Where are my childhood American heros I learned about in school?

[fencesitter]

George Washington: honesty, integrity, bravery, leadership (I cannot tell a lie).
Johnny Appleseed: environmentalist, major tree hugger.
Zorro: defender of the poor and minorities.
Superman: truth, justice and the American way
Robin Hood: you know.

And the villians were all corrupt politicians, greedy industrialists, roober barons, crooked lawmen, and the like.

Another dumb thought in the morning.

[atommom]

1. I've been wondering the same thing. I think the time is right

for another Zorro. But I'm afraid of what the Minutemen might do to him.

Two bits, four bits, six bits, a peso!
All for Zorro stand up and say so!

[fencesitter]

7. The minutemen are what made me think of Zorro.

And the California land developers. Huh.

[Goblinmonger]

2. George Galloway is my new hero.

Seriously.

And Russ Feingold. He always seems to stick up for what is right.

[Richard Steele]

3. well, here in 2005....

WASHINGTON: "Stop-Loss" drafted at age 58, dead of heat stroke in Iraq.

APPLESEED: Picked up for vagrancy; being held without charges or legal counsel on 'suspicion of ties to eco-terrorist groups'.

ZORRO & ROBIN HOOD: Domestic Terrorists; shot by federal agents as they fled their burning 'compounds'.

SUPERMAN: Illegal alien; wanted for BILLION$ in "Property Damage" charges; Target of million-dollar FAA investigation; remains at large.

[lenidog]

4. Someone else had the same question

Jill Solbule

Heroes


Why are all our heroes so imperfect
Why do they always bring me down
Why are all our heroes so imperfect
The statue in the park has lost his crown

William Faulkner drunk and depressed
Dorothy Parker mean, drunk and depressed
And that guy in Seven Years in Tibet turned out to be a nazi
The founding fathers all had slaves, the explorers slaughtered the braves,
The Old Testament God can be so petty

Paul McCartney jealous of John, even more so now that he's gone
Dylan was so mean to Donovan in that movie
Pablo Picasso cruel to his wives
My favorite poets took their own lives
Orson Welles peaked at 25, ballooned before our eyes
and he sold bad wine

Heard Babe Ruth was full of malice
Lewis Carroll I'm sure did Alice
Plato in the cave with those very young boys
TS Elliott hated Jews, FDR didn't save the Jews
All the French joined the resistance after the war
Raymond Chandler drunk and depressed
Tennessee Williams drunk and depressed
Think I'll just get drunk and depressed.

[Zorra]

5. In these technologically advanced, fascist controlled government times,

Robin Hood probably knows better than to advertise.

[gratuitous]

6. Hmmm

Well, we shot Gandhi, King, a couple of the Kennedys. Tragic "accidents" seem to take others, like Steven Biko and Paul Wellstone. It's apparently not good for your long-term health to be right when a society is going so wrong.

On the bright side, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu have lived to a ripe old age in one of the most brutal and repressive societies imaginable.

We tend to like our saints at arm's length. The history of our time will be written long after we're gone, and scholars then will wonder why we didn't recognize some of the greatness in our midst or treat such luminaries better.

[fencesitter]

8. Oh yeah, and that carpenter from Nazareth..

peace, love and understanding.

[karynnj]

9. Three of you heroes are fictional

and Johnny Appleseed was turned into a legend. If you want an environmentalist, you could pick Rachel Carson. Silent Spring alerted us to the danger of pesticides. Her impact was huge. With George Washington any little quirks have been worn away by history.

You are then comparing Washington to men whose entire life becomes an open book. No one can always be perfect. Only when there is an effort to look at them through a soft lens could any politician come close to George Washington.

The RW has done a better job with this lately than we have, They have completely ignored all of the damage done by Reagan's economic policies and ignored that, although the USSR was beginning to self destruct during his time, the seeds of many of today's international disasters were planted by his administration. To them Reagan is a bigger than life hero. They even have, to their base, turned GWB into a bigger than life hero.

Last year, if we controlled much of the media, Kerry would have been an easy candidate to mythologize - he was a war hero, but one concerned with the safety of his men and who was troubled by much of what he saw, he then spoke truth to the government on this, while urging people to stay within the system to change things. Continue through his accomplishments as Prosecutor, LT GOV, and Senator. The fact is he is a very clean politician who has often fought unpopular battles, usually in an impeccable, intelligent and tenacious manner.

The bare bones of his life could support bigger than life or hero descriptions and it would have taken less effort than the RW needed for Reagan. Instead, the LW and the RW both examined his life and record under a microscope - many with the intent of ignoring (or diminishing the importance of) anything good he may have done, while focusing on what they disliked. Both sides did find things they didn't like.

If you compare people to myths and legends none of them will be good enough. Even when you compare Presidential hopefuls to past Presidents, it is hard to see their potential. I think that we will be better served in 2008, if we don't diminish a good candidate for not being perfect. Every candidate who seemed to have a chance last year, Dean, Edwards, Clark, Gephart, and Kerry were all better men, more intelligent and more likely to lead our country out of this mess than W was. None of them were perfect, but all of them were sincere, capable people without any fatal flaws.

In 2008, we need to attempt to see the good in all the candidates and take the best. Then we need to not reject good while looking for perfect.

[fencesitter]

10. Real or not,

These were, of course, fictional or legend enhanced folk heros that represented to me when I was growing up what was good, righteous and moral. The good guys always beat the immoral, greedy bosses and politicos who were trying to exploit the common folk or take over the world. This is where my liberal attitudes began to take root. Now who is a hero. Donald Trump? Rumsfield? Some card playing Japanese kid? Well, YUGiOh's pretty cool, but te little guys hero isn't around much anymore.

[atommom]

11. The little guys' hero seems to be out of style right now.

Which is interesting, because little guys are desperately in need of heroes right now. I have a feeling that if we do get new mythical heroes for the common man, they will have to come from non-mainstream sources. (Once momentum has been achieved, the mainstream will try to jump on the bandwagon ... if it appears that money can be made.)