this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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Forgot to mention the part where that democratic society is upheld by the fact that you can (and will, if you're an asshole) be stabbed dead by nearly anyone you interact with. Your own crew, your "customers", the law, rival pirates, all of them have a will and a way of removing you if you don't play fair. This is great for ensuring a fair society, only at the constant imminent risk of death.
Although to be fair I suppose cowboys and samurai were also pretty frequently in deadly dangerous conditions.
Most of the the time cowboys and ranch hands were in danger from their herd stampeding, or the occasional cattle thief. It's very hard work, and not nearly as romantic as Hollywood makes it out to be.
Though if you like camping you might like an old school cattle drive.
On a tour of HMS Victory in Portsmouth, UK (Nelson's ship at the Battle of Trafalgar) the tour guide explained that commissioned officers had never ventured into the darkness below the deck, and if they did and ended up with their throat slit it would have been considered a self inflicted injury. And that was a ship ostensibly on the right side of the law.