LITEROTICA PODCAST
LIT CAMS (200 Free Tokens)ADULT TOYSVOD MOVIES

Ask the Demon

gesshoku said:
Dear Vandal,

Why is honor so valued? Also, why is it so hard to define?
Click to expand...

Honor is so valued because it is so hard to define and perceive. The difficulty in defining it comes from its popular confusion with the concept of fame, while the difficulty in perceiving it is tied to understanding it's definition. Most people don't get it, and those that do are rarely understood by everyone else, making the former feel isolated from their peers, and the only way to combat that is to either join them or hold so tightly to their values as to make themselves pariahs.

That's the short explanation. If you want the long explanation, keep reading. I say this because this is going to be a long post. If you go on, prepare to be bored out of your skull. I warned you.

Honor is a concept that shares a distinction belonging to shamanism and the sword: they are all concepts that arose among cultures that had no contact with each other until all three were considered fully developed before those cultures crossed paths. Think about it. Honor codes are everywhere. From Japanese Bushido to European Nobility (the virtue, not the social class) and Native American Tribal customs, honor is an idea that every culture had before they even knew each other existed. They are viewed very differently, but when translations were being fleshed out between the languages, the concept was eventually identified as a good fit for each other's words. In most cases, the English word honor has only one translation in other languages, meaning they were pretty sure they knew exactly what the alien-tongued person was talking about when they finally got to the point where they could trade a few words on a common level. In those languages that do not have a word for honor, they have similar concepts that are badly translated into English because of other specifics associated with the words.

As mentioned above, honor is very often confused with fame. This is because a person who is believed to be honorable is often trusted quite highly. In fact, one of the best definitions of honor I've heard is the alchemy of trustworthiness and social status a person possesses. I have a friend (not mentioning any names) who likes to bring this subject up in regularly scheduled meetings she attends repeatedly. Speaking only for myself, I have heard her bring up the subject no less than four times and all but demand a long, hard, deeply though out discussion from each participant on each occasion. Whether this is obnoxiousness or complete confoundment derived from never getting a satisfactory answer (or, more likely, both) remains a mystery. The point is, no, this is not an easy concept to define. Again, I go back to the above paragraph, this time to play Devil's Advocate with myself. No two cultures have the same ideas on what honor truly is.

To the English, it involved a strange mix of feudalistic civility, manners and devotion to the law (in this case, the crown...God save the Queen). I am talking, however, of the upper classes of English history. When it comes to the lower classes, God can save the Queen if he likes, but the rest of us have other shit to worry about. And don't even get me started on the English who didn't want to be English. Those of you from Scotland know exactly what I'm talking about, at the very least in a historical sense. It has been theorized that this social phenomenon represents two different cultures existing in one country or empire at the same time, labeled cultures of law and honor, respectively.

Cultures of law exist whenever a people give up the rights to retaliation and defense for the security of a separate governing body that takes up those roles on a full time basis. With an enlightened and uncorrupted governing body, this arrangement is fine. It also ensures a longer lifespan, higher survival rate, and likely increased scientific advancement. Cultures of law do not like cultures of honor because they are dangerous, frightening, and in many cases, quite rural in comparison. Cultures of law pop up whenever there are enough people to make a government necessary or simply inevitable. Once enough people congregate and decide to live together in a community, someone is going to start to fall through the cracks and slip behind. This is when entry-level jobs and welfare initiatives come into play. Most lawbreakers are desperate, and if you can't give a desperate man what he's desperate for, the best way to keep him from breaking the law is to keep him busy, especially if you can make him think you're helping the best you can while he's busy. If that doesn't work and he does break the law, there will always be one or two people who don't like the idea of killing him, but with a large enough community, those one or two protesters turn into one or two thousand. That's when the prisons come about. However, just because a city is large and highly populated does not mean the culture of honor has no place there.

