Please post your Think-Write#1 below.
As a refresher, here are the Think-Write questions:
1. Answer, using concrete evidence from the real world/examples, this question: "What makes it difficult to be a hero in modern times?"
2. Write a eulogy for yourself, using heroic terms.
3. Identify a 2006-2012 video game character that seems heroic or antiheroic. Explain how and why they get that vibe via textual and or visual evidence.
4. More points: Finish What's a Hero? to show me how 'mad' your textual analysis skills are.
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To answer question 1, I think that the misunderstanding of what one thinks is helping another person and what one is actually doing is the problem here, because not everyone shares the same views. Take for example the "Super Hero" in Washington state,Phoenix Jones. This guy runs around Seattle dressed in a pretty decently made costume armed with pepper spray trying to stop fights and prevent small crimes. Yet he gets beat up and was arrested and charged with assault by people he was supposed to be helping. If you watch the video on "YouTube" you will see that he meant well, but went about it in the wrong way. I do not think society today could bring forth a true super hero, we just lack that special something.
Chris Murphy-According to my mac book pro dictionary, a hero is someone who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. To me this is open to interpretation because all of those qualities are a matter of perspective and are subject to one’s own opinion. It would be like saying skateboarding is better than surfing, you may have more fun doing one than the other, but it does not meant that one is better than the other.
I think the perspective of hero is largely influenced by society and how you have been socialized. An example of socialization and its affect on perspective is chivalry, for instance, how in western culture it’s proper for ladies to go first and be served first. However, in many Asian cultures it is the men who are served first and the woman is subservient to man. It is things like this that leave being a hero open to discussion. To further expand on this, Russia is in the process of building a 100-ton nuclear missile to discourage the United States of America from building a missile defense system in Europe. To me it sounds like a horrible Idea, why would anyone want to build something so destructive? And is it that important to build a missile defense system in Europe? To Russian’s there president probably seems like a hero standing up to western power. We Americans come off as overly aggressive.
It’s hard to be a Hero to everybody, I think that when people here the word hero they think of superman saving a beautiful woman and her child from a burning building. To me a hero in modern times is someone like my Dad. He passed away on Christmas Eve this year of a very rare lung disease; towards the end of his life he lost mobility because of his inability to get a sufficient amount of oxygen to flow through his body and he had no energy to do things we take for granted. The day before he passed away he was having so much trouble and was so confused by the lack of oxygen that they significantly up his dosage of medicine to the point where he couldn’t talk because he was in and out of consciousness. But the last thing he said to my brother and I was a little prayer and that he loved us. Throughout his short stay at hospice he didn’t once complain about what was happening to him and to me that is heroic.
I think people don’t appreciate the little things about being a hero and they expect so much. A hero is someone who impacts your life in a positive way that changes you for the better. It seems like things like the i-phone and i-pad are leading to less personal interaction and I the less we interact with each other the less we have a chance of someone interacting with are life as a hero would. Maybe putting yourself in harms way is a great way to find a hero.
Hero or antihero? Well that was up to me. In this game I did what I had to do to make it by, breaking into houses, killing innocent people. It's not like I wanted to do it, being the king and all, I felt like this would help save the people in the long run. Now just because I raised taxes, knocked down schools and turned them into whore houses doesn't make me the bad guy. Right? If you had to raise money to build an army to fight against some creepy things called the "darkness", you would probably do the same no? Sure most of the people weren't happy with me and I started getting some cool dark red glowing veins and black wings/horns, but I did save the world didn't I? Call me an anti-hero, but this was still my world. (Fable 3)I knew I was the anti-hero in this game because whenever I would walk around town people would scream and run away. In this game I could interact with people and be an angel, or not. Guess which I chose.
What makes it difficult to be a hero in modern times? To answer that, I think that there are many meanings for a hero. A modern version of a hero could be someone famously doing good around the world. But sometimes people have different point of views of a hero, in their case. Where as an "super hero" performs deeds, illustrates, and exemplifies certain morals that are valued by the society from which the epic originates. Many of them are characters that are superhuman, smarter, and average than an average human.They can also be described as warriors that perform the extraordinary tasks that most of them find difficult.
What makes it difficult to be a hero in modern times?
A hero is who strive to be the bigger and better person. They put others first and themselves second. They are view as the good person in many stories, magazine, or newspaper. Sometimes, other people viewed who we call a hero, a villain. The reason is that they view a person as hero only when the hero do what the person think is right. It’s difficult to be a hero in everyone’s eyes because each person view of what is right and wrong is different from person to person. A hero can do one right thing and their actions would look the complete opposite in another person’s eyes. For example, LeBron James, a basketball player, left his old team for a new team. He left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heats in the summer of 2010. The people of Ohio view him as a villain after that decision but the people of Miami view him as a hero. After that decision, Ohio’s people burn his jersey on the streets and have so much negativity at LeBron. It’s like the complete opposite at Miami, people were so happy that he chose their team over the rest of the league. They praised him because it would mean that their professional basketball team would be hard to beat and they were right. A person can’t be a hero in everyone’s eyes and that is what is so hard to be view as a hero.
When ask the question “what makes it difficult to be a hero in modern times?”
One first has to look at what’s going on around the world right now. Regardless of how you look at it, weather it be the hero with super powers or a regular doctor saving lives. It’s just too much for one person or persons to handle. Sometimes a hero isn’t needed at all because of certain circumstances.
An example would be Hawaii Medical Center right here in Hawaii. Because of certain circumstances they had to close down, therefore left nurses that aided and care for patients out of a job.
Another good example would be the lack of help and aid in all of the recent natural disasters. There are nurses, doctors, and military personnel that are willing to help out in the relief program for Japan and the Philippines but still not enough to go around.
Also, if you look at society now days, it’s all about suing! Just read the newspaper or the tabloids, any slip up and you will get sued. Imagine being superman and you stopped a speeding train with people on board. Lets just say the people on board go hurt. I can almost guarantee you 110% they will sue your ass! It goes for anyone in the medical field. You touch the patient wrong or give really bad health advice, that person will also sue your ass as well.
It would definitely be hard being a superhero in modern society.
What makes it difficult to be a hero in modern times?
It's because in today's world, it's perhaps more appealing, easier, and sexier to be a villain. There's lots of heroes, but we never hear or see them because the media is what controls our world today. The hero's glory is often shorten or overwritten by other villainous acts like "Lindsay Lohan's back in jail" or "Kim Kardashian's marriage ends again."
Today's world, everyone's state of mind is also very materialistic and self-centered. People don't want to go out of their way to help others unless there is a 'reward'. Because time is money, and money to most is the main objective of their existence, they rather would not waste their time or money to help others when they could be helping themselves.
Wouldn't that make him an antihero then? (Like Punisher)
A ‘hero’ by society’s definition is someone who rescues someone or performs an act of supreme good. I won’t look at fictional heroes, as fictional heroes don’t give much background to the villain’s side, the side where the villain is the hero, and the hero is the villain. It seems like whoever wins is the hero, but I don’t think that’s really the case. It depends on the side that the hero or villain was on. Like what if someone was trying to get water from another village and the ‘hero’ stopped them? The person could have been trying to get water for their own village. So it can really go both ways.
Why is it difficult to be a hero in modern times?
I think that it is difficult to be a hero in modern times because nowadays no matter how good something you do is to certain people they may see it as a bad thing. Take surgeons for instance. They are seen as heros because they save lives. But if they make one wrong mistake that could also take a life and then they are deemed as a villan to people. People are always looking for someone to blame. You can be a hero but nowadays with just one mistake with how the world is now it wont matter how much good you did before just one mistake can change peoples entire opinion about you.
-yukino cavallo
What makes it difficult to be a hero in modern times?
Well, what exactly is a hero? The fact that everyone would answer that question differently, is ultimately a sign that everyone would answer our main question differently. As for me, a hero is someone that you can look up to, rely on to help you in situations that otherwise feel helpless, gives you an overall feeling of safety and securement, and of course, has a badass mask. Feeling safe and secure overlap into a lot of issues and problems in the world right now. Whether it being related to war, fighting, terrorists, theft, the economy, debt, and so on. I think it would be pretty accurate to say that a lot of people feel the same way about their ideal hero. There are, however, a big portion of people that would consider their hero to be completely different. They don't care about the same issues that I do. That's where the main problem comes in; with everybody wanting of a hero with different characteristics, there will be clashes left and right. Everybody has their own unique beliefs and stand strong with their way of thinking. There is no single hero that is capable of pleasing and providing for everybody. There will always be somebody that despises you. And there will also be somebody left out. Running around in spandex and capes just ain't gonna cut it.
To recap, for those of you who picked the question of "Why is it difficult to be a hero in modern times?"
1. DEFINITION: Everyone's perception of heroes differs. Bin Laden could be a hero to many, while he is definitely not a hero to people in the U.S..
2. CYNICISM: People begin to cynically question the motives of why a hero is doing so-called heroic behavior.
3. LEGALITY: People might sue the hero. In recent times, we have bystanders who have intervened, only later to be sued (see CYNICISM above).
4. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES: Different cultures have differing standards of what constitutes 'heroism.' This difference could make for a good essay topic, between Western and Eastern heroes.
