Honor Culture

Or Cultures of Honor.

Most people in western civilizations understand the concept of Honor. Or, at least, they think they do. Most understand, “do the honorable thing.”

It is a question of right and wrong. It is a moral decision.

The honorable thing to do is to return the wallet you find on the sidewalk. The honorable thing to do is to protect the lives of the innocent over your own. The honorable thing to do is to put yourself between the bad guys and the innocents.

This is honor in western culture and civilization.

An “Honor Culture” or a “Culture of Honor” is not about doing the honorable thing. It is about personal honor.

Scotland was an honor culture for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. This is what led to clan wars. These people weren’t attacking other clans because they intended to take land or goods, so much as “honor demanded it”.

At some point in the past, the offending clan had done something to “dishonor” the clan. So the entire clan is at war with the offending clan.

There is new jargon, To “Dis’” somebody. This means to show them disrespect. To dishonor them.

Dissing somebody often escalates into verbal or physical violence.

You don’t disrespect somebody in an honor culture unless you are ready and willing to defend yourself. And to those members of an honor culture, you are the instigator.

Calling somebody the “N” word when not a member of that sub-culture is to dishonor them. It is to disrespect them. As such, you have invited violence upon yourself.

The Scots migrated from Scotland to the United States. Many of them came to live in the south. They brought their honor culture with them.

Thomas Sowell discusses this in —Thomas Sowell, Black rednecks and white liberals (Encounter Books 1st ed ed. 2005).

One of the signs of an honor culture is a tendency to “defend my honor”. Dueling. When the south was fully invested in being an honor culture, duels were common.

Later, as the honor culture dissipated, the number of duels, both gun, knife and fist, decreased.

According to Sowell, that honor culture didn’t just disappear, though. It was adopted by the slaves. When the slaves became freedmen, they didn’t forgo that honor culture. Instead, they took it with them.

That honor culture survives today in “the hood”.

For the most part, honor societies in the west exist as a decoration we wear. It is blustering over a football game. It is taking a joking offense at some perceived slight.

In an honor society, you do not joke about some ones honor. “Them’s fighting words”

Other primitive cultures still exist as honor cultures.

It is dishonorable for a woman to have sex outside marriage. The woman’s owner is dishonored by this. Because his honor has been harmed, he is entitled to punish her. Like having her stoned to death.

He is dishonored if _____. Fill in the blank. A Jew defends himself and stops an attack. They have dishonored the attacker.

When I use the term “honor society” or “honor culture”, I am not talking about an “honorable society” or even a society that is governed by being honorable. I am talking of the horrific, barbarous, back world “honor culture” that hangs gays from construction cranes, and kills women who have been raped.