Cultures of honor will likely pop up when at least two of the following are true, and even then, if two are there, the third most likely is, too: low resources, more reward for "crime" than risk, and isolation from a governing body with any real power. I used quotations for the word crime because without a governing body, there really is no such thing as crime, merely acts that attract retribution. In a culture of honor, laws are, to a certain extent, unnecessary. To quote my favorite source of quotes, an armed society is a polite society. And as much of a good point as Robert Heinlein had, there is a bit more to it. Some guys only see their own sword in an armed society, not the fact that everyone else has one, too. To use another quote, you can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word. Al Capone is one example of how a culture of honor pops up in a densely populated area. Organized crime, gangs and vigilante groups are all examples of cultures of honor. These are largely meritocracies - societies where your accomplishments get more respect than resources and promises or proof of lineage. The "What have you done for me lately?" mindset is the law of the jungle here, and if you don't perform up to the level of the culture, then you're worthless. Cultures of honor look down on cultures of law due to the perception of the latter as weak, corrupt, outdated and hypocritical. Inner city gangs will know what I'm talking about. If the guy most regular people trust to watch their backs - the police - are just as likely to manipulate the situation to their own ends, then why not side with the crime lord? They're no more dangerous, they're probably more honest, and you don't have to try (and likely fail) at passing a rigorous examination to join.

Some of the problems with each culture should be readily apparent at this point. Law promotes laziness in all but those most dedicated to upholding the culture, while promoting the "Power corrupts" effect in those that serve, protect and govern. Honor is merciless and exacting. The problems don't stop there, however.

In a culture of law, changing the system is hard, but it's possible. It is, however, very slow. When things move as slow as they do in a culture of law, most people become uninterested in the process unless it directly effects them, and even then, people with problems are usually too focused on fixing said personal problems to cooperate with others and enact a change. Welcome to our low voter turnout here in America. In addition to this, the separation of government and constituent promotes malicious manipulation of the system from within. The more your people don't know or understand what you, as a person in power are doing - and/or the less they care - the easier it is to do what you want instead of so things for their benefit. This is how cultures of law break down and cause subcultures of honor to develop within them.

Cultures of law may be hard to change, but with cultures of honor, it is damn near impossible. As stated, honor is a very old concept, and therefor deeply rooted in tradition. Tradition does not change. If it did, it wouldn't be tradition. When a culture of honor breaks down, violence results very quickly. This is where all the stories of the Wild West come from. Raiders and tyrants force the common man to take control of the situation, and this inevitably leads to armed conflict. Even then, if you destroy the "ruling class" of a culture of honor, you have to rebuild the society again, usually making those that overthrew the previous rulers the new rulers. This is called a revolution. Now, while most people, especially Americans have romanticized revolutionaries, I'd like to remind you all that it has always been the fate of the noble and enlightened to suffer their demises at the hands of the armed and stupid. The fact that they beat the bad guys does not make them the good guys. It only makes them the new guys. Whether or not they are good depends on how they rule. And even then, a bad ruler is not necessarily a bad person. A bad ruler who refuses to step down is a bad person, though.

In today's "civilized" world, there exists a proliferation of law cultures. There are still cultures of honor here and there, but the term is not very accurate, and in some cases it would be an outright false label, but let's leave those aside for a moment. You're reading this on the internet, so most likely, you're in a highly developed country. You live in a culture of law. Honor is not a part of the cultural identity anymore. Law is. Some of you may argue otherwise, but bringing honor up in modern civilized conversation is a good way to be labeled antiquated by the educated, and just plain weird by everyone else. As the character Abigail Chase stated in the movie National Treasure, people don't talk like that anymore. But, as Ben Gates replied to those very words, they do think that way.

This is why to those that care about honor at all, it matters a great deal. Those who claim to understand it may or may not actually know what they're talking about, but it's still very important to them. To some, the process of understanding honor is just as integral to living as a sentient being as is survival, if not more so. Hopefully, someday we, as a race, will finally understand what honor really is and work toward living with it as an integral part of our society. Until then, those of us who care about it's meaning and substance will just have to try to live up to the ideal until everyone else catches up.
 
Last edited:
Oh Vandie...

