1 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 1: Let's start today's episode by immediately traveling back in time 2 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 1: and with a fantastic sound cue. There we go. That 3 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:39,880 Speaker 1: sets the mood. I'm ben hey darg Yeah, I'm knowing, 4 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 1: I'm gonna kill you. Are you gonna kill you dead, 5 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: rob your corpse and kill your sister? Are Are you 6 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,239 Speaker 1: gonna do that voice the whole time? Yeah? And I 7 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: really like this Anio Morricone track he got playing because 8 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: we have to refer to the track for fair use privileges. 9 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: That's true. Ennio Morricone, one of the favorite instrumentalist composers 10 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: of both Null, myself and our super producer Casey Pegram. So, yes, 11 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: who we are in the wild West? Know you were 12 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: varying character. I just received a death threat. Yep, that 13 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: was that wasn't That wasn't me. That was my long 14 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: lost golden panhandling cousin jed Ah. Yeah, Jet throw tuttle Brown. Right, 15 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:32,040 Speaker 1: Actually that doesn't even work. I said my name and 16 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,320 Speaker 1: the voice Jake is up. But no. The thing about 17 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: the Morricone is that storied tune um soundtracks of many 18 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: a Western uh Spaghetti western has seen through the eyes 19 00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: of Italian cinema. Um. That really helped kind of paint 20 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: a picture of the Wild West as this lawless time 21 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: where some onely just as soon shoot you TwixT the 22 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: eyes is look at you. Right, Yes, a time on 23 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: the edge of the frontier where in the closest thing 24 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,800 Speaker 1: to the law might be a single sheriff and roving 25 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: bands of wild criminals hold entire regions under their sway 26 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: or not right, because it turns out, friends and neighbors, 27 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen that the Wild West was actually much 28 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:30,639 Speaker 1: more chill than fiction film and novels and even older 29 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: documentaries would have us believe. If you think about the 30 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: wild West today in your you don't know, just casually 31 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: remembering stuff, you might think of movies like Tombstone. You 32 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: might think of The Man with No Name or something 33 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 1: like that, or Wild Bunch back in pod Good, the Bad, 34 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: and the Ugly, Once upon a Time in America, any 35 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: of these kind of portrayals. Uh, it's it's a it's rife. 36 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: It's a very rich landscape and um potential for some 37 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:04,079 Speaker 1: real interest characters and action to sell a story. Um. 38 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: But as it turns out, the rumors have been you know, 39 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: largely exaggerated. Yeah. One of the first rumors this. This 40 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: is something I had learned about a little while ago. 41 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: One of the first rumors concerns the length of time 42 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: that we would refer to as the Wild West, because 43 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: for a lot of people, there's an assumption that if 44 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: there are so many stories about this, both completely fictional 45 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: stories and completely true stories, if there's such a wealth 46 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: of lore, then surely this went on for a long 47 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: long time. However, what we've learned is that it was 48 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: not a very long span of time at all. It 49 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: was probably what third thirty years on the outside of 50 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 1: we're counting bookends and stuff. That sounds about right. Um. 51 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: I found a piece in The Independent Review, a journal 52 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: of political economy, written by Thomas J. Di Lorenzo, who 53 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: refers to two schools of thought when it comes to 54 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: looking at the Wild West. UM. One is considered the 55 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: frontier was violent and with dashes in between this is 56 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: this is a thing that was established by a Storian, 57 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 1: Roger McGrath. And then there was the the other position 58 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: that was the frontier was was not so violent. But 59 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: Bruce Benson, who did a thorough review of this idea 60 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: that the West was violent, he kind of discovered that 61 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: a lot of his story has just assumed that violence 62 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: was pervasive, even more so than today, and then you know, 63 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: feorize about what the likely causes of this were. What's 64 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,359 Speaker 1: that called ben confirmation biased. They were looking for something 65 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: that proved their pre existing opinion. That's the one and 66 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,160 Speaker 1: it is absolutely true. And I think this is bonkers 67 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: for a lot of people. If we were being super 68 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:52,799 Speaker 1: generous with the time period, we would refer to let's 69 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: say maybe eighteen fifties, lady, eteen fifties, nineteen hundred. It's 70 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:02,799 Speaker 1: what most historians would include what's called the Frontier period. 