Marilyn's Photos - Apr 25 2026 - What Makes for a Feud?
What makes for a feud? That word keeps hitting the headlines with the Pope and Trump seemingly engaged in one. I have in my mind feuds are mostly an American activity. That's all those Western movies I watched as a child. So looking up the history of feuds here are a few that pop up right away, seeming to confirm this view:
Hatfield-McCoy - 1863-1891: This started with a dispute over a hog and spanned Kentucky and West Virginia, resulting in over 12 deaths and Supreme Court involvement.
Sutton - Taylor Feud 1860s - 1870s: Texas' longest-running feud with over 35 deaths.
Historically, though, there are far more important historical feuds than those above:
Clan Campbell vs Clan MacDonald - 1692: known for the Glencoe Massacre where Campbells murdered MacDonalds.
Medici vs. Pazzi - 1478: Renaissance-era rivalry in Florence, Italy.
Elizabeth I vs Mary Queen of Scots - 16th Century: a multi-decade battle for the English throne
The Stacker article covers many more: Byron vs Keats, the poets; Charles Darwin vs Richard Owen over giving credit for involvement in the theory of evolution, Edison and Tesla over AC vs DC, Van Gogh vs Gauguin with recent theories that Gauguin cut off Van Gogh's ear. While this is an interesting article in Stacker HERE, perhaps we should question what is really being described is a feud. Some of these are disputes and others are rivalries. Compare that to the Wikipedia entry for Feud HERE. Feuds are ugly, nasty things with violence and death. They are long-standing, bitter, and often violent conflict between families, clans, or groups, characterized by a cycle of revenge. A feud is hard to end. Now take a dispute . It is a specific, generally shorter-term disagreement or argument over a particular issue.
What I find on doing a little research is that Donald Trump has been described as "feuding" or in a "feud" many times - hundreds to thousands of times. There are detailed lists of the journalists, politicians and places he has insulted. I guess if it is never-ending, it might just be a one-person feud. Like dancing in the dark alone.
Our Ontario native Trilliums are blooming. This picture comes from a few years ago in the forest, and not in my garden. Too bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment