I have heard several times over the past few days references that the late space shuttle crew are heros. I'm sorry to sound cold, but dying an extremely tragic accidental death does not make one a hero. Dozens, if not hundreds of people die in car accidents every day, but one would not consider them heros. To me, a hero is someone who goes above & beyond the call of duty to perform a heroic act in saving others or preventing a tragedy.
Don't get me wrong, I do feel for the crew's loved ones who are left behind, but it just seems the word "hero" is used way too much these days and its meaning has been lessened.
I agree with you 100%. When I hear the word ‘hero’ I think of Omaha Beach, Iwo Jima, Khe Sanh, and the men that fought in places like these. Anyone else is a far, far lesser hero than these men.
But the most sickening is when they apply the term to an athlete.
HERO = person of courage and accomplishment.
I suppose when thinking of this definition of the word "hero" it could more easily be associated with the space shuttle crew.
The crew weren't just up in space watching the stars. They were performing experiments, medical and scientific. I am sure the results were transmitted to Earth before their demise. They were professionals that knew that dangers of space flight exist, and they still continued with their journey. I would consider them Heros.
Given the meaning of the word "hero", I dont see that it doesn't apply. Courage and accomplishment - clearly traits of people in many occupations that require them to put their lives at risk (willingly).
[quote=Mrs Venom] They were performing experiments, medical and scientific. <hr /></blockquote>
Like watching spiders spin webs or frogs fucking? Hardly worth the $1 billion per flight and 14 lives to date. NASA is going to come under some pressure over the next few years to start performing more worthwhile experiments.
I may not have a definition all cooked up, but I know a hero when I "see" one. And those seven were the real thing. You occasionally get the question "Who are your heroes?" and I sit stumped for a while as there tend to be very very few that I think of that way. But after some comtemplation astronauts tend to weigh heavily in my top five.
Why? I guess because beyond doing a job (we all have jobs), they are fundamentally explorers. Something that we count way too few of in today's world. I have a visceral admiration bordering on hero worship for the explorers of history ... Magellan, Columbus, Cook, Eric The Red, Louis and Clark, Chuck Yeager, John Glen, Neal Armstrong and the other Mercury/Apollo astronauts.
They all had jobs to do. Heck you could plausibly say that Columbus and Magellan were just capitalists researching new resources for exploitation by the merchants of Europe. All that would be true ... that was their job. But they knowingly took risks far in excess of the likely reward outcome for them personally. And most importantly they ventured out into an unknown and pushed back the envelope of human ignorance.
If you choose to think of it negatively then yes, you can always find a thread of greed in the motives for human exploration. The expansion of a trade empire, an easier way to bring luxury food items (spices) to the aristocracy of Europe ... this is why the globe was circumnavigated. Beating the Soviets in a propaganda war ... this is why man walked on the moon. To this I say "Who cares why?" The people who actually did the job knew what they were risking and they pushed forward the frontier of human knowledge for little personal gain.
Did the Columbia astronauts venture as far into the unknown as Louis and Clark? Perhaps not such a quantum leap, but make no mistake, only 88 shuttle flights does not qualify going to work in space at the tip of one of those bombs as "routine". They were true explorers and heroes to me. And furthermore, manned space flight must go on precisely because it is exploration and it is risky. Without explorers human kind will stagnate.
This topic was on the Tom Likus show-a daily syndicated radio show. Even Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, was making an arguement that these men and women were doing their duty and nothing more. I agree 100%, a tragic and honorable death, but not of "heroic" status.
[quote=SeriousEric] I may not have a definition all cooked up, but I know a hero when I "see" one. <hr /></blockquote>
i couldnt agree more eric - besides it's not the act of "dying" (in the literal sense) that makes someone a hero.. unfortunately it just happens to be one possible outcome..! hello..? great talk show stuff for the crowd with IQ<100.
:bonk: :bonk:
[quote=Mark O] I have heard several times over the past few days references that the late space shuttle crew are heros. I'm sorry to sound cold, but dying an extremely tragic accidental death does not make one a hero. Dozens, if not hundreds of people die in car accidents every day, but one would not consider them heros. To me, a hero is someone who goes above & beyond the call of duty to perform a heroic act in saving others or preventing a tragedy.
Don't get me wrong, I do feel for the crew's loved ones who are left behind, but it just seems the word "hero" is used way too much these days and its meaning has been lessened.
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Mike Tyson (when he resigns Kevin Rooney & regains the undisputed heavyweight belts)
To me, the term "hero" is way overused today &/or the definition/defining characteristics are too easy to qualify for. To me, being a hero means going beyond the call of duty (Kantian ethics vs. Aristotelean), in addition to great courage, (attempts at) great accomplishment, and nobility of purpose.
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