If you’ve read “The Secret History of Gunfighter Nation! Part 1”, then you know that: 

• Richard Slotkin is the premier Postmodern Scholar of the Confrontational Indo-European Western Warrior Experience of Anglo-America

• He compiled all of his findings into his ultimate opus magnus, Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in 20th Century America. 

• He’s a master of this topic because he studies it like a Hunter stalks Big Game 

• He bases his understanding of the the Confrontational Indo-European Western Warrior Experience of Anglo-America off of three key concepts 

• These concepts are Ideology, Mythology, and Genre

If you’ve read  “The Secret History of Gunfighter Nation! Part 1”, then you know the definitions of these three key concepts. If you haven’t read them, this article won’t make much sense!

But if you have read the article and are familiar with the definitions, then you’re probably asking yourself:

How do these three key concepts apply to our conscious understanding of the Confrontational Indo-European Western Warrior Experience of Anglo-America?

By answering a few simple questions!

THREE WORDS, FIVE QUESTIONS

By understanding Ideology, Mythology, and Genre, a few key questions arise. 

• What is a Warrior Ideology?

• How does it differ from Culture to Culture around the globe?
  
• What does a Western Indo-European Warrior Ideology look like?

• What does a Western Indo-European Warrior Mythology look like?

• What Genres would this Western Indo-European Warrior Mythology be expressed in? 

Luckily for us, we have the answers to these questions that Richard Slotkin can’t give! 

FIVE QUESTIONS, FOUR CLASSES 

To answer these five questions, we’ve got to understand a universal truth about human nature. 

All Civilizations throughout all times and places in all of history are composed of 4 Social Classes:

• Spiritual Class

• Warrior Class

• Merchant Class

• Worker Class

Just what do these classes do, you ask? 

Well, the Spiritual Class operates the religion of the group. The Warrior Class fights to defend the group. The Merchant Class makes money for the group. And finally, the Worker Class works for the group!

And each class? Well, each class has its own Ideology, defined by Richard Slotkin as “the basic system of concepts, beliefs, and values that define a society’s way of interpreting its place in the cosmos and the meaning of it’s history.”[1] 

Our interest here is the Ideology of the Warrior Class.

But to understand this, we must understand that not all Warrior Classes are the same! 

They differ from culture to culture! 

ONE CLASS, TWO IDEOLOGIES

The Indo-European Warrior Classes of North West Europe are Confrontational. That means that they are straight shooting, fight up front, and love the Honor gained from beating the toughest of foes in a straight shooting, up front combat!

But the Warrior Cultures of the East and South in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East are very different! They are Predatory. That means that they like hit-and-run warfare, back-stabbing, and proverbially shooting fish in a barrell. 

They don’t find dishonor in mercilessly beating the weakest of foes. To them, shooting fish in a barrel honors the power of the man with the gun juxtaposed against the powerlessness of the fish. 

Therefore, the Warrior Ideology of the Indo-European Warrior Classes of North West Europe will be Confrontational. And the Warrior Ideology of the South and East in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East will be Predatory!

This is a distinction that we have covered in greater depth before here at Pulp Fiction Renaissance.com. 

Check out our articles on it: 

• Philosophy of Pulp Fiction Part 1 [2]
• Philosophy of Pulp Fiction Part 2 [3]

Now armed with an understanding of differing Warrior Ideologies, we can come to a very important conclusion: 

Each Warrior Mythology from each group’s Ideology will be very, very different!

But just who maintains this Warrior Mythology you might ask?

And just what Genres do the express it in?

That’s the topic of our next installment!

Sources Cited

[1] Slotkin, Richard. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in 20th Century America. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. Pg. 5.

[2] Barrett, Richard. “Philosophy of Pulp Fiction: Part 1”. February 15, 2021. https://pulpfictionrenaissance.com/2021/02/15/philosophy-of-pulp-fiction-part-1/.

[3] Barrett, Richard. “Philosophy of Pulp Fiction: Part 2”. February 22, 2021. https://pulpfictionrenaissance.com/2021/02/22/pulp-fiction-philosophy-part-2/.