On: The Real Heroes Are Dead (2002)

[andrewclunn]

Ironically, this doesn't make me want to be a hero. Instead it makes me see the thanklessness of duty. Society loves a dead hero because they can be used without asking for anything.

[Graphon1 → andrewclunn]

> Ironically, this doesn't make me want to be a hero.

Not everyone is capable.

> Instead it makes me see the thanklessness of duty.

I dunno. Lots of people are very thankful that Rescorla saved their lives, or the lives of the people they love.

[zeveb → andrewclunn]

The hero chooses to do his duty even though he knows he won't be thanked, even though he knows he will die.

I don't know if I'd be a hero, but I hope I would.

[andrewclunn → zeveb]

For my family? For those I love and those who I really care about? No question. But for some abstract like society, as part of a job for a paycheck, or out of some internalized sense of duty? No.

[pjc50 → andrewclunn]

"A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him."

- Napoleon Bonaparte, as quoted in Civ 4