What is it about that word ‘wild’ that attracts us? If people were striving for it in the 1800s when parts of the world, and a lot of America, were wild and unclaimed, Scotland itself was probably all but divided up by then, and the free man had nothing except his wildness. The appeal today surely is there are very few of these areas available or that the lifestyle is a fantasy. An idyllic rural life is very appealing when you are in your own centrally heated home where the gas cooker works and the kettle takes minutes.
The reality of the wild would be boiling water for ages or the endless collecting and chopping of wood to heat the home and cook the food. Then doing that again. Living and knowing the seasons, growing rotating, and cultivating. No lie-ins or you might die. Hard fucking work that no one is really accustomed to nowadays, except for the few, or pockets of communities. This extends to our entertainment as well, the appeal of the bad guy in films and books, in games. It’s far more fun to be the villain. The word ‘tame’ as an opposite to ‘wild’ equates to dull as HDT says. Boring, and no one wants to think they lead a boring life, or even admit it.