodar (Who needs laws .... when this "feels" so right?)
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To: OCCASparky

At least “macho guys” have something worth living, fighting, and, if necessary, dying for.


15 posted on 08/15/2011 12:19:38 PM PDT by Little Ray (FOR the best Conservative in the Primary; AGAINST Obama in the General.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
True. I’m pretty sure that Black and Hispanic cultures also have the honor thing going for them.

In Hispanic cultures it's called machismo.

16 posted on 08/15/2011 12:21:32 PM PDT by COBOL2Java (Obama is the least qualified guy in whatever room he walks into.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

...as any regular viewer of Comedy Central’s “Tosh 2.0” can tell you....

***
Boy, that is some impressive reference source, huh?


17 posted on 08/15/2011 12:48:23 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Palin in 2012)
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To: SJSAMPLE

They also build nations, win wars and create a culture that makes things, instead of one that lays back and takes them.

(((
Amen!


18 posted on 08/15/2011 12:49:20 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Palin in 2012)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

I suspect there’s a liberal feminyst movement to equate “macho” with “stupid”.


19 posted on 08/15/2011 12:49:45 PM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Macho guys more likely to get killed

Without jumping into a discussion of "alpha" vs "beta" males, I'd like to point out that those so-called "macho" males also are probably far more likely to pass along their genetic material.

Even if some beta chump gets to raise the offspring.

20 posted on 08/15/2011 12:57:21 PM PDT by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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