I'm getting sick of all of these negative articles written by either men or women that go over the idea that modern chivalry is dead. (These articles never say "modern chivalry" because I think a lot of the writers really believe that chivalry is opening doors for women or something. We live in a sad world. I digress...) When, exactly, was chivalry born? I'll get into that in a sec. The modern idea of chivalry is not dead, because if it was, then we'd all be dead. OK, that's an exaggeration, but you'll see what I'm getting at shortly.
Chivalry is a human construct. Yes, I know, words and many other things are, too, but I'm not talking about calling green "red" or red "green," I'm talking about specific verbage that humanity has created over the years as some sort of historical symbol. For instance, a lot of people wonder how a disease like the Black Plague just disappeared one day. Well, it did and it didn't. It did in the sense that it's not wiping everyone out like it did in the medieval era, but it IS still around. Doctors just found a cure for it so we don't freak out about it anymore. Therefore, the Black Plague is not dead. Similarly, a lot of men (and women, really) turned into assholes. So many turned into assholes that when someone, of any gender, does a kind gesture we ooh and ahh at the specter.
"But, Pat," you might be saying, "kindness and chivalry are two completely different things."
And I say, "That depends, which chivalry are we talking about? The real one, or the one that millenials made up--for the most part?"
You see, the idea of chivalry, as we (don't) understand it, started in and around the medieval times.* In that time, men were dressing up in armor, getting on a horse, and jousting each other. Moreover, the code was originally written for the Catholic Church to honor and defend it. This chivalry is pretty much dead, but you can still find it at your local Renaissance Faire.
The chivalry WE are talking about is a different kind of chivalry. This chivalry we just sort of made up. There's no code written anywhere. For instance, no where does it say (Disclaimer: I'm not including urban dictionary, because I'm sure some asshole might have wrote something similar down somewhere) that chivalry means opening doors for women, or giving women your coat when its cold, or walking on the left side of the road, or sitting down on the outside of a booth instead of the inside against the wall. A couple of those are simply kind gestures i,e. opening doors and giving a coat. The other couple things i.e. the street thing and the booth thing, are preferences. Like what if the woman likes walking near the road? What if the woman likes sitting on the outside seat of a booth? "No, Pat, you don't understand, you need to force your kindness on them!!!!!" I've opened car doors for men and let men borrow a sweater of mine, does that make me chivalrous, or are you saying that doesn't comply?
"No, Pat, you don't understand again. Chivalry only applies to men doing nice things for women, not the other way around, and not for the same genders. You has the dumb."
I mean, I think what you're describing, and correct me if I'm wrong here, is kindness towards women (or men). I really hope that's not dead, because if it was dead, then we'd be dead, because all women would hate men, and then no more reproduction.
You see, modern chivalry isn't dead, because the basis of the idea of modern chivalry is kindness. Take out the mumbo jumbo about the booth and the street and you have kindness. Really, if you think about chivalry like that, it SHOULD be dead. Perhaps, if alive, shot and killed. Why? Because some of the concepts of modern chivalry ignore women's desire--or anyone's desire for that matter.
I've been wrongly saying a phrase for a while that I will edit. The original phrase is: Chivalry is dead, but kindness is infinite. Sounds all warm and fuzzy, right? But I start out with a contradiction to my whole article. (Modern) chivalry is not dead, so here goes...
New phrase: Be kind, kill chivalry.
- PatInTheHat
* Here is a wikipedia article that accurately explains each of the chivalric codes originally instituted around 1170 and again in 1220. If you don't believe in its accuracy, Google chivalry and check out the other "educational" articles that wikipedia practically pulls from. I'm using wikipedia because its writers do a better job of putting things in layman's terms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivalry
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