71 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: There's a great article via the FE Foundation for Economic 72 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: Education wherein author Larry schweik Art examines the non existent 73 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 1: Frontier bank robbery. So, you know, that's one of the 74 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: big stories of Western's, right, there's the great train robbery, 75 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: the great bank high so rolling into town for all 76 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 1: of the gold. The problem is this almost never happened. 77 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: If we if we look at actual bank robberies in 78 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:37,719 Speaker 1: this time period, they seem to be myths. Over roughly 79 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: forty years across fifteen states. Uh. This author and so 80 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: as co authors identified three to four definite ones, and 81 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: then in later correspondence to try to clarify the record. 82 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: They found two or three others that were pointed out, 83 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 1: and still the records clear. Larry Schweikart is arguing there 84 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 1: are more bank robberies in modern day Dayton, Ohio in 85 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,799 Speaker 1: one year there were than there were in the entire 86 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: Old West in a decade. You not to mention that 87 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: during that fifteen year period in the late eighteen eighties, 88 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 1: there were typically only an average about three murders a 89 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: year in towns that were established in the Frontier like Abilene, 90 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: Dodge cities a famous one. You think about having quick 91 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: draw matches in the street. Not really a thing. You 92 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:32,760 Speaker 1: see those re enacted. There's really no historical present for that. 93 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:37,040 Speaker 1: Or cities like Caldwell and Ellsworth and Wichita, uh and 94 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: those were all in Kansas and had railroad stops, which 95 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: is another thing that gets kind of a bad rap. 96 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: These railroad stop cities were hubs of scum and villainy, right, yes, yes, 97 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,280 Speaker 1: And the Frontier was the place where someone who had 98 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: done some dirty deeds dirt cheap, just to follow up 99 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: the reference in the East, would travel to start again. Right. 100 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: But these not only were these murders very rare in 101 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:08,919 Speaker 1: these bank heist relatively rare. It turns out that few 102 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: people had guns like it, like at all, you know, 103 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: And and like Dodge City, which Noel just mentioned, completely 104 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: banned the carrying of firearms, which doesn't really jibe with 105 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: the pro gun stance depicted in so many films. Oh, 106 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: not only that it was used by firearm manufacturers as 107 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: this kind of selling this image of the gun Toton 108 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 1: Root and Teuton outlaw or law man or a cowboy 109 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: or what have you. Um I found an article in 110 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: the journal Western Historical Quarterly called Quantifying the Wild West 111 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: the Problematic Statistics of Frontier Violence, written by Robert R. 112 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: Disc Truck, and it starts out with a quote from 113 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: Cormac McCarthy from No Country for Old Men's fabulous writer, 114 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: credulous book. Excellent film if you haven't seen it. But 115 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: the quote goes like this, some of the old time 116 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: sheriffs wouldn't even carry a firearm. A lot of folks 117 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,120 Speaker 1: find that hard to believe, but it's a fact. And 118 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: and as it turns out, it is a fact, right. 119 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: And we're not arguing that there were no bar rooms, 120 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: scuffles and fisticuffs. That would be you know, that's gonna 121 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: be common wherever you find large amounts of alcohol, and 122 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 1: statistically speaking, unattached young males, dudes without family or family structure, children, 123 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: or those kind of responsibilities will tend to as a 124 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 1: community have higher rates of those sorts of conflicts. But 125 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: they're not out shooting each other every day, willy nilly, No, 126 00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: it's it's it's fact. Gleanita Mullins kind of referred to 127 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,959 Speaker 1: these little pockets of violence. Um, a lot of times 128 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: they were in a gold mining towns like the town 129 00:08:55,280 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: depicted in the HBO show Deadwood. Um, you have folks 130 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:03,959 Speaker 1: that were coming there in droves because gold was found 131 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:09,679 Speaker 1: prospectors and there was a need to protect your claim 132 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:12,680 