Feb 14th, 2016: Civilized Vigilantes

xoxoxoBruce · 02-13-2016, 10:46 PM

OK, this is a little wordy and not really the kind of picture IOtD normally does. But the chart, plus it's implications, fascinated me, and I spent hours chasing this, so suck it up. Besides, football is over and it's Valentine's Day, so you have nothing better to do.

In the early days of Britain people were scattered in villages which were microcosms, especially if they weren’t on a main highway, pretty much apart from each other in daily doings. Like small towns everywhere, everyone knew everyone in town, and a stranger would be spotted immediately. Everyone also knew what everyone else was up to, so any transgressions were immediately known and handled by the community. Serious offences, murder, manslaughter, or stealing anything worth more than a shilling, were capital crimes, so the Red Queen yelled, off with their heads. Very few jails for temporary holding and even less prisons, for incarceration was expensive. Kill ‘em or deport ‘em to the colonies, was de rigueur.

In the late 1700s as the population grew, stealing food became more common, but law enforcement was still scarce and spotty. Wealthy people had the most to lose, but certainly weren’t going to be vigilantes hunting thieves. They could, however, best afford to do something about it. So they formed Associations, which I call civilized vigilantes, who posted rewards for anyone catching a thief. This also had a blanket effect protecting neighbors. I’d imagine someone who could afford it and did not join up, would become a social pariah.
See, the rabble have been leaching of their betters for centuries.

Not much money, but to people who had none it was an incentive, forerunner of, if you see something, say something, even spawning professional Thief-takers. When food became scarce in the early 1800s, the problem grew enough that the reward for turning someone stealing a sheep skyrocketed to £50. That would be £3,139 today. For one sheep. You can imagine the railroading that went on.

link
link
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to name a few. We'll now return to normal IOtDs.

02-13-2016, 10:46 PM	#1
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Feb 14th, 2016: Civilized Vigilantes OK, this is a little wordy and not really the kind of picture IOtD normally does. But the chart, plus it's implications, fascinated me, and I spent hours chasing this, so suck it up. Besides, football is over and it's Valentine's Day, so you have nothing better to do. In the early days of Britain people were scattered in villages which were microcosms, especially if they weren’t on a main highway, pretty much apart from each other in daily doings. Like small towns everywhere, everyone knew everyone in town, and a stranger would be spotted immediately. Everyone also knew what everyone else was up to, so any transgressions were immediately known and handled by the community. Serious offences, murder, manslaughter, or stealing anything worth more than a shilling, were capital crimes, so the Red Queen yelled, off with their heads. Very few jails for temporary holding and even less prisons, for incarceration was expensive. Kill ‘em or deport ‘em to the colonies, was de rigueur. In the late 1700s as the population grew, stealing food became more common, but law enforcement was still scarce and spotty. Wealthy people had the most to lose, but certainly weren’t going to be vigilantes hunting thieves. They could, however, best afford to do something about it. So they formed Associations, which I call civilized vigilantes, who posted rewards for anyone catching a thief. This also had a blanket effect protecting neighbors. I’d imagine someone who could afford it and did not join up, would become a social pariah. See, the rabble have been leaching of their betters for centuries. Not much money, but to people who had none it was an incentive, forerunner of, if you see something, say something, even spawning professional Thief-takers. When food became scarce in the early 1800s, the problem grew enough that the reward for turning someone stealing a sheep skyrocketed to £50. That would be £3,139 today. For one sheep. You can imagine the railroading that went on. link link link link to name a few. We'll now return to normal IOtDs. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

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