Myth: The Wild West Was Indeed Wild
Truth: Actually, It Wasn't Very Wild At All
Real, No-Bullshit Truth: Actually, The First Guy Had It Right: It Was Pretty Wild

An academic study you can dig.

How violent was the Wild West? Well, in California the homicide rate seems to have been seven times the current US per capita rate. (Homicides I imagine meaning what it does in law, i.e., any taking of a human life by a person, not necessarily murder (murder being a sub-category of homicide)).

That's pretty wild.

The academy seems to be always willing to be swindled by big, sexy counterintuitive claims that reverse previous "myths." Even when those myths are actually true.

Correction: Actually, the study does seem to be using the word "homicide" as a synonym for "murder."

Which makes one wonder about the additional homicides (self-defense, "fair fight" (which isn't a legal thing, but seems to have been a custom), etc.) there were on top of the actual murders.

Correction to the Correction: Now that I think about it, the guys must be counting all those as homicides. Why wouldn't they? They must just be using imprecise and sloppy language in then talking exclusively about "murders."

posted by Ace at 05:09 PM

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