Is chivalry just a quaint medieval practice, or a character quality that we desperately need right now? Bill Whittle and Alfonzo Rachel put on the armor and shine some light on the new dark ages in which we live. Do we need a “constriction upon our baser instincts”?
The Virtue Signal is a production of our Members, who unlock access to backstage content, comments, the Member forums…they even write their own blog, and you can too when you become a Member now.
Video below hosted at Rumble.
9 replies on “Return of the Knight: America Needs a Chivalry Revival and Here’s Why”
When my father was growing up in the early 40s, the girls in his class found out that he was not allowed to hit a lady, they began to bully him. When he told his father about it, my grandfather clarified the rule. “You may not hit a lady. But if a lady hits you, she is no longer to be considered a lady.”
I believe we need to probably start using the word misandry not feminism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misandry
Some have disagreed with me loudly. They, I suspect, are too young to have never encountered pre 1960’s feminism which with its battle for voting rights; rights in divorce and the opposition of wife bashing was very successful. Before the feminist era many groups saw wife bashing as OK. There were some churches that took a stand against it and these were where feminism arose. Feminism also drove a big push for proper laws on rape, particularly servants, employee’s and the poor. Often, while there were laws, there was no enforcement by the old boys club. Both police and Jurymen saw some women as fair game. The conflation of poor women, including street sellers, with prostitution was a problem. The Churches, Christian doctors and feminists also united in the process of getting the age of consent laws passed worldwide and ending child prostitution. Women has also now won equal pay for equal work, adjusting for work continuity, a different problem. The lack of child friendly work places drives that problem.
Feminism won its battles. In winning its right rested on its laurels but its left continued. They become the misandrist woke mob we see today rejecting their gender, their children and all men. Not all are lesbians but faced with no alternative some are. Some go the opposite extremes seeing sadomasochism as some kind of liberty. 50 shades of grey and NXIVM sell them selves as both woke and feminist.
Calling the monster by its true name, misandrist, goes a long way to beating the foe. And yes Bill Shakespeare knew the idea and used it but not the word. It only just post dates him.
There isn’t a normal woman on the planet who doesn’t want a man, and certainly her man, to exhibit heroic qualities, which definitely includes chivalry.
I also hold doors for everyone if I can. And if someone does that for me, I thank them. I help people heft things if I can, and help those who are short reach things. Can’t help it. I had the privilege to meet Anthony Munoz once. I’m 5’10” and I felt tiny next to him. Really nice guy, made me feel like I was the only person in the room. But watch some of his tackles. Hard. But always helped them back up. I have a thing about medical weapons (have quite a few) and the knights the way they were supposed to be intrigued me. I love a quote from Dragonheart movie. “The Old Code” “A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His might upholds the weak. His words speak only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked. His knowledge will defeat ignorance. His skills will be taught to the willing. His temper shall be held by patience. He will give aid to those who seek it. He will ask for aid when needed.” I try to live by it and have most of it memorized.
I’ll assume from context you meant “I have a thing about medieval weapons” and you were ambushed by a hostile spellchecker …
Me too, on the medieval weapons thing. I have a few in my collection. A long bow, a flat bow, a crossbow, two swords (I’m particularly fond of my Tinker Pierce two handed longsword), a few daggers and a genuine bearded Danish fighting axe. All of them are modern reproductions made from better steel than the originals had available. I can’t afford the actual antiques and all of mine are real, battle ready weapons. Not a wall-hanger or a “sword like object” among them. You could pick up any of them and walk out the door to slay orcs, zombies, dragons or their modern analogs like Antifa. I keep the edged weapons oiled and wicked sharp.
Down here in the semi-rural South, chivalry is alive and well, at least among my generation. Which means that as far as it goes, it’s been taught to and had an effect on the more recent generations also.
No one gets offended if you use “Ma’am” for ladies and “Sir” for men. It’s just polite manners. I had a very nice though brief conversation with a little ol’ gal in the grocery store parking lot last week. She referred to me as “sir” and “a gentleman such as yourself” and I referred to her as “Ma’am” — We parted company both feeling better for the exchange and a bit of pleasant, polite speech.
I always tip my hat to a lady, young or old or in between. That often gets a big grin from those old enough to understand and appreciate the gesture.