1) I asked the vibrator question because in my sort of housing, secrets are rare because you can hear pins drop. To me the sound of my vibrator is quite distinct, especially combined with the rotational device. Although my section is relatively quiet, I am never sure if someone walking by would be able to tell what I am up to when that humming device is going, especially with my purrs.

2). No. That isn't it either. BEARS. They were all bears. I really really remember well the white one but I also remember the brown one. The bad guys were some sort of slimely thing who lived in the sewers who were trying to steal the candy.

3). What does a woman's virginity mean to you?
 
~His Kitten~ said:
Oh Vandie...

1) I asked the vibrator question because in my sort of housing, secrets are rare because you can hear pins drop. To me the sound of my vibrator is quite distinct, especially combined with the rotational device. Although my section is relatively quiet, I am never sure if someone walking by would be able to tell what I am up to when that humming device is going, especially with my purrs.

2). No. That isn't it either. BEARS. They were all bears. I really really remember well the white one but I also remember the brown one. The bad guys were some sort of slimely thing who lived in the sewers who were trying to steal the candy.

3). What does a woman's virginity mean to you?
Click to expand...

Is it this?

http://www52.homepage.villanova.edu/jaylynn.peck/images/kissyfur.jpg


This is called "Kissyfur".
 
VandalHeart said:
Cleric, don't encourage my slave's deviant friends.

...

On second thought, ignore I said that. she has some pretty twisted friends, and the ideas they get can benefit me quite nicely sometimes, so we might as well not stammer any of them. Still....
Click to expand...

*Sniff*

What good is influence when it is not used?

As for the Pegg picture, I shall it here.
Entirely for fear that if I don't, people would go looking, find other pictures, and then my exhibitionist side that I've worked so hard to control would be let free and chaos would reign. Again.

Edit: It didn't take. Shrug. I'll see if I can dig it up from the Nerd thread.

Please hold.

Done!

I'm the nerd on the right, and then again on the left.
 
Last edited:
~His Kitten~ said:
Oh Vandie...

1) I asked the vibrator question because in my sort of housing, secrets are rare because you can hear pins drop. To me the sound of my vibrator is quite distinct, especially combined with the rotational device. Although my section is relatively quiet, I am never sure if someone walking by would be able to tell what I am up to when that humming device is going, especially with my purrs.

2). No. That isn't it either. BEARS. They were all bears. I really really remember well the white one but I also remember the brown one. The bad guys were some sort of slimely thing who lived in the sewers who were trying to steal the candy.

3). What does a woman's virginity mean to you?
Click to expand...

1). I think you should be fine, jsut try to keep yourself at least a little quiet, unless you have some other noise making device, like a TV or stereo to cover it up.

2). I'm out of ideas. I had three people besides myself trolling the net trying to find anything we could...and we got nothin'. Sorry.

3). Depends on the context. For a lady who has saved herself for that special someone, it means a lot. For a girl trying to get laid for the first time, but keeping her standards high, it's just as important. For the woman who honestly doesn't even think about it, I don't really tend to have much interest. Honestly, this is a question of my opinion, and when you bring up sex and ask my opinion, you're going to get responses based on me meeting and conversing with a hypothetical person. My value of someone else's virginity is dependent on the value they place on it. It's a flap of skin that could theoretically regrow if left alone for seven years. The spiritual and mental importance varies from person to person. So, as I said, it depends on the context.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

hombremontana
A secret place, it could be fun with the right people.
Replies
4
Views
168
hombremontana
hombremontana
MissMaidenMinx
Now to ask the ladies
Replies
7
Views
656
Abeona1
A
Nylonian
AMA: Coffee & Nylons
Replies
4
Views
109
Nylonian
Nylonian
Mrtenant
🏜🏜New England In the Fall? 🏝🏝
2
Replies
31
Views
298
ericalauren
ericalauren
SpicyBean99
Does Authenticity Matter Here?
7 8 9
Replies
213
Views
7K
Happyfun1
H
Back
Top