Speaker 1: from so called claim jumpers. And then of course you 133 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 1: introduced alcohol and gambling. Of course they are going to 134 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: be some fisticus. But here here's the interesting part. It 135 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: turns out that a lot of this stuff kind of 136 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 1: took care of itself through various independently organized law enforcement 137 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:33,079 Speaker 1: agencies or groups. So with gold mining, for example, starting 138 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: around eighteen forty eight, the miners kind of agreed with 139 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: each other to have covenants and compacts to keep them 140 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: from getting into situations like this. So you know, there 141 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: was no government authority in these territories in California, um, 142 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:53,080 Speaker 1: apart from the occasional military outpost um. But the miners 143 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: actually came to some pretty good terms and as long 144 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: as they abided by the rules, they were able to 145 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: defend their rights under these community compacts. The individuals that 146 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: would be representative of this were known as enforcement specialists, 147 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: justices of the peace, folks who would arbitrate disputes right, 148 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: and they developed their own pretty robust code of property 149 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: and criminal law. And this this worked quite well. There 150 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: was relatively little violence and theft. The contractual system effectively 151 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:31,400 Speaker 1: generated the experts argue cooperation rather than conflict, and when 152 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: conflict a rose, it was effectively quelled through nonviolent means 153 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:38,839 Speaker 1: most of the time. That's right. If this comes from 154 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 1: that article in the Independent Review, the Culture of Violence 155 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,320 Speaker 1: in the American West Myth versus Reality, UM. It goes 156 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: on to talk about this kind of thinking extended to 157 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:52,320 Speaker 1: things like wagon trains, where the settlers actually kind of 158 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 1: had these caravans that actually got them to where they 159 00:10:55,520 --> 00:11:00,920 Speaker 1: were going, and protections of those and things like cattle wrestling. Yeah, 160 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:07,600 Speaker 1: when government bureaucrats failed to effectively control cattle rustling. The 161 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:14,679 Speaker 1: ranchers themselves established these cattlemen's associations, they hired private protection agencies, 162 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 1: they even wrote their own constitutions. And some of these gunslingers, 163 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: you know, did have sketchy past had been associated with 164 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: crime at the time, but they never created any kind 165 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: of large scale organized crime. There was never a cattle 166 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:37,760 Speaker 1: rustling mafia or anything. These were individuals or small groups 167 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: that the associations typically dealt with when they rustled up 168 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 1: the posse of their own, that's right. And there were 169 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: areas in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas on Indian land 170 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:52,440 Speaker 1: that were parts of the Cherokee Nation where you know, 171 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,200 Speaker 1: there were bands of outlaws that could seek refuge and 172 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 1: find highouts and these hills that had caves and hollers 173 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,439 Speaker 1: and the like, and they were great places for these 174 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 1: outlawed gangs to hide out. But they weren't coming to 175 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:09,440 Speaker 1: town every day, and you know, murdering everybody in the 176 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 1: streets right first, that's not even sustainable, you know. And 177 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 1: unless you're in West World and you can just do 178 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: it every day and repeat, it will start over and over. 179 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: What a great show. The other part here that we 180 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:28,439 Speaker 1: we do need to emphasize, I'm really glad we're bringing 181 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 1: this up, is that one of the real, most genuine 182 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: causes of violence there in the West came from the 183 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 1: US government's policies toward the Indian populations on the planes 184 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: or Native American populations, and that was sort of a 185 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:47,439 Speaker 1: continuation of a lot of the you know, wartime attitudes 186 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,440 Speaker 1: of the Civil War. Yeah, absolutely, just kind of keeping 187 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:55,000 Speaker 1: things in almost like a police state kind of situation. Um, 188 00:12:55,400 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: the planes Indians were essentially the victims of an extermination 189 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:05,360 Speaker 1: plan that was government sanctioned in order to clear the 190 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: way for the railroads. Yes, clearing the way for the 191 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:13,959 Speaker 1: railroads and uniteteen the East and West coast. So when 192 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: we when we talk about genuine violence in the American West, 193 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 1: it's less a romanticized