you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 8 points 7 hours ago (1 child)

I can see the allure because it implies that every conflict could become life-threatening, therefore everybody should weigh their words carefully.

In reality though it would emphasize the weight of trained duellists higher than those with well-informed convictions. If you cannot speak the truth because well-paid professional duellists could suppress you anytime by threat of duel (or shame of declining it).

There is a good reason why pretty much every modern civilization stopped this practise: Too much was needlessly lost (see Hamilton, Fermat, many students in the 18th century Europe...).

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

    It could just be me, but I see no shame at all in declining a duel. Or are we going to go back to when the challenged get to choose the weapon and location? Naked, with whips, to the death would likely make most people trained with a firearm question it. I'm not sure how popular whips are, but I wouldnt consider myself completely inept with them and could probably tag their twig and berries pretty early on in the fight.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 2 hours ago*

    Refusing to participate in a ritual that is commonly practiced will always make society recoil. As the system gets normalized and the idea of dueling loses its absurdity, refusing to participate in them after commiting to an idea would inevitably send the message that you don't truly believe in your words, at least not enough to "bet everything on it". And not having enough resources/experience to stand your ground would literally cost you your life.

    Besides, we already have dueling in the court of law.

    -I believe your organization has wronged me, I demand retribution

    -I disagree and to double down by inviting you to sue me

    Now do you put your capital and livelyhood at risk to stand your ground or back off?

    • You can not represent yourself (You don't have experience)
    • Your opponent has a whole legal team and doesn't have to sacrifice production to fight you (You lack the resources to fight back)
  • source
  • parent