Were people more polite and considerate when…

everyone carried a sword?

It's something a friend of mine suggested the other night. He went on to explain that he considers the root of some problems today to be the fact that for lots of people, there are no consequences to their actions or they don't see the consequences. When everyone carried a sword, everyone gave more thought to their actions.

Made for an interesting discussion.

I think so, I can't stand all the pointless little snipes and arguments you get with people these days and internet forum keyboard warriors are the worst. If you want to have an argument/fight use an axe (Ton and TJ duel?)

Certain minoriity and fringe groups in this country where people regularly carry knives, and less regularly, guns, aren't known for their politeness to each other.

On the other hand, most regular people would be more polite if they knew the consequences of impoliteness could be quite serious. I do think guns should be left at the door in pubs, though.

"polite and considerate"

my impression and experience in the States (where lots of people carry guns either about their person or in their car) is that people are wary and distant. Which isn't the same thing at all.

Having said that, once they hear an English accent they tend to be polite, considerate and friendly.

Don't think that anyone was very polite and considerate to peasants in medieval times. What a strange argument.

Thats the same basic argument a friend of mine from Arizona made about how people are "nicer" there because you can carry a concealed firearm. Unfortunately they're no better than any other similar part of America, the only difference is they shoot people more often than places without the same concealed firearm laws.

You speak for yourselves. My sword is always with me and shall not sleep in my hand!

On a serious note, while it's an interesting thought I don't think you have to look very far (i.e. across the Atlantic) to see that an armed civilian population doesn't even remotely guarantee a polite society.
You could make an argument for the Swiss being a better example but while they don't run around shooting each other over loose change and a bottle of T-Bird, they are still miserable ****! 😆

Personally I think L'Oreall has a lot to answer for.

That never happened.
Swords were very expensive and only the rich could afford them – the poor carried knives or sticks, so the question is meaningless. Often the law prohibited lower rank citizens (wealthy merchants, for example) from carrying swords so the nobles could protect themselves better.

Politeness is just a sociey norm, different values for different times

Despite the 'IT JUST GOT WORSE!' headlines and political lines the past was not a nice place to be. Life in the past was brutal, abusive, arbitrary. The hills around my house are dotted with the graves of preachers killed by the government and buried where they had stood, for instance.

We live in an incrementally safer, happier more comfortable world, even if you just compare decade for decade. I heard an interview with Sanjeev Bhaskar recently where he told of his childhood in the UK in the 70s where his mother kept a packed suitcase on top of the wardrobe in constant preparation that they might need to flee the house in the middle of the night. When he first started working on Goodness Gracious Me and he chatted with the cast about the quirks of their upbringing and background they suddenly realised that they'd all had packed suitcases. Imagine that, the fear that you might have to just grab the case and run, and that level of fear was the norm for many people.

Values vary.

Some ppl have little consideration for others.

But problems still arose from carrying weapons-death!

Better parenting is needed and a iron fist punishment.

Are the machette-carrying cultures in africa more polite?

The Japanese are very polite (except when you are their prisoner apparently)

I think his original comment was based of fudeal Japan.

some consider politeness mildly offensive

Yunki – some consider politeness mildly offensive

Like who? I've heard Germans suggest that the British politeness, and our fondness of forming an orderly que, is weak character trait but not quite offensive.

Someone had a go at my wife when she was serving him in a bookshop because she asked if he'd found everything he was looking for. Apparently it was false concern and insincerity. It was actually just professionalism.

As for politeness in the USA – where my wife's from, people are very polite, but that's largely because it's very socially conservative and oppressive 50s style…