Heroes

Dead: Andy Warhol
Alive: Mario Vargas Llosa

Edited by: SuzyWatusi

Ever since I came across the David Bowie album (and realized what he meant by it), it's hard not to think of the word "Heroes" in quotes.

I'm not saying David Bowie is a hero, nor yet a "hero."

--M.

I was thinking more in terms of people who you somehow think have helped change society for the better. Fair enough, artists can do that, too. If nothing else, Bowie's made some awesome music.

Heroes: one dead, one living?

Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ.

I jest.

If nothing else, Bowie's made some awesome music.

Like I said, I don't think he's a hero. He just wrote the sound track for the word "heroes," is all I'm saying. So when I see the word, every time, my brain goes, "we can be heeerrrroooes, just for one day."

--M.

I used to ridicule US citizens for needing a new hero every day - but, today, methinks UK citizens need a new villain every day.

Unless we're counting the everyday sort, the kind that goes unreported, true heroism is rare. For me the word connotes an added element of bravery, hard to find in a mere accomplishment, however beneficial.

Would Martin Luther King have been a hero without the Birmingham police to make it so?

--M.

There is, to put it mildy, some disquiet about UK troops' continuing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. But all who die are heroes and there is an ongoing, if not entirely subtle, campaign to remind us of this. We've had our heroes' Xmas song - I can't wait for Easter. A heroes egg made by Kraft?

It seems plain to me that fighting in a war should not (in and of itself) count as heroism. Nor even should dying in one.

Or if that's how we're defining it now, the value of the word has fallen victim to inflation.

--M.