I’ve really enjoyed the on-air spat about the guy who flew his plane into an office building in Austin, Texas occupied, in part, by IRS employees with whom the guy had been feuding for years. On one side there’s the guy’s daughter, who lives in Norway, telling ABC that she considers her dad a hero. On the other hand there’s the son of one of the only people killed in the building, who says that since his father went to Vietnam, he’s the hero in this story. For all I know they could both be heroes, and for all I know neither of them are, or ever were. What I do know is this: in the news people’s mission to eclipse logic and fact with a level of sappy emotionalism that even the word maudlin doesn’t do justice to, the word hero – like the words leadership and community and so many others – has become irrelevant. Children who dial 911 when their mother’s hair catches on fire while frying chicken are heroes. People who return stolen wheelchairs to the homeless are heroes. People who hand out peanut butter sandwiches to those stranded at the bus terminal by a blizzard are heroes. People who check on the old ladies on their block during power outages are heroes. The youngsters who carry caged hamsters from burning schoolhouses are heroes. Every single person, as we all know, who has ever joined the armed forces in this country are heroes. I think that according to the definition of the word, when everyone is a hero, nobody is a hero, especially those who have an on-air turf war over whose dead relation is more entitled to the word.
The designation battle didn’t last long: it was quickly blown off the air – pardon the pun – by yet another school shooting in suburban Denver, right down the road from Columbine High School. The footage of this scene on Good Morning America was laughable. Side by side, and with a soundtrack, we were treated to videos of the youngsters running for their lives this week on the right, and on the left, footage of youngsters running for their lives more than a decade ago. Robin Roberts proclaimed the similarities “chilling,” and boy George, her sidekick – or perhaps she is his … they’re still working it out, I think – commented that the hero who tackled the shooter this week had a lot in common with almost all other heroes. He wasn’t basking in his heroism, George said, but instead carefully reviewing the entire scenario and trying to determine what more he could have done.
The designation battle didn’t last long: it was quickly blown off the air – pardon the pun – by yet another school shooting in suburban Denver, right down the road from Columbine High School. The footage of this scene on Good Morning America was laughable. Side by side, and with a soundtrack, we were treated to videos of the youngsters running for their lives this week on the right, and on the left, footage of youngsters running for their lives more than a decade ago. Robin Roberts proclaimed the similarities “chilling,” and boy George, her sidekick – or perhaps she is his … they’re still working it out, I think – commented that the hero who tackled the shooter this week had a lot in common with almost all other heroes. He wasn’t basking in his heroism, George said, but instead carefully reviewing the entire scenario and trying to determine what more he could have done.
