What Deadwood is About

If I am sitting in a bar sipping on whiskey and some nearby psychopath perceives a transgression for which he slits my throat, it is fairly certain that there will be an investigation. Suspects will be identified. Witnesses will be interviewed and statements taken. Capture, prosecution and punishment will likely follow. That some official agency (the police) will take interest and attempt to sort things out in accordance with the law is a foregone conclusion. It will not be the case that my life would be over and, as long as no one in the bar objected, there would be no consequences. Cremate me and it’s as if I never existed.

Yes, yes, I know: What about O.J.? I’m not talking about perfect justice, I'm talking about justice good enough for me to feel relatively secure that my killer will likely be caught and punished.

In all probability, in the early days of Deadwood, SD, around the time of Custer's Last Stand, such things happened. There was no actual law that was adhered to. There were folks who would kill you over money or women or a casual insult. The only questions they asked prior to killing you were, Is there some reason this person is worth more to me alive than dead? and, If not, is it worth the effort I must expend to kill him (or her)?

This is of course, still the decision process for anyone who is completely amoral. But civilization raises the value of every individual to the point where one can assume one is generally safe and able to function securely in the world. Similarly, I can feel reasonably safe that if someone cheats me in a business deal I have a good shot at a legal remedy. We call this Rule of Law and it is the protector of most of the things we value in life and it is what enables us — specifically the middle and lower economic classes; the masses — to devote ourselves to progress and pleasure without having to worry about securing enough power to survive the amoral element in our fellow man. With the opportunity for progress and pleasure comes the opportunity for everything from motion pictures to penicillin to public schools to stock bubbles to mangled elections.

But how do you get here from there? What is the mechanism that brings such welfare to the masses, when the elite/powerful have no real motivation to allow it? No doubt, political scientists and social thinkers and moral philosophers have grand theories of varying accuracy and questionable verifiability. It is a question faced by every country that has ever overthrown a dictator. It the paramount issue that follows the end of "major combat operations". And it is what the HBO series Deadwood is about.

Article Author: David Mazzotta

David Mazzotta is author of the comic novels Apple Pie and Business as Usual.

Visit David Mazzotta's author page — David Mazzotta's Blog