story of train robberies or bank 194 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:27,559 Speaker 1: heist every day, and it's much more story of the 195 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,840 Speaker 1: people who are native to the land being persecuted by 196 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: people who are moving onto their lands. And Thomas J. 197 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: DeLorenzo makes some excellent points in this independent review Peace 198 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 1: where he you know, he cites the fact that by 199 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:43,440 Speaker 1: the twentieth century, like around eight hundred million dollars had 200 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 1: been paid for Indian lands. And then he makes this 201 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 1: distinction between the idea of a militia versus a standing army. 202 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: I think this is really crucial. I'm gonna read this 203 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: to you, um, he says, a standing army. According to 204 00:13:55,320 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: historians Terry Anderson and Fred McChesney, quote creates a class 205 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:05,160 Speaker 1: asks of professional soldiers whose personal welfare increases with warfare, 206 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: even if fighting is a negative some act for the 207 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: population as a whole. Yeah, and this is a practice 208 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: that we can see in other parts of history, and 209 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: it's it's an unfortunate phenomenon. If your primary skill is 210 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: violence based, then you are motivated to pursue violent means 211 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 1: and violent ends. So if you don't have any other 212 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: skill to fall back on, like you can't be a 213 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 1: farrier and work with horses, or you can't you know, 214 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 1: be a banker or a school teacher or something like that, 215 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 1: then you're going to end up pursuing crime, criminal activity. 216 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 1: And one example of this in again very highly romanticized 217 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,080 Speaker 1: book on the West, would be Core mcmccarthy's Blood Meridian, 218 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: where a lot of soldiers who formally fought in a 219 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: militia become mercenaries pretty much for hire by the US 220 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 1: government exactly, or like things like the Pinkerton's which was 221 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 1: like this uh private army that eventually kind of became 222 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 1: the tools of big industrialists and you know, breaking strikes 223 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 1: and just just you know, doing horrible things for the 224 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: purposes of commerce and making money. And that was totally 225 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: at play with this railroad situation. Uh. In eighteen sixty five, 226 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 1: General William to comps A. Sherman was given control of 227 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 1: the military District of the Missouri and the purposes were 228 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 1: to essentially wage a war against the plans Indians. And 229 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: this was all in the name of building that railroad, 230 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: and you could justify that it was for progress, but 231 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:47,080 Speaker 1: there's a quote from Sherman that says, we're not gonna 232 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: let a few thieving, ragged Indians check and stop the 233 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 1: progress of the railroads. And he wrote that to his 234 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: friend Ulysses s. Grant. And politicians were making a whole 235 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 1: lot of money as well on this expansion and building 236 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: of the railroads. And there's even the credit mobilier scandal 237 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: where American politicians were pocketing a lot of money because 238 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: the railroads were being subsidized, right yeah, yeah, in a 239 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: very very dirty and corrupt way. The what would become 240 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: known as the Credit mobi A scandal occurred in eighteen 241 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 1: sixty seven, but the public didn't learn about it for 242 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:29,280 Speaker 1: several years. They learned about it in eighteen seventy two. Uh, 243 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: here's what happened. Thomas C. Durant, who was the vice 244 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: president of the Union Pacific Railroad at the time and 245 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:41,280 Speaker 1: fellowing George Francis Train formed Credit Mobier in eighteen sixty four, 246 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,240 Speaker 1: and they based it on a pre existing thing called 247 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:49,840 Speaker 1: the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency. They were a lone and contract company. 