One of the problems
with American culture is quite simple.
Not enough people read Westerns.
As a genre, it represents a set of virtues for people to emulate. Over the last century, ideals and principles in
society have declined markedly.
Strength, nobility,
and courage are virtues that are exemplified in one only persona, that of the
American soldier, and popular media downplays the contributions and sacrifices of
the only true hero left to us.
The Western influenced
a generation of Americans when it was popular on television and in Hollywood
"Westerns... created a model for men who
came of age in the twentieth century." – Jane Tompkins, West of Everything
Even in the Revisionist
Westerns when the anti-hero became popular, the protagonist still emulated
honor and loyalty.
In Unforgiven, Eastwood's character Will
Munny is a man who "has killed everything that has walked or crawled at
one time or another," yet he is on a quest to bring to justice men who
have harmed a woman. Later in the movie,
he seeks vengeance against those who killed his friend.
The protagonist in
any Western stood up for his beliefs, no matter what the cost and offered no
compromise. Pick up any Western story and you will find virtues that have all
but vanished from society.
The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales by Forrest Carter offers some insight into
what many consider to be the Code of the West, although it's improbable that
such a code actually existed during the Old West time period.
As a man had no coin, his coin was his word.
His loyalty, his bond. To injure one to whom he was obliged was personal; more,
it was blasphemy.
How many people
nowadays are actually concerned about keeping their word? How many people actually stand up for their
beliefs? Today,
instead of standing up to evil, people look the other way.
There's no such
thing as honor, integrity or loyalty in American society. There is no line that hasn't been crossed. Honor has become a word that people look up in
the dictionary and not a value to be lived by.
Without the Western,
there are no heroes for today's culture.
While some celebrities and athletes are fine people, the majority of
them are not the best of role models.
As Louis L'Amour
said in his novel Sackett's Land, people
need someone to admire. "A man
needs heroes. He needs to believe in strength, nobility, and courage. Otherwise
we become sheep to be herded to the slaughterhouse..."
The problem with
today's society can be summarized by a quote from John Wayne. "A man's got to have a code, a creed to
live by, no matter his job."
With no heroes to
emulate and no creed to live by, how long before we become sheep to be herded
to the slaughterhouse?
