New Grit

[Timothy]

Do not romanticize "the Cowboy". They were nothing more than the "blue collar" workers of their day. Most of them were fairly ignorant, and spent most of their off time drunk. All this "nobility" stuff is pure Hollywood crap, they were no more "noble" than the average modern factory worker. Their true strength, and what actually made America great, is always down played or ignored. It was that they worked like dogs, and did what needed doing.
30 below zero and a blizzard ? The cattle and fence lines still need to be checked on, get your ass out there and do it.
Drought or locusts got last years crop ? Tough sh!t, You still need to keep plugging, no bailouts in those days.
It was a hard, thankless, generally hopeless existence and they did it 24/7/365 for $30 or $40 a month and board.
But they did it.

Several years ago, PBS ran a group of shows where they put modern folks back in the 1600's in MA and another back in the 1800 in Wyoming.  The casts were made to live in the period and suffer the pain, hardships, starvation, scavenging and everything that the Pilgrims and settlers were forced to endure.

It was a great series, very informative.  A Navy buddy of mine was part of the Pilgrim cast.  Pretty cool stuff and glamorous, it wasn't.  Early Americans worked like their lives depended on it because it DID!

Not one of the Wyoming families depicted would have survived the winter according to the experts who summarized the groups.  They couldn't put up enough wood, grain and staples to feed themselves or their livestock.

[billt]

+100! I hate it when people romanticize the past.   FQ13

But what about the "good ol' days" when you could buy a new Ruger Blackhawk for under $200.00??     Bill T.

[fightingquaker13]

But what about the "good ol' days" when you could buy a new Ruger Blackhawk for under $200.00??     Bill T.

I sold one last year that had the original $175 price tag still on it from 1976. Could have been yours for twice that.
FQ13

[Dakotaranger]

Past nothing .  I know man is (and was) selfish.  I was pointing out the differences between modern and classic westerns.  It's nothing we haven't covered in other threads.  Modern Hollywood sees nothing good about this country. 

[tombogan03884]

Past nothing .  I know man is (and was) selfish.  I was pointing out the differences between modern and classic westerns.  It's nothing we haven't covered in other threads.  Modern Hollywood sees nothing good about this country.  

Granted, But I'm pretty sure people like you and Pathfinder understand exactly the point I was trying to make.
The Brave town Marshal, or heroic Indian fighter were pretty darn rare, they were in fact just folks busting their butts to survive.
The "Indian fighter" was a farmer or ranch hand right up until some one tried to kill him.
The Town Marshal got little or no pay except a percentage of the fines he collected and was often some local who's farm or ranch was struggling. As an example, Pat Garrett worked as a Lawman so his family didn't starve, he was actually a Rancher, and inept land speculator.
Billy the Kid, the James boys, and the Earps, all more or less the same situation. They did what they needed to to put food on the table.
Good folks or bad none of them sat around letting the Govt support them, and win or lose they all kept plugging because they had no choice.

[Sponsor]

[Pathfinder]

Do not romanticize "the Cowboy". They were nothing more than the "blue collar" workers of their day. Most of them were fairly ignorant, and spent most of their off time drunk. All this "nobility" stuff is pure Hollywood crap, they were no more "noble" than the average modern factory worker. Their true strength, and what actually made America great, is always down played or ignored. It was that they worked like dogs, and did what needed doing.
30 below zero and a blizzard ? The cattle and fence lines still need to be checked on, get your ass out there and do it.
Drought or locusts got last years crop ? Tough sh!t, You still need to keep plugging, no bailouts in those days.
It was a hard, thankless, generally hopeless existence and they did it 24/7/365 for $30 or $40 a month and board.
But they did it.

But that's exactly the point. Their nobility is based in their ability to get the job done regardless of the obstacles. Sure, Tom Mix et al. turned the tourist cowboy trade into a more sissified and dandified version of the real thing. But it in no way diminishes what they were - hired workers looked down upon by the mainstream in society, but who made the work happen and fed the industrial might of this country. Just like John Henry, just like the coal miners, muleskinners, canal tow-boat pullers and polemen.

and Tom, anytime FQ gives you a "+100", be afraid, be very afraid!   

[tombogan03884]

But that's exactly the point. Their nobility is based in their ability to get the job done regardless of the obstacles. Sure, Tom Mix et al. turned the tourist cowboy trade into a more sissified and dandified version of the real thing. But it in no way diminishes what they were - hired workers looked down upon by the mainstream in society, but who made the work happen and fed the industrial might of this country. Just like John Henry, just like the coal miners, muleskinners, canal tow-boat pullers and polemen.

and Tom, anytime FQ gives you a "+100", be afraid, be very afraid!   

I am   

[Dakotaranger]

But that's exactly the point. Their nobility is based in their ability to get the job done regardless of the obstacles. Sure, Tom Mix et al. turned the tourist cowboy trade into a more sissified and dandified version of the real thing. But it in no way diminishes what they were - hired workers looked down upon by the mainstream in society, but who made the work happen and fed the industrial might of this country. Just like John Henry, just like the coal miners, muleskinners, canal tow-boat pullers and polemen.

and Tom, anytime FQ gives you a "+100", be afraid, be very afraid!   

One of the things I'm most proud of is the Lazy T I got on my back...and it's not a tattoo. 

When we had to give a deposition the lawyers asked when my first job was.  I proudly told them I was ten.  They all laughed and asked if it was a paperroute.  I've never heard so much silence as when I told them working livestock.  There is a noblity doing a man's job and hardwork, most people don't understand that and yes, I was influenced by the code that was espoused in westerns. 

Guess you can blame mom for not taking Willie Nelson's advice when I was a kid. 

[tombogan03884]

Like I posted , DR and Path understand what I mean, The real Paul Bunyans started chopping the lumber that built America in Bangor and Portland Me. After they hit the Pacific and started another Portland and Bangor they turned around and started chopping their way back.

[Dakotaranger]

Like I posted , DR and Path understand what I mean, The real Paul Bunyans started chopping the lumber that built America in Bangor and Portland Me. After they hit the Pacific and started another Portland and Bangor they turned around and started chopping their way back.

Yeah, I finally got we're seeing eye to eye more or less.  It's just something that should be honored and respected...it doesn't really seam to be by those that have never done an honest days work...