What sort of hero do we need today?

[Thallium]

I am preparing a written assignment in norwegian and I could use some ideas to set my thoughts adrift.

1)What is the ideal of today's heroes and what make them heroes?
2)What means progress to you?
3)What sort of hero do we need today?

 

[olde drunk]

1)What is the ideal of today's heroes and what make them heroes?

sadly, i do not see any. my heros are the folks that can do what they need to do, AND enjoy the process.

2)What means progress to you?

progress is the advancement of civilization. we have had technological advancement with very little progress. we use our technology to create wealth, comfort, war and more technology. nowhere do we, as a world culture, make feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless or educating the masses the priority. i am not espousing socialism or any 'ism'.

as a hedonist, i would enjoy sharing whatever i have in order to see world progress. sorry, thallium, i had to put that in there.

3)What sort of hero do we need today?


another ghandi! perhaps hawkings can lead the way to a revolution in the way we see our world. unfortunately, what i see in my world are politicians with an agenda for self promotion and gain (wealth or power). perhaps a scientific spiritual leader or a spiritual scientific leader will take us to another level??

peace,

 

[Kal-Elvis]

1)What is the ideal of today's heroes and what make them heroes?

A hero is a mythological archetype that has attained extraordinary achievement (real or imagined) and inspire others. Since we all carry our own personal mythologies as well as cultural mythologies, this can be as broad as "Jesus Christ is my hero" or as personal as "My dad is my hero." The ideal is subjective.

2)What means progress to you?

Progress is the idea that a subject moves along a linear hierarchy increasing in value, with bad on one end of the spectrum and good on the other. We want to push things towards the good end by making things better.

I reject the notion of progress in an abstract or philosophical sense because it places value judgments on what is good and what is bad. The world isn't getting better or worse; it's just changing. In my everyday life though, I think of progress all the time, as in the more I practice this musical instrument, the more my musical ability is progressing. There is a disconnect.

3)What sort of hero do we need today?

Today, many of whom are thought of as heroes are manufactured. For example, Private Jessica Lynch: The mythos surrounding her was manufactured by the military and the media, looking for a human interest story. I suppose all hero myths are manufactured at some point, but I resent it being so blatantly constructed in front of me.

We need more personal heroes, people who inspire us not by the magazine covers we see in our supermarket or what others tell us, but by what we see in them: teachers, mentors, coaches, neighbors. More human connectivity.

 

[Thallium]

Thank you both for your replies. I much appreciate them and hope for more ideas.

A new question: In what way should progress affect our society? A hard question and I did not mean anything less or different than that question. Think about it.

A second question: I have an idea that we need a reaction to what is happening in our times, the "technologization" of our way of living, an era similar to the romantic era where we Man is in focus and where we encourage a primitive lifestyle where Man's primary needs are in focus. Just like the earlier and the other eras were reations to the former. What are your thoughts on this?

 

[selfAdjoint]

My answer on your question, "In what what should progess affect our society".

Progress should enable individuals to be all that they can and want to be. I modified the old army slogan by adding want. For example maybe you have the talent to be the greatest sharpshooter in the world, but you are not interested in shooting.

In old time societies people were born into their roles; you were a farmer or a merchant or a laborer - or an aristocrat - and that was it, that is what you made of your life. Women of course could be wives and mothers or else.

It was technology and not democracy that changed this. Cars and the telephone and the typewriter and fast communication by newspapers, all changed the way people lived. And in the US, where there was only a weak class system (for whites), people were able to follow their dreams. Still today though, too many feel locked into roles that don't suit them. I believe progress should be toward lifting up everyone to freedom and self reliance.

 

[THANOS]

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/11797_phenomenon.html

Nuff said bout heroes!

 

[Thallium]

That is incredible, but I won't be so arrogant as to say that I cannot happen. However I don't regard this woman as a hero. She is gifted, but the characteristics of a real hero are not, in my opinion, natural gifts like X-ray vision. That is more or less a coincidence...

 

[TENYEARS]

No hero will save the planet or humanity. There needs to be 6 billion heros on this planet. There can be no differing to someone else. We must all rise up, and fight for that understanding that is within us. Only then can there be a hero or heros. Only in this state can there be selfless acts born of wisdom an courage. Only then will human kind take responsiblity for it's acts and do what needs to be done. Clean up the environment, create a completely new system in which there is no waste, no impact on the environment within reason and cohabitation with other species. To reach this is an individual effort, but many are afraid it takes to long or that such virtue or understanding is not real or that their efforts would be wasted.

If you want a great fantasy hero, my favorite comic book hero growing up was spiderman and the hulk second. "The Power of Myth" By Joseph Campbell is a great book with stories of heros.

 

[Nomolesteporfavor]

1. People in misery, because others want others to drown in misery with them.
2. White meat in McDonald's chicken nuggets. Not really, but this provocative message will help speed up the progress to the end of our modern, decadent civilization.
3. Bizarro, or Captain Obvious if it's too late to beat inspiration into people. http://groups.msn.com/LargePictureHallsIBet/captainobvious.msnw