Sunday, December 02, 2007

We should be heroes

I need a hero, though I think I would prefer a heroine, or maybe I would be better off with some heroin instead - these days, I'm not always sure…

I remember all of the mythology I used to surround my childhood heroes with and long for that naivete sometimes. There was a time when who my heroes were as people meant nothing so long as their deeds were of suitable greatness as I interpreted the word then. Almost without exception, my the heroes of my youth were athletes and as far as I was concerned, what these men did on the field defined who they were. Growing up pre-internet, I did not have ready access to their private indiscretions and personal problems. If that sort of information did make its way into the wild, coverage was usually limited or outside of my ordinary viewing habits.

I didn't know Michael Jordan was a philandering gambler, or that Lawrence Taylor was a hopeless drug addict, until their playing careers had ended. That is not to say that some people didn't know, but the 80s and early-90s were still a time when such things were kept private, so that sports legends could be built and canonized for the sake of mass marketed imagery and maximum monetary gain. By the time I learned that most of the men I idolized as a child were highly flawed, largely average human beings, I had already begun questioning their relevancy. In a world where people like Gandhi, Mother Theresa, and Abraham Lincoln have existed, what does a man like Michael Jordan really matter? I came to realize that he doesn't. He was once a demigod in the catalog of my mind, but I came to realize that the historical significance of athletes and celebrities is effectively nil. In 500 years, will anyone remember any of them? Probably not.

My little BBBS brother and I went to see Beowulf 3D Sunday afternoon. The movie was better than I expected, and the 3D effects were excellent...every action/adventure movie should have 3D viewing as an option! The story may be several centuries old, but a good action/adventure doesn't seem to ever go out of style. After watching Beowulf in his epic struggle against evil demons, it occurred to me that the little's heroes are hardly on the level of being legendary. Fifty Cent ranks high on his list, for instance. The world has very few admirable personalities in leadership positions, so our youth are left to admire former crack dealers who have been shot and stabbed several times. Fantastic!

That's not to say I believe celebrities, entertainers, and athletes should be role models. On the contrary, I believe they should be seen as little more than sources of amusement. What we need is a redefined sense of scale and impact. Entertainers are just that, entertainers. If they are not living lives worthy of being admirable, it only makes sense that we not admire them. When considering their actions and significance, we need to keep in mind that they are little more than glorified court jesters. I would even include art in that category, unless it is instigating social change, or serving as a medium through which larger messages are being sent. Even then, its ultimate significance as a vehicle for change is highly debatable. My personal heroes are not necessarily heroic individuals, but then I am not trumpeting their virtues and suggesting that any of them are worth millions of dollars for their services.


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Now playing: David Bowie - Heroes
via FoxyTunes

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Posted by Erik @ 12/02/2007 11:45:00 PM