How much life do you think chivalry has in western societies?

22 comments

1. I wouldn’t exactly say chivalry is dead but it is on life support.

2. It is definitely declining, but mostly, I feel, because it’s unwanted more and more now. If you hold the door for someone, you run the risk of offending them. If you compliment someone, you run the risk of offending them. I’ve gotten into so many arguments on this point, with “feminists” always pointing out that it simply HAS to be the way in which it’s done, or the way something is said, when that’s not the case. I’m sure I’ll get more of it here, too

3. It’s been murdered in the name of hedonism.

4. I don’t really know what it means. I try to be polite, respectful, and courteous to everyone and people seem to appreciate it. I don’t know what people mean about chivalry specifically being dead.

5. 3 life.

6. Plenty. I regularly put on full plate and, at the pleasure of my suzerain, go whack peasants who were conscripted by other lords in the head with my flail. We only fight for valiant reasons like my lord wanting to seize control of his nephew’s land, based on the legal claim he has on the land from his blood relation to the land’s previous owner. One of my brothers died fighting to win the duchess’s honor at a tourney when the lance found a hole in his armor, but since he died an honorable death, the bards sing his name.

7. Every generation says the new one lost something they had.

8. while manners are still valuable, and bravery will always be necessary for the other virtues to flourish, chivalry as such is past it’s useful time. it may have been useful when women were second-class or non- citizens, though obviously that’s not an ideal state for either women or the larger society.

   basically, i say keep the gentle art of making people feel comfortable in one’s presence, *and* the foundational virtue of being willing risk oneself for a just cause (no mean feat to be able to pull off both), and can the rest.

9. Chivalry is a myth. Being a decent human is forever.

10. I (49M) get the car door, the entry door to restaurants, let my girl sit first and pull out her chair if needed, pay the bill for most meals/activities, am polite and courteous to staff and family. I consider these things extremely important, and I know my girlfriend (45F) appreciate it greatly, although she is still “getting used to” it after a lifetime of non-chivalrous bullshit from her past relationships.

11. I mean it still averages over 70 players a day, but that seems low considering it supports 64 simultaneously in one game. I don’t know what its peak was, but I would assume it’s more or less dead at this point.

12. I can’t imagine there are too many knights running around western societies

13. Fuck chivalry. Men used to protect women and children. The women didn’t want that. Now we just protect children.

14. Chivalry isn’t dead, but it’s in a state of confusion. If you open a door for someone female you are often told off that they are capable of opening it themselves.

15. What? You don’t like to walk around in armor with a squire?

16. Very little, since chivalry is only about 10% or less about how to be “respectful” towards women, most of it is how to act in war times or when to start/finish a fight. Iirc

17. It was dealt a mortal blow with the advent of black powder. The machine gun put it out of its misery.

    You don’t need a set of rules for mounted warfare to be polite to people.

18. Historian Léon Gautier compiled the medieval Ten Commandments of chivalry in 1891:

    Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches and thou shalt observe all its directions. **DEAD**

    Thou shalt defend the Church. **DEAD**

    Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them. **I wish, but DEAD**

    Thou shalt love the country in which thou wast born. **It’s looked down upon to love America, so… DEAD**

    Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy. **DEAD**

    Thou shalt make war against the infidel without cessation and without mercy. **DEAD**

    Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God. **DEAD**

    Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word. **DEAD**

    Thou shalt be generous, and give largesse to everyone. **DEAD**

    Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil. **DEAD**

    Looks like it’s dead.

19. Plenty, because there really are a lot of pathetic men out there that pedestalize women & worship the ground they walk on. I don’t owe them a fucking thing. I don’t care if they menstruate, if they get pregnant, they’re the weaker sex in general, I don’t care if they feel more peer pressure or any of it really.

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    This is not to say I’m outright disrespectful to women in general, but I do not owe them a thing. Their time is not more valuable, their worth is not higher. Now if a woman is my gf, wife, friend or relative, then I’m certainly willing to go further in my assistance / help then I would the general public but this is the same with even male friends or relatives. I’m certainly willing to create public policies that help men & women equally. I don’t see the point in acting like domestic violence is a womans issue when both menn & women can be affected by it. I don’t see the point in acting like rape is simply a womans issue. I don’t see the point acting like women health issues are more important or young womens education is more important.

20. Not much, I think. None soon, I hope.

21. None. It’s time to go back to the barbarian age that sacked Rome lol

22. Plenty. The form of it takes just changes over time, based on the society in question.