248 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 1: This was a deliberate no bones about an attempt to 249 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: lie both to the government and to the public. Defraud. Yeah, 250 00:16:58,400 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: that's a good word, that's a good use of it. 251 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: Independent of Union Pacific Railroad and it's um, it's stakeholders, 252 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: its executive board, and what they were doing was over 253 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 1: paying for things. And when you when you use the 254 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:15,919 Speaker 1: phrase subsidy or blake, you may recall listeners based in 255 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,840 Speaker 1: the US, those stories that come up every so often 256 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: about corruption in the defense industry where someone says, what 257 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: why did you pay thousands of dollars for a toilet seat, 258 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:30,480 Speaker 1: three for a hammer? Something like that through the railroad 259 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: they were overcharging the American public. They would um have 260 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,679 Speaker 1: much higher rates than usual, and cash and nine million 261 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: dollars and discounted stocks were given as bribes to politicians, 262 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,560 Speaker 1: like straight up, point A to point B. Bribes like 263 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: like I'll give you my vote if you give me 264 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: shares in this or give me a payoff. Yeah, and 265 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: these weren't like these weren't all you know, junior House 266 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 1: representatives or under secretaries. This included the Vice president, the 267 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:01,160 Speaker 1: Secretary of the Treasury, you know, the people who are 268 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 1: supposed to guard the public against this stuff. That's where 269 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: a lot of the traceable violence occurs. And now now 270 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: the typical murder rate for a large city is going 271 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:18,320 Speaker 1: to be higher than a typical frontier town. You could 272 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:20,879 Speaker 1: argue methodology and say that might just be a function 273 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,200 Speaker 1: of having a much higher population. I think that's valid, 274 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: But then we also run into a problem when we 275 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: try to get real world statistics from that time. The 276 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: compilation of homicide rates during the Wild West is still 277 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: one of the longest running controversies amongst statticians today and 278 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:41,720 Speaker 1: probably will be for a long time. Agreed, let's get 279 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:45,560 Speaker 1: back to the depiction of the Wild West in popular culture, 280 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: in Hollywood, in literature. Um. In that piece from Western 281 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:55,880 Speaker 1: Historical Quarterly, the writer Robert our Di Extra talks about 282 00:18:56,119 --> 00:19:00,159 Speaker 1: that very thing, and he says that there were a 283 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:04,879 Speaker 1: time where even academics fully believed in the depiction of 284 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:09,359 Speaker 1: the Old West that Hollywood put out there. Um, there 285 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:13,200 Speaker 1: is a writer by the name of Vernon Parrington who 286 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 1: wrote this on the post Civil War frontier. He said 287 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,360 Speaker 1: all things were held cheap, and human life the cheapest 288 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 1: of all. Uh. Then we have another historian by the 289 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: name of Harvey Wish who wrote that the conception of 290 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:32,920 Speaker 1: the Western, you know, gold rushed towns as being bold 291 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:36,920 Speaker 1: and wicked, and that they were full of feuding bad men, 292 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:42,480 Speaker 1: with swift, straight shooting marshals and that vigilante justice that 293 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:46,640 Speaker 1: we know so well. But then Diestro writes that that 294 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,840 Speaker 1: was kind of backed off from in the seventies and 295 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 1: eighties when the revised version of a popular textbook by 296 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 1: Ray Billington was put out, and in that he said 297 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:02,160 Speaker 1: this he kind of toned down the rhetoric a little bit, 298 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,240 Speaker 1: and he said that the shootout that's glorified in Western 299 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 1: stories and motion pictures was absolutely unheard of. And that's 300 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: the shootout we talked about earlier where two men stand 301 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: in the street and do a quick draw kind of situation. Right, 302 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,920 Speaker 1: And we should also take a second just to depict 303 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: the true stories behind some of those iconic individual figures, 304 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: like Billy the Kid, right, one of the most well known, 305 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:30,479 Speaker 1: at least in terms of headlines, right, one of the 306 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: most well known criminals of this period. Billy the Kid 307 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: is only known to have killed eight people, each loss 308 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: being a tragedy, of course, but that's a much lower 309 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:41,639 Speaker 1: body count than a lot of films would have you believe. 310 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:46,160 Speaker 1: Not to mention, I could probably count the big name 311 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:50,679 Speaker 1: historical figures that were kind of dramatized, you know, on 312 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:54,439 Speaker 1: on two hands, like I know Wild Bill, and I 313 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,439 Speaker 1: know you know, uh, Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp, and 314 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 1: you know Colam the Jane and and the characters that 315 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: were in Deadwood. You know that that's that's about it. 316 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,439 Speaker 1: It's it's not like the kind of just endless roster 317 00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:11,960 Speaker 1: of of criminals that you maybe even you know think 318 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,439 Speaker 1: about today with like serial killers or any number of 319 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: hardened