Issue 84 It is no longer possible for a society to regard any living man or woman as a hero.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developingand supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.
In our society there may be a minor part of people, who achieve some splendid work for the society, entitled by "hero". We appreciate and adore them due to their extraordinary behaviors than others, which bring about great benefit to people. Because of this kind of worship, heroes always bear all brightness, as generally we saw in the historical stories. Some people may consider that in current times, living men or women can never be regarded as heroes any more. While there may exist some special cases for an opposite conclusion, I agree with this statement in a broad sphere.
As the same in every time, there are also many people who contribute their vigor and lives for the well-being of the society and other glorious responsibilities, and they are worth the title of "heroes". The astronauts, who risk their lives to step out in the outer space for the future of all human beings, are entitled as "space heroes" for their guts and contributions; the scientists and doctors, who fight against the plagues like SARS and work with the patients together, are worth the title of "heroes". As we bear in mind about the meaning of heroes, they make the most difficult but valuable choices which most people would never try, and they succeed. Life or death is not a standard for us to judge them as heroes or not, but their achievements. In this light, living people today can still also be regarded as heroes.
On the other hand, we may also find some flaws within these heroes, the flaws that are not supposed to be there. With the progress of the whole society, people have been more mature and reasonable, therefore get to understand each person bears some flaws and no one is perfect. At the same time, we always consider heroes to be perfect in all aspects, bearing all lights due to our high expectations upon those heroes instead of fully understanding them. Such contradictions may lead to a result that the current heroes pass by so soon that leaves no great names heard any more as the old heroes in the past. We always find that so many hero cartoons and movies around world, but few of the heroes are as normal as us. Such design is because we begin to understand as human being everyone is not so different to others that when they do something good or valuable, we usually tend to call them "good man", "brave guy", “models” or other beautiful names instead of heroes. Even if we name them as "heroes" with reluctance, it may be out of other purposes about encouragement, appreciation, or business strategies.
Moreover, the current society seems show not that much attentions to those heroes and their hero-behaviors any more. After all, "hero" is out of some moral or spiritual values, which are not valued that much. Today, people tend to be cold and materialistic, chasing money and fame day and night. Such self-centric thinking makes the behavior of sacrifice no more appreciated by people. Instead, more people tend to take some free rides but no one pull the bus. Further, the social system, like governments, is regarded as key to all troubles, leaving heroes almost no space for existence. The hero behaviors are even considered to be stupid and therefore not encouraged any more. In such ambience, it is reasonable to view few living people to be regarded heroes.
In retrospect, there are still many heroes who have achieved great work for the society. However, heroism is no longer appreciated like the past and people begin to be aware of the intrinsic flaws of human beings. As a result, the real heroes may only be detected in the movies or fictions, instead of the real society.
1、不可否认，媒体的普及和宣传对英雄人物的产生的确起到了负面的影响。出自媒体对利益的追逐profits-seeking entities; maximize their profits。 Consider Nixon’s Water Gate Scandal, Bill Clinton’s sex scandal, and Kennedy’s ex-marital scandal, each of which become the hottest topic being reported on the media coverage. If it were not for the mass media scrutiny, we would expect that people still regard them as the national hero 大众对英雄成功的嫉妒，喜欢看丑闻
2、但真正的英雄尽管有丑闻也会被认可 Clinton is considered to misuse his power in deceiving public about his wrongdoing as well as his undisciplined behavior. However, he is still the model of presidents in American history who play an important role in drawing American economy to the right track and tackling many problems rooted in the American society.
3、媒体宣传和树立英雄，人们变得更加理性，知道名人也是普通人， 会更理解他们的小错误peccadillo 而不是盲目崇拜。 Talk show Bill Gates; singers作者: ppguo 时间: 2011-10-17 23:05
倒数第二段，说物质主义和政府都不鼓励英雄的行为。这个看起来不是很有说服力。 总感觉这篇文章的观点跟靶心有点偏离，但是有不知道怎么描述。作者: ppguo 时间: 2011-10-17 23:20
我也来一个提纲吧。是综合冷月的和老G的信息。 1.当人们提起英雄这个词时，脑袋里会浮现出XXXXXXX, 或者电影中的谁谁谁，这些人有着一些非同常人的品格，在关键时刻救人脱离困境。但是现在英雄这个词越来越少出现在媒体中。因为 a) 媒体的审查 b) 大众对人性的了解更透彻，不再轻易相信完美的英雄。 2. 但是这并不意味这这个世界上就不会再出现英雄。在媒体的焦点以外，有很多人默默地为人类的幸福努力。例子有特蕾莎修女，还有那个几十年间资助过上百个学生的中国老人。 3. 人们头脑中英雄的概念与以往不同。人们不再要求英雄是完美的。在承认他们伟大的贡献的同时，也接纳他们作为一个普通人有的软弱和缺陷。英雄的概念也不再局限于个人，可以是一个团体。例子有：汶川地震的志愿者们。 4. 结论，一个社会中还是会出现英雄的，不管他们有没有被曝光，是一个人还是一个团体。作者: 冷月钟笛 时间: 2011-10-17 23:24
也许是因为这篇issue想反击的观点大多出自我个人的想法或偏见，我在最后一点想谈的是“英雄主义”——尤其是个人英雄主义——的落寞，但没有充分展开谈，纠结时间来着。最后一点讲得有点批判社会的意思，但其实对英雄主义的疏远是中性的~ 如果我从中性的角度出发，讲一讲英雄主义在当下不合适的原因——比如不符合system定位下的法制、程序正义等观点，夸大了个人能力，体现了一种不现实的追求——最终导致英雄主义的没落，因而现在很少有活着的英雄，不知道你的感觉会不会好一点呢？