Yes, we have. I blame it on the news media and hollywood. They will loosely term someone as a “hero” who helps an old lady change a tire on the side of the interstate, etc. etc.
No. A hero is someone who saves a kid from a burning house, his platoon from annihilation, brings his plane in crippled and burning to save wounded crew, when he coulda bailed out. Stuff like that.
I am with all of you that have said the term hero has become so overused. I am glad to see I am not the only one who gets angry as hell when I see athletes called heroes. They are paid to play a game, and you expect me to gape in awe at a man who made an amazing catch? C’mon, he is doing what he is paid to do. If I get a job out the door quicker at work, or figure out how to save the company a few bucks, do I expect praise and universal accolades? No, it is called a job. It is what my employer pays me to do. The only difference between me and Tom Brady is a few million a year. Oh, and that he gets paid to play a game whereas I actually do something productive. But I digress. [:D] I am also annoyed at our local news station for their Friday morning segment “Hometown hero” where they profile a local (to New Hampshire) athlete…college, high school, etc. It is not that I don’t want to rain on the parade of these young kids or anything. But calling them heroes? Sorry, not in my world. In my world a hero is someone like, say, Martin Luther King Jr. A man who lived for a principle and stood by it until he was murdered for it.
And while we are at it I have another similar gripe. The flag at half staff. When I was younger, the flag went to half staff on those rare occasions that deserved it. It seems like we drop it to half staff for just about anyone now. I am forever driving by local and federal government buildings to find the flag at half staff, and 3/4’s of the time I don’t even know for whom it is at half mast for! And in general I try to keep abreast of these kind of things. So when even I can’t figure out why the flag is at half mast (and around here it often seems to be about twice a month!) we have a problem. And when it IS at half mast and I know who it is for I most times can’t understand why. I mean look at a recent occasion. Now I respect Nelson Mandela for who he was and what he did. But I can’t say I think he was worthy of having flags brought to half mast, mostly because he wasn’t even American.
It seems to me that we live in a society that is afraid of offending anyone to the point we now heap praise and accolades on those who are not doing anything really extraordinary.
Brian
Harrumph!!! Harrumph!!! Harrumph!!! 
you dont think mandela was worth a half mast flag? blimey!!
Nope, I sure do not. Politics of Mandela aside, I do not believe that US flag protocol allows for half staff for a foreign national either. Sorry.
lol you do understand how insular you sound dont you?
lol If you really think about it your lack of understanding of US flag protocol, and calling stik insular because he does understand, makes you the insular one.
im not american so i dont know the precise flag protocol.
but i do know that mandela achieved a huge amount and its generally accepted (over here at least) that he was absolutely the kind of person who deseved a half mast salute
From a quick search I’ve found out that the US flag can be flow at half staff at presidential degree or act of Congress so for Mandela that probably happened.
I do know there are some flags which can never be flown at half staff which are flags of Monarchs as soon as one monarch dies the next one is automatically King or Queen. I know over here in the UK as few years back with Diana’s death people asked why the Royal Standard wasn’t flown at half mast. I had to point out its Half Staff and the Royal Standard never flies at half staff no matter who has died.
Anyway back to your discussion.
Phil
I’ll almost guarantee you it was not Congress.
From the Flag Code Section 7.Paragraph m
In the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law.
When the U.S. flag is to be flown at half-staff, as decreed by President Eisenhower.
Good discussion, everyone.
I think Subfixer may have done this already, but since I love discussions about language, its evolution and use, it’s always good to start with a definition:
According to Webster’s College Dictionary 4th Ed., a hero is:
1 a man (mythological or legendary) of great strength and courage, favored by the gods and in part descended from them, often regarded as a half-god and worshiped after his death
2 any person, esp. a man, admired for courage, nobility, or exploits, esp. in war
3 any person, esp. a man, admired for qualities or achievements and regarded as an ideal or model
4 the central male character in a novel, play, poem, etc., with whom the reader or audience is supposed to sympathize
5 the central figure in any important event or period, honored for outstanding qualities
6 HERO SANDWICH
Now, from this, I think you can make arguments for and against the thread’s main thesis, which is that the word, “hero”, has been cheapened.
Words have a certain weight, a heft, and too often they are used without regard for that weight. We can blame it on media. However, I think that answer is too simplistic; it’s too easy throw out there. Which media is to blame? News? Sports? Radio? TV? Books? Magazines? Computers? Advertising inside Walmart stores?Comic books? It’s all media.
There are many works regarding the effect of language, words, and meaning, and how these things change over time. And while this may be part of the difficulty, I suspect it’s something more general:
People are less concerned with knowing the words to precisely say that which they mean to say. As I like to point out, curmudgeon that I am, while tragedies are sad events, not all sad events are tragedies (your local newscasters probably would disagree). I prefer Aristotle’s view of the tragic, though I can live with the Elizbethan one too. 20th-century tragedy lacks a certain loftiness in my opinion.
On the other hand, humans have always glamorized sports stars, all the way back to the Olympic games and Roman gladiatorial contests. Whenever we place someone on a pedestal and “worship” them, we turn them into heroes of one sort or another.
We have always glamorized warriors–Spartacus, Nelson, Washington, Grant, Patton, Yeager, Schwarzkopf (and just as often demonize the other side). We memorialize them. Does that mean every enlisted man is a hero? It’s a matter of perspective, right? He’s a hero to someone: If not to a nation, maybe to a state/province; if not a state/province, maybe a town; if not a town, perhaps a father, mother, sister, brother, son, or daughter.
When is it appropriate to use a word and when is it not? Can a boy say to his father, “You’re my hero, Dad,” and have it mean exactly what it says? I think so. What is the boy left with otherwise? “My heart bursts with love and pride for you, Dad.” OK, similar, but not quite the same effect.
What’s more, you’re the hero in your own life’s story, aren’t you? I know I am. If I was only a secondary character, that would kinda suck.
I think we can argue this, adequately, from many sides, and I think we’re all going to be able to come up with good points supporting our particular view.
Stay curious, my friends. But keep it lighthearted. None of us are going to fix the world’s woes on the FSM Forum.
So very true. We can debate definitions here all day and night, but it will not alter events in the slightest. A hero sandwich does sound real good about now though… Now I wonder if that term had anything to do with the Greek Gyro sandwich which has a similar pronunciation…?
Mmmmmm, Gyro. Now I am hungry again. [H]
Brian
New Jersey flew the flag at half mast when Whitney Houstan died. Still trying to figure that one out.
My humble opinion is a hero is someone who does an act to save life when the chances of him or her surviving is pretty much zilch. If the do survive, then it is pretty much an act of God or luck-call it what you will. A good example would be the sailors who stayed in the oxygen tank compartment on the USS Forrestal during that horrific fire off of Vietnam. They knew they were dead if they stayed, but they knew if they left the tragedy would be much worse.
I know a great gyro place here in Central Ohio…how’s Friday sound?
Friday sounds like he would be REALLY hungry by then…
Had me a nice tasty gyro today in Lincoln, New Hampshire. It was delicious! [:D]
Brian