criminals. And another thing that's interesting here is that 320 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:24,920 Speaker 1: Billy the Kid died when he was twenty one estimated 321 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: early twenties at the latest. It's romantic, you know, right, 322 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 1: it's really it's romanticized, and we have to wonder does 323 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: it do a disservice to the people who really lived 324 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,160 Speaker 1: in that time. I find it actually sort of inspiring 325 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:43,159 Speaker 1: to learn that the people who were living at this 326 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: time were by and large trying to band together to survive, 327 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 1: not to kill each other, not to have some weird 328 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: proto mad max existence, but to get along as best 329 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: they could and to you know, help their neighbors if 330 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: their neighbors were in need. And you know, they make 331 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 1: a great point. I believe it's Steikstra who makes a 332 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: great point saying that it's difficult to compare. It may 333 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:13,240 Speaker 1: well just be impossible to compare crime rates in these 334 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: towns two crime rates in the modern day, even if 335 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:18,360 Speaker 1: we took a small town that was the same size. Yeah, 336 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: and that's exactly it. You talk about the issue with 337 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:25,520 Speaker 1: um population. For example, in eighteen eighty and Dodge City, 338 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:30,800 Speaker 1: one person, one person out of nine ninety six was killed. 339 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,040 Speaker 1: But as our pal LORI l Dove rights for how 340 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: stuff works. A hundred years later, in Miami, five hundred 341 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: and fifteen people out of one point five million people 342 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: were killed. So, you know, although more people were murdered 343 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,680 Speaker 1: in Miami, if you look at the statistics, it had 344 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: a lower rate of homicide thirty two point seven compared 345 00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:55,959 Speaker 1: to one hundred point four percent of Dodge City in 346 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: the eighteen hundreds. And we have to be careful with 347 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: those statistics because as counterintuitive as they may seem sometimes 348 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:08,160 Speaker 1: and as unromantic as it is to deal with the facts, 349 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:13,000 Speaker 1: the facts are ultimately going to be more rewarding. So 350 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: we don't need to have this sort of deification or 351 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 1: lionization of crime, right or criminals in what we call 352 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:26,479 Speaker 1: the Old West and the Wild West as we know 353 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:32,119 Speaker 1: it was not some sort of desolate, sin riddled place. 354 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 1: With the quote Lorie uh uses here that I love 355 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 1: is uh where dead bodies piled up in the streets. 356 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: It's it's not like that at all. And I again, 357 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:47,639 Speaker 1: I find it reassuring, and I think that when we 358 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,920 Speaker 1: fire up the time machine, you and I could actually 359 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,560 Speaker 1: go to the Wild West and have a have a 360 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,200 Speaker 1: pretty cool experience as long as we're on our p's 361 00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: and queues. You know, like, just don't be like Chevy 362 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,159 Speaker 1: Chase in National Lampoon's Family Vacation where you try to 363 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: talk trash to the fake bartender. Oh, I also want 364 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:09,439 Speaker 1: to add one thing I found. I don't know if 365 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:12,200 Speaker 1: you ran into this. It was very interesting. Sort of 366 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 1: a tangent here, and don't want to go too long 367 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,520 Speaker 1: on it, but cowboys, as we understand them are also 368 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,560 Speaker 1: largely an American myth. What we call a cowboys Day 369 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,880 Speaker 1: is sort of a a whitewashed version of vaccaros, which 370 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:29,840 Speaker 1: existed before any of this Wild West stuff, And a 371 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: lot of the slang we associate with cowboys comes from vacqueros, 372 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,160 Speaker 1: which is from what culture These would be Mexican cattlemen. 373 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,719 Speaker 1: They were the original cowboys, and they're everything you would imagine. 374 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: They got the big hat riding a horse, heard in livestock, 375 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: came up with term, you know, we get from the cuaros. 