Deadly honor? Macho guys more likely to get killed

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.

I think this writer is commenting on the accidental death rates for whites in US culture being defined by region...mountain, west and southern as being higher than other areas due to this Ulster Scots or Scotch-Irish as they called it where I grew up

Because the accidental death rates for blacks and hispanics is not as regionally defined in proportional quantity...they kill and at higher rates everywhere they are in large numbers...whereas say whites in Vermont sure as heck don't kill like my kin in Mississippi

blacks and hispanics kill each other far more than whites do but often for different reasons...profit and turf..not that blacks and hispanics do not kill for more intangible reasons too but it's a smaller part of the problem whereas with whites it is a big part...southern whites kill each other often stupidly for affronts..it's a wonder I never did

Orientals are I think off the radar on this..their killing rate being pretty damn low as a rule

I like how I grew up. I knew if I let my mouth overload my ass that there would be consequence...and possibly dire. And that has served me very well for 53 years..and I learned to fight and take a hit..but to be fair..the last part may be lost...it was lost on minorities already when I was young..you fought one black guy and you had to fight 3 or 4 and they would do it to each other too and loved to beat someone already down and dance around them...it's just different but I think low end whites now are no different in fighting etiquette (sorry for the derailment of the topic)

Muslims have honor killing too but far different..I'm not sure honor is really the reason southerners are quick to fight on insult...it can't be encapsulated that easy.

I do know from living in New York that confrontation without consequence between Yankees is a way of life...just watch how the northern loggers treat each other compared to how those Carolina boys act on those reality shows...it tells the story better than I can

You just can't get up in folks faces down here unless you are dealing with some Billy Budd hipster.

Its not just southerners. I grew up in the great plains area. I’ve never known a term for that kind of fighting style etiquette. I’m not sure if “ulster scot” is appropriate since it existed in the great plains area and most people there are of german and scandinavian extraction. But it could still be appropriate since a cultural characteristic can bleed over into other ethnicities...the english language is proof of that. I don’t speak german or danish and you don’t eat haggis or play bag pipes.

I had very little experience with minorities when growing up. The closest thing to a people I thought of as “other” at that time was catholics. They went to special schools and wore special clothing and wore special jewelry(saint christopher, the italian horn, etc). But in all other ways they were essentially the same. Their boys practiced the same fighting etiquette.

The first time I ever became aware of people who lacked the type of fighting etiquette you speak of was the first time I ever met a person from england. I was horrified. I told myself it was an aberration of this individual’s association with the punk rock scene that was new to america at that time. But little by little I began to realize the fighting etiquette did not exist in england AT ALL...and worse, this form of barbarism was spreading and there was no way to stop it.

In england, the typical fist fight was like this...everyone gathers around the two combatants and holds them prisoner inside a space inside the crowd until one of them is unable to defend himself any longer. Then the crowd stomps and kicks on the loser until he cannot move or is unconscious. The crowd may turn on the winner of the fight as well depending on the circumstances and how riled up everyone is. The two combatants know what is going to happen and they each try to inflict such serious damage to the other as quickly as possible in hopes that they can satiate the crowd’s blood lust and thus spare themselves from being victimized by the crowd. By being more bloodthirsty than the crowd, a winner can become one of the crowd rather than a victim of the crowd.

I do not think it has gotten this barbaric in america yet. But this is the direction of the trend.

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