Vocal Point : Careful who you’re calling cowboy

So what’s wrong with being a cowboy? Nothing, if you’re a real cowboy, but the term is being used in a derogatory sense to describe someone who is violent, impulsive, or behaves in a hot-headed and rash manner.

The word is heard across the world these days, especially lately when speaking of Blackwater, the private military security firm raising so much controversy and anger in Iraq. Leave it to those “furriners” – as well as an annoying number of Americans – who’ve taken to calling the Blackwater outfit “trigger-happy cowboys,” and it ain’t being used as a compliment. I sure wish these folks would get their definition straight.

The Blackwater mercenaries, in the common definition, aren’t cowboys. To my mind they’re a bunch of mighty scary desperados. Every story of the West has their type; they’re the ones who think might makes right. They shoot first and ask questions later; running roughshod over anybody who gets in their way.

Often, they’re prone to drinking too much ‘cause they always have plenty of money, and they get away with this behavior because they’re “riding for the brand” of the biggest, baddest guy in town. If they hurt somebody along the way, they know they’ll get away with it because their boss has the ability to pull their red-hot irons out of the fire.

And why is that? Because their “brand” right now is the U.S. government, which makes this gang of desperados barely legal and, beyond any question of morality, government employees also. What really rains on my campfire is that it’s my tax dollars paying this bunch of ruffians!

So, what is it that makes desperados different from cowboys? Let me explain.

As outlined above, desperadoes don’t necessarily work within the law – although they’ll sometimes try as long as their price to do so is met. Often their wages, called “gunfighter pay” in the vernacular, is a great deal above what regular folks earn, even if they’re in the same general line of work. Just to keep communications clear, in this case I mean the regular people of U.S. Armed Forces, on whom the common people rely for military security, and which my tax dollars also pay.

According to The Spokesman-Review’s headline story of Oct. 6, steps are being taken to put a damper on the Blackwater desperado’s unnecessary violence – violence which they are, of course, denying. We’ll all see how that turns out.

Now, since I don’t really want this essay to denigrate into politics, I’ll get on to defining a cowboy.

First of all, the English word “cowboy” refers to both the age of a person, and to his cattle or cattle-herding work. Moreover, “cowboy” is apparently an English translation of vaquero, a Spanish word for an individual who herds cattle from horseback. In days of yore, children, both boys and girls, were charged with guarding their family’s or community’s herds from predators of all kinds.

In this country in the early days of the West, a great many of the cowboys were teenagers. Their job consisted of endless days and nights in all kinds of weather, helping cows calve, branding, watching for predators and, perhaps, trailing herds hundreds of miles to market. They worked hard and complained little. Their culture was a blend of the wild frontier and Victorian prudery, with a little chivalry thrown in for good measure.

You’ll notice there’s no mention here of guns or innate violence. If the cowboys had guns at all they were for use on varmints. Many, perhaps most, didn’t own a gun at all since firearms were very expensive and cowboys were badly paid.

Once a month on payday, the cowboys might travel many miles into town come Saturday night, drink, gamble, and visit the red light district, playing until their money was gone.

A few, of course, crossed the line and became desperadoes.

So there you have it. The real differences between cowboys and desperadoes.

I think we can thank – or blame – the movie industry in large part for the skewed view so many people have of cowboys. But I’ve gotta confess it chaps my hide every time I hear the term “cowboy” used when it’s “desperado” that is meant.