376 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:51,440 Speaker 1: We get the terms bronco, lariat, stampede, and so on, 377 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:57,200 Speaker 1: and this happened. They lead this life and held rodeos 378 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:02,359 Speaker 1: and stuff for centuries. But for cowboys existed, Well, how 379 00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 1: about that about the apparently I'm not on this a little, 380 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:13,640 Speaker 1: but apparently the term vacuero later evolved into buckaroo. Well, 381 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:19,399 Speaker 1: I'll be right, oh man, slap we with feathers and 382 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,679 Speaker 1: called me a chicken dinner. I will not thank you. 383 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: That would be inappropriate for a workplace. I think that 384 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: about wraps up our topic for the day. But what 385 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:33,639 Speaker 1: do you say we take a second and open up 386 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:39,879 Speaker 1: the old listener mail bag. That's an excellent idea. This 387 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,000 Speaker 1: will also be I believe, only the second time that 388 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,399 Speaker 1: we have dared to open the listener mail bag. We 389 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: have been being real greedy and hoarding these delightful listener mails, 390 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,439 Speaker 1: but I think we should try and fit this in 391 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: a little more often. What do you think, Yeah, let's 392 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:55,120 Speaker 1: see how it goes. You want to do one, I'll 393 00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:58,119 Speaker 1: do one that sounds good. Our first listener mail comes 394 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 1: from alyssah Readings. Alyssa says, I'm a longtime fan of 395 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 1: the Whole Stuff series. You and your entire entourage of 396 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:08,199 Speaker 1: podcast poets I like that are what have gotten me 397 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: through countless hours and miles as I trained for marathons, 398 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:16,480 Speaker 1: ultra marathons, and countless other shorter races and therapy runs. 399 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 1: I I did not know ultramarathons was a thing, but 400 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to look into that. For that, I 401 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 1: thank you, and we thank you Alyssa for listening well. 402 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:27,160 Speaker 1: I think you were all pretty perfect. I did find 403 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,840 Speaker 1: issue with one minor detail in Ben Franklin's alphabet episode. 404 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,400 Speaker 1: While we do credit our good buddy Ben for inventing 405 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,640 Speaker 1: the bifocal, you mentioned how it was one of those 406 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,400 Speaker 1: things that has not yet really been improved upon. That 407 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,439 Speaker 1: was me that is actually false. As an optician in 408 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: the western New York area, I can tell you that 409 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:48,439 Speaker 1: the line bifocal was quickly becoming obsolete. Improvements in technology 410 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: have lad to lenses that progress from distance vision in 411 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 1: the top of the lens down to a reading prescription 412 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,399 Speaker 1: on the very bottom, with varying distances for intermediate vision 413 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,399 Speaker 1: in between. These progressive adaptive lens this or pals for 414 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: those of us in the biz, work more the way 415 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,920 Speaker 1: the eye naturally works before the inevitable help with accommodation 416 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,720 Speaker 1: for reading as necessary. Um, and it does so without 417 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,040 Speaker 1: a visible line in the lens itself. So yeah, I've 418 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,359 Speaker 1: seen those lenses that have that kind of like lower 419 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,679 Speaker 1: part that's further reading. Obviously, I don't wear glasses, so 420 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:20,960 Speaker 1: I was kind of going off the top of my 421 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,560 Speaker 1: head with that, but thank you so much for schooling me. 422 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: She goes on to say, pretty amazing. Maybe this could 423 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,439 Speaker 1: be a topic for a future episode. Maybe it's just 424 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:30,640 Speaker 1: the optical nerd in me. Keep up with great work, 425 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: Alyssa from Jamestown, New York. Thanks so much of Lissa. 426 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:38,280 Speaker 1: We we really appreciate the high praise and I now 427 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,680 Speaker 1: I'm wondering how many people listening to the show or 428 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 1: in the biz. If you are, let us know and uh, 429 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,480 Speaker 1: best of luck with the did you say running marathons? 430 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,120 Speaker 1: Marathon ng and um um I stuff. We better make 431 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 1: more episodes nols because marathons could take a while. And 432 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:57,439 Speaker 1: you know what I say, then there's no biz like 433 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 1: the biz. So thank you, Alyssa. US. Next email comes 434 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,640 Speaker 1: to us from mo f mosays, high, guys, I'm new 435 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,160 Speaker 1: to the podcast. They just listened to your episode. When 436 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,960 Speaker 1: did all caps become yelling? I very much enjoy the 437 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,200 Speaker 1: history lesson as well as modern viewpoints discussed. Hearing about 438 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,439 Speaker 1: the removal of the caps like key by Google on 439 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: their keyboard and some calls for eliminating the button altogether. 