Be Careful How You Define Heroism

Nothing enlightens my lunch hours quite as much as my frequent visits to the Guerrilla News Network web site. While reading there today, I was struck by a particular article that explored (or rather, exploded) the reasons John McCain is considered an American hero. I'm not a McCain fan; in fact, I'm really hoping he'll be forced into retirement this November. Any arguments about his heroic validity are inconsequential to me, but the underlying concept of the article did capture my thoughts:

What is the fabric of heroism? How can we safely define heroic actions? Does participation in war grant individuals heroic status?

Difficult questions, to be sure, especially due to the fact that heroism is highly subjective. Labelling someone a 'hero' is a presumptuous practice at best, stripping less thoughtful individuals of their chance to form individual opinions. What makes someone a hero, anyway? I would be able to answer this question for myself, but I don't pretend to have the right to answer it for you. The question is far too subjective.

Take the current U.S. president, George Bush, for instance. I don't think he's a hero, I never have. Quite the opposite really: I think he's an idiot who has spent his presidency pounding nails into the U.S.'s national coffin and plundering helpless nations. However, circumstances COULD exist that might make me feel differently. He is, after all, a man (or reasonable facsimile) who's judgement has been instrumental in driving the price of oil up $60 per barrel. IF I owned a large oil company, I might feel pretty good about the work he's done.

See. Subjective.

And this is exactly one of the reasons why the media chaps my derriere so much; the way they unilaterally label people is scathing, to all of us no less. Please, think for yourself. The media does not have a conscience, the only have sales statistics, so when people like John McCain get called heroes, think first before believing.

As for John McCain, here's what Michael Moore notes:

<quote>

John McCain flew 23 bombing missions over North Vietnam in a campaign called Operation Rolling Thunder. During this bombing campaign, which lasted for almost 44 months, U.S. forces flew 307,000 attack sorties, dropping 643,000 tons of bombs on North Vietnam (roughly the same tonnage dropped in the Pacific during all of World War II). Though the stated targets were factories, bridges, and power plants, thousands of bombs also fell on homes, schools, and hospitals. In the midst of the campaign, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara estimated that we were killing 1,000 civilians a week. That's more than one 9/11 every single month -- for 44 months.

</quote>

Hero? In my books, not a chance. Participation in murderous bombing campaigns isn't on my personal hero ingredients checklist. I'd be more interested to know how many hours he's spent in a soup kitchen.

I digress, but before you go and read something else, be sure to check out the article at alternet that spawned this whole discussion.