Wisdom of the Vikings Part 3: The Positive Value of Courtesy and Hospitality

 From the Hávamál:

Hospitality

The newcomer

needs fire

his knees are numb.

A man who has made

his way over mountains

needs food and fresh linen.

Courtesy

A guest needs

giving water

fine towels and friendliness.

A cheerful word

a chance to speak

kindness and concern.

While these very much carry on the basic message of the last entry, I think there is something particularly worthwhile in the shift from commending hospitality as a way to avoid offending others in a highly volatile, unstructured environment, to the positive commendation of hospitality and positive treatment of strangers as a good in itself. Online, as in Medieval Iceland, the flip side of the great risk inherent in a minimally structured and defended environment is the greater reward of new friends and a mutually supportive community. Much has been made (and will be made) of the joys of growth and encouragement to be found in the new avenues of connection the internet has made available, from online dating, to meetups, to discussion forums and the collaborative creativity of Instagram and Pintrest. 

But like meat-space communities, these digital friend-spaces and groups can only be built when a host is willing to offer an encouraging word, a comfortable and and safe space to the "newcomer" who needs fire, food, and fresh linen. By keeping a community open and welcoming to newcomers and guests we build strength, warmth, good fellowship, and good cheer; we keep out the night and preserve a protection against the trolls.

To follow this series from the beginning, click HERE

Part Four: Worldliness

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Wisdom of the Vikings Part 2: How to Seat a Guest

How to Seat a Guest

Giver of the feast!

Your guest is here.

Where shall he sit?

Fast temper grows 

in a far seat

Prompt him not to prove

his mettle.

One thing I think is really exciting about internet interaction culture is that it has caused us to rethink our understanding of hospitality. In historically individualistic "western" America, we have adopted a hospitality culture formed out of paradoxically government-ensured safety. Our hospitality ideals are not, therefore, driven by concerns over safety and the preservation of social peace, but by the promulgation of comfort and warmth. As a result we largely restrict our hospitality to those we are comfortable with and often feel justified being inhospitable to those with whom we prefer not to interact. If we don't feel comfortable with someone we have little difficulty ensuring that they do not enter our homes, we can be fairly effective in cutting off contact with them.

While this situation has its own strengths and weaknesses, it is noticeably different from the contexts of both Medieval Iceland and the internet, where it would require significant and peculiar security measures to keep someone out. Furthermore if we commit shaming, unfriendly, and inhospitable acts against someone in America, we are not in any particular danger from them, whereas in Viking Iceland such an insult or even simple failure to honor a guest could reasonably be expected to result in violence and even death.

Online the consequences are not that dire of course, but they are similarly volatile. A "guest" or commenter on a blog or in a Facebook feed needs to be greeted with respect and welcome. Think back to how many host-replies begin with a polite "Thanks for your comment!" or "Thanks for reading!" even when the host follows it with a disagreement. Wise moderators work to make sure that commenters do not feel that their voices are being mocked on silenced unjustly (we will get to dealing with purposeful trolls and flamewars another day). These gestures, making sure that all commenters are treated with respect even when they offer deeply divergent or even ignorant takes and opinions, are vital in a world where there is no guaranteed protection from aggressive repercussions (and the internet is becoming impressively sophisticated when it comes to the legal destruction of people's personae, reputations, and profiles).

So again, Norse wisdom proves timely in the internet age. Aphorisms developed in a more anarchic culture of honor and shame give us a touchstone for a digital frontier of the barely-regulated internet. When someone comments on your blog or Facebook feed, or responds to your tweet. Treat them with respect, see to it that they feel appropriately honored in your environment or else be prepared for her to prove her mettle.

Part 3: The Positive Value of Courtesy and Hospitality

Click HERE for the beginning of the series.

Click to get the Hávamál on Amazon

Wisdom of the Vikings. From The Hávamál Part 1: Intro and Advice to a Visitor

Starting a New Project

An awesome student of mine recently took a trip to Iceland (right?!) and, being awesome and all, brought me a copy of the Hávamál, a didactic eddaic poem of Norse and Viking wisdom aphorisms. As I flipped through it, stopping on this entry and that, it struck me that it would be a lot of fun to blog on the 91 selections in my edition. So, in an attempt to revitalize my blogging and think through ethics, history, and contemporary internet culture I am going to try and offer a brief reflection each of the entries in my book at a rate of around four a week. Let's see how it goes.

Some Oversimplified History and Poor-man's Sociology

The Norsemen who settled Iceland are really exciting group in history given that, in addition to being Vikings, they set up a society which is arguably the closest thing humanity has produced to an organized Anarchic system. They did have laws and a recognizable social order so the anarchy was imperfect but they also depended on popular executive enforcement and - within  the limitations of certain family and semi-tribal systems - popular legislation and adjudication.

Basically they had a gathering place where a bard would recite their constitution and laws from memory. Then they would bring their complaints against one another and collectively vote to pass new laws and sentence people for infractions. If someone was voted guilty it was up to the community itself to enforce the ruling. So if a person was strong enough to resist punishment, or had enough tough friends that nobody wanted to go after him (or her, Vikings were delightfully egalitarian for their day) then they basically got away with it. The major punishment was being declared an outlaw (major or minor) which meant that laws no longer protected you and someone who killed you and/or stole your stuff, would not be guilty of any wrong doing.

 As I reflected on this, it struck me that this structure, popular enforcement of collaboratively generated and adjudicated laws, is pretty similar to the ways in which many parts of the Internet operate. Blog com-boxes, Facebook feeds and comments, and various media comments sections are created in a remarkably frontier-like manner, then policed according to communally evolving standards and enforced with widely varying degrees of rigor by the proprietors of those digital spaces. Major punishments include blocking and banning but have to be enforced by the community and a person who "trolls" and established "troll" is not guilty of trolling. In effect the social zones of the internet are functionally analogous to the family-claimed homesteads and hamlets of the early Icelandic settlements. I'm looking forward to seeing how far this analogy will actually extend but if you want to preempt me in the comments, have at it!

Here's a Crash Course Video on The Vikings

What am I Actually Doing Here

With all of that in place, I thought it would be a lot of fun to publicly explore applicability of Viking wisdom in an internet age. So I will be posting individual aphorisms from the Hávamál and then trying to apply them to internet ethics and culture before offering a little evaluation of the wisdom (or lack thereof) that emerges.

So Without Further Ado

1. Advice to A Visitor

When passing

a door-post

watch as you walk on,

inspect as you enter.

It is uncertain

where enemies lurk

or crouch in a dark corner

This is a picture of a happy teacher

This one translates pretty easily and goes straight home. If we just substitute "door-post" for "Facebook post" or "com-box" I think the reminder/caution is really well taken. When a friend or even acquaintance wrights or shares something, we are immediately and automatically in a somewhat precarious situation. If we "walk on", or scroll by and refuse to engage there is some safety there, but at the cost of potentially meaningful engagement and at the risk of offending a friend by rejecting their invitation (a sort of mental/intellectual/cultural offer of hospitality). But if we "enter" and engage with the post, it is uncertain whether enemies or trolls (the Icelandic or Internet variety) lurk in a dark corner. At the end of the day I think the insight here is that the world is unavoidably dangerous and that caution will serve us well.

Part 2: How to Seat a Guest

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