I used to have so much respect for cowboys.
As a boy raised by a Texan on John Wayne movies and all the allure of the rugged individualism of the American West, I bought in to the legends — hook, line, and sinker.
Then I started to think. More importantly, I started to read. I read and learned how the West was really won on the religious bullshit of manifest destiny. I learned how a genocide of sorts was committed to secure our press to expand our country and exploit our resources. I learned that cowboys by and large were nothing like John Wayne. They were not noble men who respected women and always told the truth.
No sir. Cowboys were by and large dangerous, murderous, and sometimes rapacious rapist assholes.
Digressing here a little, however, it still held strong in my own ethos that the pioneers of the West were serious badasses despite some of the aforementioned attributes. They were in rough country, and rough measures were required. You could almost say I subconsciously gave a collective pass because of this.
But when I began to research the Sagebrush Rebellion — which was the precursor to standoff in Bunkerville, the illegal ride in Recapture Canyon, and the good old revolution that forgot snacks and underwear in Oregon — I began to develop a much different opinion.
That bunch of yahoos who proudly toted their pocket Constitutions while dressed like cowboys, even though they owned retail businesses of foster care factories, and toted six-shooters to take on the federal government quite literally shamed the once proud cowboy image to a point of painful hilarity.
No sir, those were not cowboys, ranchers, or by any measure men. They were whiny-assed pussies who could no more be responsible in their own lives as citizens than they could forge a revolution. George Washington, were he alive today, would have shot every one of those traitors dead were he not laughing his ass off.
Enjoy Oregon, Bundy boys. You ain’t leaving for a long damn time.
See you out there.
I never did have much respect for cowboys. Since I was a child, I’ve observed drunken, ill mannered cowboys behaving badly towards women, children, animals and the environment. Their poor behavior continues today with the sagebrush rebellion. The modern day “cowboys” dressed in camo, carrying assault rifles and side arms are dangerously delusional. Many of them are now in custody and should remain there for the foreseeable future. The armed takeover of any Federal Property is a crime against all Americans and needs to be dealt with accordingly.
Dallas, I love you man. I think you’re the last real journalist in Southern Utah. That being said, I really don’t understand why you can see so clearly the crony collectivist corruption at Dixie State yet are unable to see that the same dynamic is in place with the Feds vs the cattlemen. I find this particular column of yours to be just an emotional outburst against people you dislike as opposed to your usual use of logic, reason and facts as a means to expose the truth. The real battle in this world is the collective vs the individual. As the late, great Howard Zinn so eloquently stated:
“Criminals are a small minority in any age or community. And the harm they have done to mankind is infinitesimal when compared to the horrors – the bloodshed, the wars, the persecution, the famines, the enslavements, the wholesale destruction – perpetrated by mankind’s governments. Potentially, a government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights – When unlimited and unrestricted by individual rights, a government is men’s deadliest enemy.
… What, then, do they (Humans) want a government for? Not to regulate commerce; not to educate the people; not to teach religion; not to administer charity; not to make roads and railways; but simply to defend the natural rights of man – to protect person and property – to prevent the aggressions of the powerful upon the weak – in a word, to administer justice. This is the natural, the original, office of a government. It was not intended to do less: it ought not to be allowed to do more – (The Man Versus the State)
… It is unfortunately none too well understood that, just as the State has no money of its own, so it has no power of its own. All power it has is what society gives it, plus what it confiscates from time to time on one pretext or another; there is no other source from which State power can be drawn. Therefore every assumption of State power, whether by gift or seizure, leaves society with so much less power; there is never, nor can be, any strengthening of State power without a corresponding and roughly equivalent depletion of social power.
… Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience…Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.”
You should educate yourself a little further on why all this has came to this point, since you think your the pinnacle of intelligent’s!!! You seem somewhat intelligent and against the status quo! Why then do you support a a constitutionally illegal bureaucracy! I think different! Opinions are like asshole’s and some asshole’s have one! I thought the occupancy of the reserve was a bad Idea, But knowing the facts which obviously you don’t! They felt the need to do something!!! You make joke’s of a mans death, you choose to be ignorant about!! Keep kissing the Governments Ass Hyland!!! Ass Kisser!!! If you think your so smart, you should see all the video, and if you don’t think it was just flat out murder your a real special kind of idiot!!!
Jim, your lack of education is obvious in the misspelled words and poor grammar use in your rant. You should really reflect on your own shortcomings before criticizing the intelligence of others.
On another facet regarding the article above – i.e. I think the most realistic movie about historical cowboys ever made was produced and directed by Clint Eastwood – THE UNFORGIVEN. It won 5 awards including Best Picture from the Academy of Motion Picture sciences. The portrayal of Cowboys in that movie, despite the usual Hollywood plot of revenge and redemption, does perhaps align with history, including realism in terms of the gun battles. As far as the Bundy thing, it is sad somebody had to die. I also remember years back seeing one of their militiamen with a sniper rifle aiming at law enforcement on an overpass with his finger on the trigger and was shocked. Not judging as I haven’t delved into the matter too deeply except for reading newspaper articles. However I do suggest the Bundy consortium should read Sun Tzu’s “ART OF WAR” – written sometime in the 5th century BC. A man who is now dead would perhaps still be alive.