Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2003 8:57 pm
To add a sort of add on to all this, and in light of the fact that the "war" appears over, and now it appears we are in "clean up" mode (even if some people get killed next week by soome die hard nutcase intent on his promised virgins in heaven).
I have heard about as much as I can stmoache about "heroes".
When did they stop calling people like Sgt York or Audie Murphy heroes, and start using the term for individuals that unfortunately got lost and or captured and eventually rescued?
I mean yes I am glad that Jessica is alright.
But I always thought a hero was someone that conciously and intentionally put their life in extreme risk, to accomplish a goal that was knowingly and most assuredly absolutely considerably life threatening in the very real now sense of the word.
Audie Murphy stood on a burning tank destroyer that was due to blow up. He did it knowing is unit was pulling back. It was quite clear he was being attacked by what any rational thinking person would qualify as most definitely superior forces. Yet he manned the tanks machine gun and systematically gunned down numerous german troops that had accompanying armour support. He so decimated the infantry support of the german armour, that the armour broke off the attack.
That is heroism.
No one could have faulted the man for pulling back with the others. Logic would have said to stay is to willing acknowledge you are going to die.
Sadly I am only able to offer dismay, that our past heroes are having their very real and very extreme heroism somehow sullied by giving the term to those that are merely survivors.
My hat is off to the reporters that followed the units into harms way. They shared the conditions with the troops.
But the one thing I really had a hard time with, was the people in the news media sitting back in a CNN office or whatever other news service, or the people wandering the streets here at home with a microphone trying to make news out of nothing.
Did I want to see interviews of Jessica's friends and families? No for crying out loud. Only a complete moron needs a reporter telling them her family is concerned for her. Duhh!.
I probably missed some parts of the war on the news, because I was hiding from all the most wretchedly miserable excuses for invented importance news items.
I have heard about as much as I can stmoache about "heroes".
When did they stop calling people like Sgt York or Audie Murphy heroes, and start using the term for individuals that unfortunately got lost and or captured and eventually rescued?
I mean yes I am glad that Jessica is alright.
But I always thought a hero was someone that conciously and intentionally put their life in extreme risk, to accomplish a goal that was knowingly and most assuredly absolutely considerably life threatening in the very real now sense of the word.
Audie Murphy stood on a burning tank destroyer that was due to blow up. He did it knowing is unit was pulling back. It was quite clear he was being attacked by what any rational thinking person would qualify as most definitely superior forces. Yet he manned the tanks machine gun and systematically gunned down numerous german troops that had accompanying armour support. He so decimated the infantry support of the german armour, that the armour broke off the attack.
That is heroism.
No one could have faulted the man for pulling back with the others. Logic would have said to stay is to willing acknowledge you are going to die.
Sadly I am only able to offer dismay, that our past heroes are having their very real and very extreme heroism somehow sullied by giving the term to those that are merely survivors.
My hat is off to the reporters that followed the units into harms way. They shared the conditions with the troops.
But the one thing I really had a hard time with, was the people in the news media sitting back in a CNN office or whatever other news service, or the people wandering the streets here at home with a microphone trying to make news out of nothing.
Did I want to see interviews of Jessica's friends and families? No for crying out loud. Only a complete moron needs a reporter telling them her family is concerned for her. Duhh!.
I probably missed some parts of the war on the news, because I was hiding from all the most wretchedly miserable excuses for invented importance news items.
