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Original poster

to be fed up with the overuse of "hero"

17 replies

WailyWailyWaily · 26/10/2011 15:54

Everyone is a hero, I'm so fed up with this. IMO you have to do something very, very special before you can be described as a "hero" and even then are you? really?

OP posts:
slavetofilofax · 26/10/2011 16:07

Why are you fed up with hearing 'everyone is a hero'?

Where are you going that this is something you hear enough to be fed up with it?

Sounds like a good positive attitude to me anyway, and it all depends on your own personal defination of the word hero.

DesperatelySeekingPomBears · 26/10/2011 16:09

I'm sick of reading that every soldier is/was a hero.

They're not heroes, they're men that signed up to do a job, knowing the risks. Brave? Yes. Foolhardy? Very probably. Heroic? Absolutely not, I'm afraid.

Original poster
WailyWailyWaily · 26/10/2011 16:26

exactly Desperate I couldn't have put it better :)

OP posts:
Original poster
WailyWailyWaily · 26/10/2011 16:29

it the media's inappropriate over use of the description that is irritating me

OP posts:
Sirzy · 26/10/2011 16:34

Words like "hero" and "legend" do lose some of the meaning when over used.

limitedperiodonly · 26/10/2011 16:47

Yes, it is inappropriate but there's no avoiding it. It's just mawkish stuff written by people who have no experience of the situation and no will to actually ask people who do to explain it.

Similarly everyone who endures cancer is brave, except for those cowards who are scared of dying and have the wrong attitude to fighting the disease.

People are routinely described as never asking 'why me?' when tragedy strikes. When I was seriously ill I freely admit not only to thinking 'why me?' but also 'why not that bastard I work for who makes everyone's life a misery?' No doubt I'd have the wrong attitude if ever I got cancer.

I seem to remember many servicemen were not happy with being adopted as The Sun's boys in the Falklands War but when they complained about it The Sun forgot to print their views.

However there's no doubt that people in war can act with heroism so it seems churlish to say: 'Actually, that particular bloke who got killed was a right whinger and pain in the arse.'

I'm interested in how the charity Help For Heroes got its name and whether service personnel are happy with it. Anyone know?

HauntedHengshanRoad · 26/10/2011 16:48

How about "tragic"? Most things that the media describes thus are far from tragedies.

Wormshuffler · 26/10/2011 16:48

If there was a like button I would have put like on what pombear said..

Thingumy · 26/10/2011 16:49

I agree Desperately (and so does my dh who served 13 years in the armed forces)

limitedperiodonly · 26/10/2011 16:53

pombear I don't think it's fair to say 'they knew the risks' but I guess you don't mean that to sound as harsh as it does.

People sign up in their late teens and early 20s for a variety of reasons. Most people of that age don't have a good grasp of risk and think they're going to live forever and certainly not get horribly maimed.

That's why young single men make such good soldiers and middle-aged family men don't.

scaryteacher · 26/10/2011 16:55

Well, given that some got the VC from Afghanistan for saving the lives of others either at the price of their own, or at the cost of their limbs etc, then yes, I'd say they are heroic, and so might those who were saved by them. I'd also class those who go out and clear IEDs day after day as heroic, (which helps not only the Armed Forces in theatre, but the locals) as I would not have the guts to put myself through that each day. Olaf Schmid springs to mind.

You may not choose to class them as heroes, others will. Get over yourself.

meditrina · 26/10/2011 16:57

I agree that it shouldn't be used like confetti, but would resist any notion that it could not be used for members of the Armed Forces. Especially those who have received Honours for actions beyond the call of duty and/or when their own lives were at risk

Our emergency services and the crews of the RNLI are similarly brave every day, and heroic upon occasion, and I am enormously grateful to all - whichever uniform they wear.

Wormshuffler · 26/10/2011 17:55

Scary you are right, that person should be called a hero, the fact that so many others are called heros actually dilutes the word.

Sirzy · 26/10/2011 18:54

I doubt anyone would question the fact that people who get things like the vc are heroic. That doesn't mean every member of the armed forces is though

pointydog · 26/10/2011 19:02

Agree with worm. They're not all heroes. It's a v puffed up name.

Original poster
WailyWailyWaily · 26/10/2011 20:39

When you join the armed forces you do know what is involved. Whatever your motive for joining you must understand that, in all likelihood, you will end up in active service. The men and women who are on the front line are there because they are highly trained and very good at fighting, they know what they are doing. They also get paid for it. That includes those brave individuals who disarm devices - it is their job and to do your job does not make you a hero.
I agree that in order to be awarded the VC you must have done something above and beyond the call of duty and are probably a hero in the true sense of the word but all of those who have been on active duty do not qualify as heroes.

OP posts:
HoorahHenrietta · 26/10/2011 21:04

WailyWaily and PomBear speak sense.

If you sign up to join the forces, the likelihood is you will go to war. It isn't a training camp in the New Forest.

Anyone can be a hero while holding a loaded weapon against someone else's head.

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