5. DEGREE: The difference between what constitutes normal heroic behavior and superheroic behavior is a big one.
6. CONTEXT: Given certain situations, a hero and villain label can equally be applied in the same case.
I believe people now days are very demanding. They want things done fast and perfectly done. For example; they expect President Obama to fix an economy that was handle to him all messed up. The previous government in charge ran down the economy to the present status after years and years of bad decision making and bad politics. Now people think that in only four years everything should be good and dandy. If you don’t perform quickly enough, well you are out of here as quick as an eye blink. I do believe the economy is making a good turn around, but I also understand it would take more than four years to do so. Another thought I have regarding to how hard is to be a Hero now days is regarding to whom sees you as a Hero and who does not. To some you might be a role model but to others you could be the total opposite. Take for example Friedrich Nietzsche, the author of many philosophical books, who was by some people thought to be a genius and others to be the culprit to give Hitler the idea of a world run by a superior human race. I believe Nietzsche had good intentions with his ideas, but to other people like Hitler it could be easily misinterpret and used for all the wrong reasons. What many people never bother to investigate is that Nietzsche never promoted a superior race, or enforcement of rules at the sacrifice or torture of other lives. A Hero could be anyone depending on what are your priorities. For example I was deployed to Iraq for around a year. What we could villains burring bombs to kill Americans they call Heroes in their own perspective. Someone defending their land and fighting for their own cause, but to us is just some coward that won’t fight face to face. In reality what civilians do not realize is that most of the people burring bombs are just family men trying to make money to feed their kids in an economy who got destroyed after the Iraqi government collapse after the American-Iraqi war. A lot of ex Iraq soldiers were forced to retired with nothing left than a one time fifty dollar compensation for their life long service to their country. Yes it is very difficult to be a Hero now days, past or in the future. It all depends on the audience which all has a different point of view.
JARAN HERNANDEZ ENG 272Q
Blame it on the creation of the internent. I argue that the internet created instant scholars, and thus the death of hero's. The age of the internet not only opened the flood gates of instant knowledge but it also created the ease to which such knowledge can be manipulated and dispersed. Within the past twenty years our Hero's have fallen victim to the internet. Tiger Woods for example can be argued as an all american hero that fell victim to the internet that forever tarnished his hero status. Before his air bag could be fully deployed news of his marital problems circled the globe. At first his car carsh was reported to be nothing more than a genuine motor vehicle accident. However, the ease to which information can be shared resulted in instant examination of the scene of the accident and discovery of an alternate theory that would make for a very interesting CSI Miami episode. As a result of the instant up to date access of information and spread of unreliable opinions of self proclaimed experts his image has been tarnished. The fall from grace is the fate of all hero's. The power and resources of the internet allows us to witness and take part in the character assination of the hero's of our genration in an instant. Gone are the days of believing such catch phrases as "training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins". Hero's are ever increasingly becoming a myth. For every heroic deed Mr. Google will find a piece your dirty laundry to air out for everyone to get a big whiff.
Sean Kam
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a Hero can be defined as, (1) a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability. (2) The principle male character in a literary or dramatic work. (3) An object of extreme admiration or devotion. Today, there are some factors that would make it difficult to be a hero or considered heroic.
Society tends to judge people by their appearance. Based on the way you look, people will stereotype by the way you look. This is a downfall of society, but it is what it is. The hero today would have to look the part. Second, actions speak louder than words. What I learned from skateboarding is, you shouldn’t talk about something, be about it. Show people who you are and what you can do. The hero must be able to do this. The hero must be able to take criticism, no matter what he/she does; someone somewhere won’t like it. It may be hard to be a hero because everyone now is doing their own thing. It may be hard to get noticed for doing something heroic.
People do heroic actions often; it could be as simple as saying “watch out” as a car passes by to someone who is crossing the street not looking as a car is approaching.
Eddie Riggs, the protagonist in the game Brutal Legend (2009),never wanted to be a hero. He only ever wanted to hide behind the stage, away from the spot light. However, he became a hard core demon killer, a reluctant leader, and first and foremost the world’s greatest roadie. He was content with tuning guitars and being a small part of the heavy metal community. But a fateful accident, a magic belt buckle, and a bit of heavy metal music changed his destiny forever. He went from behind the senses to a quest to free an oppressed land. Through his journey he held true to his principles and beliefs in his role behind the spot light.
Eddie came from humble beginnings, like many heroes before him. He grew up touring with his father as a roadie for different bands. An accident opened a portal on one of these tours set him off on his epic quest. Eddie awoke to a world inspired by the greatest album covers and lyrics metal has to offer. After fighting his way off a mountain formed with the skeletons of monsters and beasts long dead, Eddie met Ironheade army, freedom fighters against the Demon hoards of Lord Doviculus. Eddie quickly finds his role in this new world much like that in his old. He’s a roadie, never in the spot light, always there though. He gives the Ironheade’s the spark they need to fight back eventually helping them to free humanity from Demon control.
What really makes Eddie stand out from other figures and heroes is his humility. He never wanted to be praised or cheered for. He never aspired to lead or rule. And yet through this adventure he fights epic battles, leads soldiers to victory, and single handedly crushes demon skulls by the thousands but not once does he take credit. As he said, “A good roadie knows his job is to make someone else look good, keep someone else safe, help someone else do what they were put here to do.” This quality makes him a fine leader and heroic person. Instead of seeking glory and adoration, he is focused on saving people and freeing humanity.
Everyone has the capabilities to be a hero, no matter the degree of heroism: helping an elderly cross the street, performing CPR on a person in need or even picking up trash in your environment.
Committing consistent righteous acts of heroism is becoming more and more difficult to witness due to a person's aggressiveness and their 'me' fixations against anything else. Today's society is about how well you manage your time and the capabilities you could discover within that time frame. Having a face to face conversation is not a desired situation when cyber-networking could save you that one hour drive from your house to the meeting room.
Keeping up with evolution is the downfall to heroism. If we can't keep up, do we even exists at all?
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