I recommend to you Rosa Brooks' op-ed on the fascist use of "hero" language

[Rabrrrrrr]

Wonderful words on the overuse of the term "hero". This has been pissing me off, as well. Everyone is a fucking hero nowadays, to the point it means nothing. Like children "graduating" from Kindergarten, then fifth grade, then eighth grade... or giving kids an "A" because they tried and you don't want them to feel bad... or calling an employee "stellar" because they show up on time and do their job and count change correctly... celebrating too much devalues the thing we're celebrating. And when it becomes political, it can be the beginning of something quite horrific.

This article is a keeper.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks3aug03,0,3861284.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

'Everyone's a hero, everyone's a star," sings Jon Bon Jovi on his 2005 album, "Have a Nice Day." It's an insipid song, but a fitting anthem for what has become a thoroughly insipid age.

...(snip)...

As most dictionaries explain, true heroism involves "extraordinary courage, fortitude or greatness of soul." So firefighters who take unusual risks to save others can legitimately be called heroes -- but just showing up for work and turning on a fire hose when required isn't quite enough.

...(snip)...

But there's a deeper reason to be wary of the "everyone's a hero" rhetoric. Simply put, it fits neatly alongside other terms beloved of the powers that be, such as "warrior" and "the Homeland": It's part of the language of fascism.

[Richard Steele]

1. I heroically kicked and recommended this.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. You are truly one of America's greatest patriots and true heros!

God bless you, dicksteele. God bless you and all heroes!

[Richard Steele]

8. Like most "heros", I just keep KICKING. nm

[NoPasaran]

16. Proud to heroically kick and recommend

This world-historic thread by one of our greatest living DUers, Rabrrrrrr!

[rockymountaindem]

2. I have one of those "Hero of Socialist Labor" medals

I bought it at a collectors' store for a few bucks. As the article relates, they really were handing them out like candy.

[rudeboy666]

4. 'Heroes'...David Bowie n/t

[Igel]

5. I always took it to result from the "everybody's special" and

self-esteem movement of the '70s.

To the best of my knowledge, they weren't fascist. I think they're 'round the old ideological bend a bit, but not fascist.

Then again, neither was one of the writer's examples: Stalin. Totalitarian, but not fascist. Well, if we take 'fascist' as a GTA, sure, he's fascist; then again, so's my neighbor's dog when he pees the carpet.

[Neecy]

6. this is really outstanding

CNN used to run some kind of 'heroes' segment daily - I don't know if they still do, I don't watch CNN any longer - and it featured the goofiest, most ridiculous 'heroes' imaginable. You basically had to be breathing to be considered one of CNN's heroic figures.

It bothered me too, and this article helps put the finger on why. Highly recommend.

[supernova]

7. An Heroic K&R!

:applause:

Thank you, Rabrrrrrr.

One of the hallmarks of fascism and nationalism is the overblown, hyperbolic language and she's right; "hero" abuse is right there in the mix. I hadn't considered that specific example before.

[babylonsister]

9. Rec'd with thanks. nt

[Zomby Woof]

10. I get the L.A. Times daily

I have the same reservations she does, and it was refreshing to read someone with the guts to say it.

Of course, a few predictable idiots who not only love its over/misuse, but also have no reading comprehension skills, crayon scribbled their letters to the editor the next day.

[tomreedtoon]

11. Bill Maher spoke about this.

It was in his book When You Ride Alone, You Ride with bin Laden. He pointed out that a hero is not someone who survives danger. A hero is someone who runs INTO danger to save someone else.

In a remarkable example of what he called true heroism, Maher talked about Pat Tillman. He wrote this just as Tillman gave up his successful and lucrative career as a football player to serve in Iraq. He did suggest that Tillman might lose his life in this endeavor. And he pointed out that Tillman did not promote this or try to cast himself in a mantle of glory for doing this.

I'm not sure, but I don't think Maher has addressed the "friendly fire" death of Tillman or the associated cover-up. I suspect that if he does, when Real Time returns or in another venue, he'll drop his usual humorous demeanor and say some bitter, angry and appropriate words.

