{"id":2400042,"date":"2025-02-07T00:48:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T05:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-law-of-rule-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-02-07T00:50:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T05:50:27","slug":"the-law-of-rule-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-law-of-rule-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"The law of rule &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-law-of-rule-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2400042&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article explores the enduring fascination with Westerns, particularly \u2064through the \u2064lens of\u200c the new Netflix series &#8220;American Primeval,&#8221; which\u200b is set in the 1850s Utah Territory. It\u2064 discusses how Westerns capture the viewer&#8217;s creativity with themes of violence, nature, \u200band the\u2063 struggle for dominance between \u200dpioneers and Native\u200b American tribes, frequently enough wrapped in a\u200c nostalgic narrative of manifest destiny. The series\u200d highlights a moral conflict around competing legal systems, as exemplified by various characters\u2014including Brigham Young and \u2062a Mormon couple\u2014navigating their differing\u200d notions of justice. The show\u200b illustrates the \u200dcomplexity of law \u2062and morality in a\u200c lawless land, questioning who the true\u200b &#8220;good guys&#8221;\u200b are and how one\u2062 reconciles their actions with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cornell-faculty-revolt-against-china-partnership\/\" title=\"Cornell Faculty Revolt Against China Partnership\">ethical considerations<\/a>. Despite some shortcomings &#8220;american Primeval&#8221; effectively\u2064 fulfills the genre&#8217;s expectations while tackling \u200bprofound moral dilemmas.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">The law of rule<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>What is it about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/technology\/3301296\/trump-ai-wild-west-executive-order\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Wild West<\/a> that keeps us coming back for more?<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Surely the popular appeal of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/westerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">the Western<\/a>, on the page, on the stage, and on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/film\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">the screen<\/a>, derives at least in part from prurience &mdash; the ever-present blood, guts, and sex on prominent display in an untamed land.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, it&rsquo;s that we can&rsquo;t get enough of the very wildnessness of the natural setting: majestic buttes, unforgiving deserts, soaring escarpments, endless scrubland, and magnificent forests stocked and stalked by wolves, bears, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/man-saves-dog-from-mountain-lion-attack-in-colo\/\" title=\"Man saves dog from mountain lion attack in Colo.\">mountain lions<\/a>, and other ruthless predators.<\/p>\n<p>Manifest destiny plays its part, too, as the struggle between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/magazine-life-arts\/3073154\/with-his-ambitious-multipart-epic-horizon-will-kevin-costner-reinvigorate-the-western-genre-or-just-deplete-his-bank-account\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">enterprising pioneers<\/a> and tragic, courageous native tribes ignites nostalgia, at least in some, for a time when Americans were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/national-security\/3306292\/trump-acquiring-greenland-national-interest-marco-rubio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">unapologetic conquerors<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kim Coates, left, as Brigham Young and Alex Breaux as Wild Bill Hickman in  American Primeval (Courtesy of Netflix)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>These tropes permeate the genre and account in good part for the evergreen popularity of cultural products such as <em>Yellowstone<\/em>, a series now in its sixth season that has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">dominated television ratings<\/a> for years, along with its even more Western-y prequels, <em>1883<\/em> and <em>1923<\/em>; the enduring charms of the John Wayne-Gary Cooper tradition of the cinematic Wild West; and the transcendent pleasures of the late Cormac McCarthy&rsquo;s border trilogy, among so many others.<\/p>\n<p>But one critical, often overlooked element of the Western is slightly orthogonal to the holy trinity of gore, nature, and conquest: a morality play involving competing ethical systems playing out against a spectacular backdrop.<\/p>\n<p>This tension between formal law, whether in the form of religion, federal authority, or state governance, and a deeper-set, more primitive code of right and wrong is on prominent display in the latest entry in the Western library: the Netflix series <em>American Primeval<\/em>, set in 1850s Utah Territory.<\/p>\n<p>Directed by Peter Berg, who&rsquo;s best known for <em>Friday Night Lights<\/em>, <em>Deepwater Horizon<\/em>, and <em>Lone Survivor<\/em>, the show traces three intertwined storylines originating in the Fort Bridger outpost on the banks of the Blacks Fork of the Green River in what&rsquo;s now southeastern Wyoming, a spot where federal soldiers, Mormon pioneers, native tribesmen, bounty hunters, and outlaws all converge.<\/p>\n<p>The background storyline centers on Brigham Young (an imposing but joyful Kim Coates, of <em>Sons of Anarchy<\/em> fame), leader of the Latter-Day Saints Church and governor of the territory, who vies with guns and money to make Utah safe for Mormons by protecting his flock from the persecution of the Army and the depredations of the Shoshone and Paiute tribes. Among other things, Young seeks to purchase Fort Bridger from its eponymous founder, the legendary mountain man Jim Bridger, played wryly by character actor Shea Whigham, who labors to maintain the way of life he built from scratch at an economically and militarily strategic crossroads.