HEROES OF AMERICA

 

            This review is a commentary provided to obtain responses from the public concerning the models of America.  During this difficult period of the War on Terrorism this is a sensitive issue, in the aftermath of Sept. 11^th.  Our country reveres the Fathers of Our Nation: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and later models such as  Abraham Lincoln. Is their something that these great leaders and other Presidents as John F. Kennedy and Harry Truman have in common?

            President Roosevelt said that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. J.F.K.’s Profiles in Courage further reinforces this thread. The assassination of J.F.K., Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy represents an attack on our courage and confidence!  This is what the terrorists attempted to do, instill fear in Americans! Attack the confidence of the nation by attacking New York City and Washington by demolishing the two symbols of a great city and a great nation, the World Trade Center (WTC) and  Pentagon. WTC represented the enterprise of our nation whereas the Pentagon represented military strength!

            Given the above background this article proposes that heroes overcome fear to overcome adversity.  After defeating England during the American Revolution without fear and timidity the Declaration of Independence courageously declared our separation from England. Without timidity or fear the Constitution established checks and balances between the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches of government.  This was a positive statement that the people rule by providing a representative government without the chance of a dictatorship! Recall Hitler with the Nazi party won an election and dissolved the democratic government in Germany! Given his scapegoat tactic he gained dictatorial control of a people who provided Beethoven, Bach, Brahms and great scientists only to falter given his racism!

            The mirror image of the above is the anti-hero models: Jessie James and Frank James, Billy The Kid and John Dillenger.  Americans brood on these models that represent the Wild West Spirit carried on by Dillenger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde in the Roaring Twenties. Prohibition established these criminals as the anti-heroes revered for their independence from law as we won our independence from England.  Further criminal elements including Al Capone reveled in the publicity and notoriety provided by the public and press while behind the scenes bribes provided insurance against arrests. Controversal books have provided evidence that more recent Mafia elements were employed during the battle against Cuba by the C.I.A. In the publics mind T.V. anti-heroes such as the Sopranos represent the new independence of our nation! With sexual explicitness, psychological plausibility and public approval

of the sexual escapades as well as murder by the main character reinforce this anti-hero as the model for our country? Is the new professional on the one hand the underhanded liar, sexual animal and murderer while on the other hand maintaining the façade of the family person with loving wife and attractive children? Is this a distortion of family values? Or does the program justify his or her actions because of their psychological problems? He or she does not represent the working class; since the Mafia Don does no work, given his underlings accomplish most of his nefarious activities? Obviously he does not represent the poor people given his or her affluence, estate and location.  Does he or she represent the upper-class mentality of profit motive without regard to who suffers? This is an exaggeration to emphasize the point that the above anti-heroes only represent the criminal elements of our society, not our heroes, not our courage and not our existence! The Taliban has learned its lesson the hard way in its support of terrorism by assuming that our country does not represent courage, heroism and independence from dictators who attempt to force their will on a free country!

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