[treestar]

12. In today's world, being a victim makes you an automatic "hero"

We have elevated victimhood so high that people actually seek out the chance to call themselves victims.

Many of those who died in 911 might be appalled at what has been done in their name. Some of them must have been liberals, or lovers of the Constitution and the rule of law.

[suegeo]

14. Sept. 11 is now Patriot Day

Why does being murdered because your govt. failed you make you a patriot.

[NoPasaran]

15. "Patriot" sounds better than "Victim"

I first remember the "hero" being applied to the Marines killed in their barracks in Beirut in 1983. Not to cast aspersions on the Marines (or debate the policy that put them there), but I thought the term more than a little inappropriate.

Twentieth Maine fixing bayonets and charging down Little Round Top: heroic.

Being blown up in your sleep: not so much.

[OneBlueSky]

13. "Celluloid Heroes" . . . The Kinks . . .

Celluloid Heroes

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star,
And everybody’s in movies, it doesn’t matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down hollywood boulevard
Their names are written in concrete!

Don’t step on greta garbo as you walk down the boulevard,
She looks so weak and fragile that’s why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne,
But she turned her back on stardom,
Because she wanted to be alone.

You can see all the stars as you walk down hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Rudolph valentino, looks very much alive,
And he looks up ladies’ dresses as they sadly pass him by.
Avoid stepping on bela lugosi
’cos he’s liable to turn and bite,
But stand close by bette davis
Because hers was such a lonely life.
If you covered him with garbage,
George sanders would still have style,
And if you stamped on mickey rooney
He would still turn round and smile,
But please don’t tread on dearest marilyn
’cos she’s not very tough,
She should have been made of iron or steel,
But she was only made of flesh and blood.

You can see all the stars as you walk down hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of.
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star
And everybody’s in show biz, it doesn’t matter who you are.

And those who are successful,
Be always on your guard,
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along hollywood boulevard.

I wish my life was a non-stop hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.

You can see all the stars as you walk along hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Oh celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh celluloid heroes never really die.

I wish my life was a non-stop hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.

[mitchum]

17. Redd Foxx: "Heroes aren't born, they're cornered"

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. ROFL! That's a good one - and it's true.

We really don't know if we have a hero in us until we're in a situation that calls for it.

Yet another reason to decry calling murdered people "heroes", unless they willingly took the murder to save someone or something else.

[goodgd_yall]

19. Oh, jesus, yes---ad nauseum since 9/11.

It's overuse dilutes the word so that it means almost zilch.

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. And let also add how much I DESPISE and LOATHE calling any athlete a hero.

Unless that athlete fell on a grenade or did other non-athlete-related heroic acts.

But hitting a fucking baseball - even if you hit it 1000 times - does not make on a hero. It might make you a really good baseball hitter. But not a hero.

Catching a pass to win the Super Bowl does not make one a hero.

Winning the Super Bowl does not make a team a team of heroes.

Other words being devalued in our "everyone's okay!!!!!!" society, some of which are abused precisely for reasons of fascism: hero, valiant (often used in sports), unique (now we have "really unique" and "very unique" and "totally unique"), awesome, (God is awesome; stellar phenomena are awesome; atomic bombs are awesome; your guitar solo, however good, is not awesome, nor is your t-shirt or your skateboard trick), perfect, amazing, excellent, awful, beautiful, icon and iconic, totemic, traitor, treasonous, patriotic.

[BornagainDUer]

22. Damn, you swiped my reply. I have been thinking alot about this

topic lately. Somehow this perversion of the term hero has a bigger purpose to trivialize the contributions of real heroes. Which, by no coincidence, are a serious threat to fascist power.

[tabasco]

21. Some heroes are people you never heard of.

Like the people in NGOs doing humanitarian work in dangerous places. Like the Catholic nun running a TB hospital in Somalia.

[Blue_Tires]

23. ttt

[rug]

24. Back off my Higglys.

[ulysses]

25. LOL!

Bonus points for working a kids' show into the thread. :D