<\/p>\n<p>We also encounter a devout young newlywed Mormon couple, Jacob and Abish Pratt, who seek tranquility among their coreligionists in the New Zion but become forcibly separated after a gruesome attack on their camp results in Jacob&rsquo;s partial scalping and Abish&rsquo;s abduction by a splinter sect of Shoshones.<\/p>\n<p>And, most affectingly, we meet Sara Holloway, played earnestly by Betty Gilpin, of <em>GLOW<\/em> fame, and her son Devin fleeing Pennsylvania, where Sara killed her wealthy husband in self-defense, and striving to reunite with Devin&rsquo;s father across the Wasatch Mountains. To reach him in Crooks Springs, Sara enlists the assistance of a guide named Isaac Reed, depicted by a gritty and valiant Taylor Kitsch, also from <em>Friday Night Lights<\/em>, who leads their small band in the face of calamities climatic, financial, and violent.<\/p>\n<p>All characters engage in the contest over which legal system deserves preference, first and foremost Young, whose underling informs a settlement of non-Mormons that the governor has &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-issues-proclamation-on-tulsa-race-massacre-calls-on-americans-to-eradicate-systemic-racism\/\" title=\"Biden Issues Proclamation On Tulsa Race Massacre, Calls On Americans To \u2018Eradicate Systemic Racism\u2019\">declared martial law<\/a> to protect his people due to you and your kind driving us out of our homes.&rdquo; The pioneers swiftly respond that &ldquo;we have our own proclamation, and that proclamation says that we take orders from no man, especially a goddamn Mormon.&rdquo; The two sides ultimately work out an uneasy truce but without smoothing out the rough layers of whose law governs a lawless land.<\/p>\n<p>Later, Young himself reveals his incendiary plans for the fort, thundering, &ldquo;I do what&rsquo;s required to protect my people, Mr. Bridger. A line must be drawn or else we will cease to exist. And I will not let that happen.&rdquo; When Bridger protests the illegality of Young&rsquo;s intentions, the governor retorts, &ldquo;When evil comes knocking, you lock the door.&rdquo; In this sense, the Mormon leader purports to advance both the formal law of the land on Utah Territory and more elemental notions of justice &mdash; even while simultaneously playing the role of both oppressor and oppressed.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, in captivity, Abish develops a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between the tribes and the pioneers and both groups&rsquo; religious commitments. &ldquo;Your god tells you to kill the whites?&rdquo; she boldly asks the charismatic warrior Red Feather. &ldquo;Whites believe their god tells them to kill you! Perhaps the gods are playing a game with all of us, to see who can kill the most.&rdquo; Through Abish&rsquo;s insight, the competing and seemingly irreconcilable claims asserted by the Indians and the settlers come into clear focus.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, Sara and Devin confront their own lawlessness, with Devin confiding in Reed his misgivings about his mother&rsquo;s homicidal actions. &ldquo;Do you feel bad killing men?&rdquo; he asks the guide. &ldquo;Not the bad ones,&rdquo; Reed responds. &ldquo;I mean, you don&rsquo;t go to hell for that, do you?&rdquo; Devin frets. &ldquo;Me and my mom killed a man.&rdquo; But Reed reassures the boy that their actions were justified by a deeper law. &ldquo;You ain&rsquo;t got to worry about that,&rdquo; he insists. &ldquo;Whatever your mother&rsquo;s done to protect you both, ain&rsquo;t no sin in that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thus, in Young&rsquo;s and his followers&rsquo; navigation of multiple levels of justice, Abish&rsquo;s encounter with Native American and white conceptions of rightness, and Sara and Devin&rsquo;s torment over the ethics of killing, the show presents the vicissitudes of the law in all its complexity, a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">series-long moral quandary<\/a> about who and what we should heed &mdash; and when. The good guys don&rsquo;t always win, and we don&rsquo;t always know who the good guys are.<\/p>\n<p>While engrossing and skillfully executed, <em>American Primeval<\/em> as a whole winds up somewhat less than the sum of its excellent parts, and its conclusion leaves something to be desired. But as a swaggering Western, the series delivers on all the key performance indicators of the genre &mdash; guts, landscape, and history galore &mdash; with a thoughtful emphasis on how we negotiate contested notions of the law and of right and wrong, and how we often come up short.<\/p>\n<p><em>Michael M. Rosen is an attorney and writer in Israel, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and author of the forthcoming <\/em>Like Silicon From Clay: What Ancient Jewish Wisdom Can Teach Us About AI.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The allure of the Wild West lies in its raw violence and nature<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3449,"featured_media":2400043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/LA.TV_.021225.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[20683,6547,5894,32076],"class_list":["post-2400042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-governance","tag-law","tag-politics","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/LA.TV_.021225.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3449"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2400042"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2400046,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400042\/revisions\/2400046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2400043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2400042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2400042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2400042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}