01 November 2008

The Wild West ... Just another episode in the minds of men?



The wild west spawned legends, myths and stories of notorious badmen (and women) that have taken myriad twists and turns, depending on who's telling the story. Jesse James, the Dalton Gang, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Billy the Kid, Etta Place, Belle Star, the Younger Gang, Archie Clement ... the list goes on.

Truth is, most of these villainous characters were little more than half-witted petty theives, or obsessed with revenge over some misguided cause, with no direction in life short of an early grave. Their celebrity was born out of a burning need to counter a labourious and otherwise boring life-style, of the times, that was satisfied by the "dime novel", which brought fiction and folklore to reality and made heroes of outlaws... in the minds of readers.

It's a common thread woven into larger than life stories dating back to biblical times, when stories shaped the minds of men, and stretching the truth gave hope where hope was absent and secreted desires mired in man's imagination made heroes of cowards. Plato's laws of attraction or "affinity" decribes the phenomena as well as any ... we like people for their qualities but we love them for their defects. Defects that we deny in ourselves, but secretly ascribe.

So, what is the truth about these infamous and scandalous desperados? Were the badmen and law breakers of the wild west really all that bad? Or, were many of their exploits justified, to some extent, by a higher law ... survival? Do you really want to know? Come with me as I explore the veracity and uncover the real facts about the characters of western folklore.

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