some-times there's a man--I won't say a hee-ro, 'cause what's a hee-ro?--but sometimes there's a man. And I'm talkin' about the Dude here--sometimes there's a man who, wal, he's the man for his time'n place, he fits right in there--and that's the Dude - The Big Lebowski [imdb]
That extended preamble is just to nurture my passion for The Big Lebowski.
But the real issue at hand is an article called The Banality of Heroism which can be found here. It's by Dr Phil Zimbardo (of the Stanford Prison Experiment) and Zeno Franco.
What say ye about their ideas about what makes a hero and how to 'nurture' the heroic imagination? Got any heroes?
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
What's a hero?
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"By passing a series of smaller tests of our mettle, we can cultivate a personal habit of heroism."
I reckon there's something in this. Zimbardo's key example, the Japanese Sugihara had made numerous choices in life to defy authority figures and social conventions. When the major test came, his heroism muscles were in good shape.
I wonder if the New Orleans criminal fits the theory as well. After all, he had defied the law many times. Perhaps this was the best training, in a perverse way, for taking the "renegade" action he did.
Contrast the mindset that avoids conflict, chooses not to rock the boat or to cause a scene. At its worst, this is training to be a bystander to injustice.
I taught medical students medical ethics last year. It's clear to me that to whistleblow in the medical fraternity is extremely difficult. I encouraged first years to decide right then and there what kind of doctor they would be - one who speaks the truth, who holds to ethical standards, even when that costs, or one who buckles. Same principle, I think.
The Stanford Prison Experiment is very instructive. Even without actual torture, people who are disempowered, or who feel disempowered, can very quickly become oppressed. In that context, the US military and CIA operatives who have participated in interrogations, extraordinary renditions and the like, perhaps feel justified in their actions. After all, as one whistleblower said, the Iraqis aren't people, they are "enemies". The pack mentality is endemic in the military. Scary. It sure makes Sergeant Joseph Darby a hero for standing up against prisoner brutality.
One of my responses to this is a desire to foster questioning minds.
I reckon Mariah Carey knows...
i think bowie knows too.
my heroes:
dad
sir earnest shackelton
sir peter blake
sir edmund hillary
yeah, but Bowie knows for one day only
So, the thing is, heroism is a very individualistic attribute/activity. That’s not a bad thing per se, but it has costs as well as benefits. Two examples:
a)If fostering an heroic imagination requires actively remembering and celebrating the heroes of the past, we’re back into the Great Man theory of history. To do that wholesale means giving up 20 or 30 years of history telling that has focussed on the lives of ‘regular folk’ – otherwise known as women, minorities, the oppressed and the poor. Upside – people would know stories about heroes (and could therefore maybe imagine themselves doing similar things). Downside – people who have lived non-heroic lives (which even Franco and Zimbardo acknowledge may simply be because they didn’t encounter situations which required heroism) are invisible. Also – ‘non-heroic’ is likely to be defined according to the norms of the history writers – the winners – so the invisibility of the non-heroic may not even be warranted.
b)Taking global warming as an example: it requires a considered, personally costly response – it fits the Franco/Zimbardo definitions of the characteristics of heroism. But it doesn’t require heroism, because the actions of a single individual will not make an impact. 2 million (big number!) Sydneysiders turned off their lights for an hour and power consumption dropped by 10% (not a big number!). You could take yourself completely off the grid, recycle everything, minimise your greenhouse footprint into insignificance, and still find that most of the islands of the Pacific are underwater in 50 years. Pumping people up on heroism might even be counter-productive in these situations – if you’re out looking for the grand, counter-cultural, heroic opportunity, might you not be a little disdainful of collective movements?
Is God looking for heroes?
Is there a potential for a Lake Wobegone effect – where everyone is above average…?
Don’t know. Just interesting.
Simplistic perhaps, but I think everyone is looking for a hero - even if that hero is what others would consider an anti-hero.
And I think a fair number of us want to BE a hero...someone you can rely on, someone who'll stand, someone who'll go into bat for you.
so karyn knows garrison? where all the women are strong and the children are above average? i thought i was the only one exposed to garrison's ramblings about the "quiet week in lake wobegon" about the lutherens and growing tomatoes, and excavating the septic tank and towing by tractor through the middle of the homecoming parade leaking poo in the main street. anyone who can tell a story like that is my hero.
Anyone who has ever heard that mesmerising voice can never forget Garrison Keilor.
I think there are plenty of heroes around us - we don't need to go back in time. eg. the passengers on Flight 93, Andrew Wilkie (defence intelligence whistleblower who resigned from the Office of National Assessments (ONA) over the government’s misrepresentation of intelligence on Iraq), even Major Michael Mori whose career has been threatened due to his vigorous defence of David Hicks... they're inspirational, really.
I don't know Garrison well - it was really only that the reviews of Prairie Home Companion said that Lindsay Lohan could act, and then Meryl Streep (Meryl Streep!) confirmed it, and I followed the rabbit down the hole...
But on the heroes: I guess the thing I'm still toying with is a sense that heroism looks to me a lot like being a person who has a deeply integrated knowledge of what they value and a willingness to follow through on that. And I guess I don't want that to be in the category of special or unusual or inspirational - I want that to be my (and everyone else's) regular, everyday, business-as-usual mode of operation.
But then, part of the thing I see/want/love in Jesus is the depth of that integration, the way His values influence(d) His actions so thoroughly that it looks instinctive but you know it's a result of long term, deep work and prayer and such. So I guess He inspires me because He does hero-things, and I've just contradicted myself.
Alright then...
For me heros are people who face their fears...
People who face the fear, taste it, mull on it, shake at the knees.. then scream into the face of it and have a go anyway. They do it with their knees knocking and their hands shaking... but they do it..
Some people are scared of dieing. It cripples them. Others couldn't give a crap about death. They fear living. and it cripples them also...
We can label people heroes and label peoples actions as heroic. Truth is it might be very easy for them to be that way...
When we can't quantify something like that we really don't know. I encounter greatness daily... the kids I work with have all the excuse in the world to go out and be criminals... and some do.. but some don't... and the ones that get up and go to work in McDonalds or wherever they are my heros..
It is for each person to dicide what it is to be a hero in their own hearts. What are you scared of? Face it... whether it be a trip to the dentist, a phone call to an estranged family member, and you will be a hero..
Thats what is courageous about the crucifixion... Jesus was full on crapping himself in the garden... he did not really want to do it... but he did...
Generally in my own life the things people have patted me on the back for.. things people thought were brave of me to do... I found quite easy... its the little battles where nobody is looking where I act like a coward...
At the moment Patty Powell and Eileen Giles are my heroes... Keep em in your prayers
Irish
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