There’s an historic community descended from freed slaves not far from here. Several actually, those are dotted all over the South. The one in particular I’m referring to I drove through on my way home one day. There was an old lady who had crossed the road to get her mail from the mailbox and was waiting for me to pass by. I stopped, motioned “after you” and tipped my hat to her. She got the biggest, beaming smile on her face from that simple action that I’ve seen in a very long time. By taking 10 seconds from my life to show politeness and respect, me a big ol’ bearded white man in a pickup and her a diminutive and frail looking elder black lady, I did more for her day and maybe longer than she had seen in a while. Not one bit of it had a thing to do with race. I was a man showing respect to a lady and she was a lady happy to receive that respect. Again, we both went our own way feeling better for the exchange. Her smile really made my day as much as I clearly made hers.
That’s the way it should be. That we’re losing that diminishes us all.
If I wore hats, I’d tip them to a lady. I say “Sir” and “Maam” a lot. My weapons (all fully functional and potentially deadly): Claymore great sword. Two other 2 handed swords. Hand and a half sword. Long sword. Rapier. Short sword (about 18 inch blade). 3 daggers, one being a ” long tooth” ie: 12 inch blade. War hammer (my zombie apocalypse weapon of choice). Two spiked balls on a chain attached to a handle (one handle steel, the other leather wrapped wood) These are typically called morning stars, but other weapons can be called that. Probably should be call a spiked horsemans flail. Would love the Danish bearded fighting axe. If had money enough, would get a halberd, and am envious of all your bows. And yes, I hate most spellchecker. They seem to cause more problems than they solve to me.
I’ve always wanted a rapier, never got around to getting one. Prices have gone sky-high on that kind of thing so I don’t know if I ever will. The closest I’ve come to having one in my hands is —
When my son graduated from the U.S. Navy War College (with his 3rd Master’s Degree) I gave him a Naval Officer’s sword to wear with his dress uniform. I’m not sure what the Navy protocol is for sword-wearing but I think it’s considered “optional and appropriate” at his rank for some functions. He’s worn it more than a few times but I don’t know what the regs are regarding swords. He does.
I wasn’t going to give my kid a “sword like object” or something pretty but solely ceremonial. I wanted him to have a real blade capable of doing what a real sword is supposed to do. No stainless steel flat-edged garbage, stainless makes terrible and dangerous swords. So I found a high carbon and properly tempered blade U.S. Navy officer’s sword and went to work on it. I buffed off all the markings I didn’t want, re-stamped the riccasso “USN”, and put a wicked sharp (“wicked sharp” is a sharpening method for those not into this stuff) appleseed or “lenticular” fighting edge on it.
His mom, whom I am no longer married to, got him the sword belt, hangers and sword knot (sort of like a tassel) that are appropriate to the uniform.
I’m sure that unless he makes a point of telling someone, everyone around him when he wears it thinks it’s one of those stainless steel, flat-edged nightmare mockeries of a real sword. Because that’s what most of them will be wearing.
I demonstrated it to him by cutting a water filled milk jug into parallel bands several times. On the same jug. Sliced so clean that you can see the water meniscus bowing up from surface tension at the cut.
The U.S. Naval officers sword is a straight blade approx. 32 inches long and suitable for both cut and thrust. I would feel sorry for any villain who thought he was going to mug my kid and his wife in a parking lot after a formal occasion when he’s wearing it. He’s made himself quite familiar with several combinations of “disarm, disable and destroy” strokes. In this kind of thing, “disarm” is literally losing an arm.
The Virtue Signal is my favorite Bill Whittle show. Keep it up!
Some people are just assholes and some people are not. It isn’t racial or anything else. As far as women competing with men I offer Gina Joy Carano a former mixed martial arts fighter turned actress who had a part in the Mandalorian and was popular with fans. She was fired for not being woke even though the show runners loved her as well as the fans. She has the same fears as anyone else but unlike most actresses she has actually experienced taking a punch and delivered them. She is also a sweet heart in real life and that humanity shows through. I have zero doubt that she would come to the aid of anyone who was being attacked and insert herself into the fray. I think anyone foolish enough to think Gina would be a pushover would be in for a rude awakening.