Tonight in class, we were discussing the importance of the Frontier in American culture. Among one of the more interesting theories brought up was this is where our love of violence comes from to begin with. It emerges with the Puritans, fleeing from Europe to establish their religious utopia. They get here, and they're surrounded by these (to them) freakish Native Americans. Attempts to convert them were unsuccessful. So the Puritans decided that the only other thing they could do was to kill them. The Puritans believed that the Indians were the spawn of Satan, were "red devils," and the only good one was a dead one. Violence became a cleansing force to the white settlers, and because of this, we're still enthralled to it today.
An argument could be made that today we are demonizing Muslims. Again, we play the "civilizing" force. I guess this makes George W. Bush the ultimate cowboy. What's next - will he change the "W" in his name to stand for "John Wayne"?
9:46:21 PM 
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