440 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:21,480 Speaker 1: I wanted to bring in some personal perspective and also 441 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 1: some observations about all caps in our lives. I'm a 442 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:28,439 Speaker 1: pharmacy technician for Osco Drug. While I can't speak for 443 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:30,679 Speaker 1: other drug stores, I know that in every Oscar I 444 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,280 Speaker 1: work at, the doctor's drug instructions known as the SIG 445 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,919 Speaker 1: are written completely in all caps. My guess is that 446 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,760 Speaker 1: we want to impress upon the patient the gravity of 447 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,520 Speaker 1: following the instructions to the t. If I didn't have 448 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,800 Speaker 1: the caps like key, it would be mighty annoying to 449 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: hold down the shift key while typing out every SIG. 450 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 1: I also noticed that all caps is everywhere we go 451 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,480 Speaker 1: on traffic sign which stopped, no turn on red, etcetera, 452 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 1: which is always an all caps, to the signs for 453 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: business names, and even on our money. I would argue 454 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,520 Speaker 1: it's most important the traffic and warning signs stay in 455 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: all caps. Danger Comma high voltage doesn't have quite the 456 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: same gravitas as danger high voltage. While I agree that 457 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:12,560 Speaker 1: all caps can be quite annoying online, I think they 458 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 1: have a place in other areas of our lives outside 459 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,600 Speaker 1: the Internet. Wait ha ha, there's life outside the interwebs. 460 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: These are my thoughts. Thank you for welcoming to share them. 461 00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:24,080 Speaker 1: Keep up the great work, Mo. That seems like a 462 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,560 Speaker 1: pretty pretty student observation. We also had an engineer who 463 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 1: wrote in on all caps, I know and I love this. 464 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: I actually just pulled it up right when he said that. 465 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: He talks about this is from ted Um, just the 466 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:38,720 Speaker 1: idea of pattern recognition. He says, some time ago, I 467 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 1: was given the following explanation, and it makes sense to me. 468 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:43,160 Speaker 1: When we learned to read, we have to sound out 469 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:45,160 Speaker 1: each letter in a word, and then once we have 470 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: the word, we can attach the meaning. As we get 471 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: proficient at reading, we no longer do this letter by letter, 472 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 1: but rather we recognize the words more by the pattern 473 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,680 Speaker 1: the letters form um. And this is me interjecting here. 474 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: You I could say the same thing about reading music. 475 00:29:58,040 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 1: You start to see the patterns and like where they 476 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,160 Speaker 1: set of space or a line on the music staff, 477 00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:04,720 Speaker 1: and you don't necessarily have to really think as deep 478 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 1: about it. You just recognize it right away. So ted says, 479 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: when we type in all caps, this pattern recognition by 480 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: the brain is broken, and we have to look at 481 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: those individual letters to form the words. And although we 482 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: can still do this quickly, it slows us down and 483 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:21,480 Speaker 1: is more work for the brain. The extra work the 484 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: brain is doing is what makes it feel different, like 485 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 1: we're being yelled at. That's pretty That's a pretty interesting 486 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 1: argument there, Ted, and he goes on to illustrate it 487 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,960 Speaker 1: with a bunch of words where he keeps the first 488 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: and last letter correct but jumbles up the letters in 489 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:37,520 Speaker 1: the middle, and I was shocked to realize that I 490 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: could very easily read the whole sentence. Yeah, the human 491 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,960 Speaker 1: brain is capable of all sorts of strange shenanigans and tricks. 492 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:47,320 Speaker 1: We want to thank you Ted, We want to thank 493 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: you Mo and you Alyssa. This will conclude our listener mail, 494 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:54,120 Speaker 1: but not our show. We would also like to thank 495 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,520 Speaker 1: all of your brains and the brains of of everyone listening, 496 00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 1: and we hope you will use your brains to write 497 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:02,280 Speaker 1: us an email at Ridiculous at how stuff works dot 498 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:04,200 Speaker 1: com or shoot us a note on any of the 499 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 1: social media out there Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, what have You 500 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 1: or we are Ridiculous History. Also, of course, thanks to 501 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,000 Speaker 1: our super producer Casey Pegram for saving the show, Thanks 502 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: to our house Stuff Works author Lori L. Dove, and 503 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,080 Speaker 1: thanks to Alex Williams for composing our soundtrack, which a 504 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 1: lot of people have been writing about It's true. We 505 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: hope you'll join us next time. When we asked the 506 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: question what happened when people waged war over eggs, oh man, yeah, 507 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:37,959 Speaker 1: that's coming up. Yeah, So come hang out then, and 508 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:41,320 Speaker 1: then thanks for hanging out now for ridiculous history,