To think footballers aren’t heroes, cave divers are!

[Bonjourmonami73]

Look, I know people are gutted about the football but it massively irritates me that the front pages of the papers describe them as heroes!

The British cave divers that went out to Thailand are volunteers- they risked their lives in dangerous conditions to save 12 children and their coach.

They are the ones our idiotic press should be praising and not footballers.

Aibu?

Sorry I can't agree that footballers are 'heroes'
Yes people look up to them as sporting icons or people to be admired in their field but really? There are people risking their lives daily for members of the public, iv worked with many of them and would much rather they were recognised by my children than a footballer of any sportsperson.

'hero' is a very over-used word when it is the word of choise for reporters/journalists.
A bit like calling anyone who does something out of the ordinary becomes a celebrity when they have not done anything to deserve the epithet.
We all have our own opinions on who is a 'hero' and who is truly a 'celebrity' - ignore the press reporting who use these words indiscriminately

Why does it matter? Do you think the cave divers have their noses put out of joint because the press are calling footballers heroes? I doubt they care!

The way some of you are going on, you'd think that being a professional football player was a shameful thing, why shouldn't a young child aspire to be one? It takes years of dedication and training. Some footballers are badly behaved and arrogant, but I'm pretty sure all professions have their fair share of people like that, soldiers, firefighters, police officers, doctors etc are definitely not all saints. It is absolutely snobbery.

There are people risking their lives daily for members of the public, iv worked with many of them and would much rather they were recognised by my children than a footballer of any sportsperson

Does it have to be an either/or? My DD has a number of “heroes” from various walks of life. I like that she has such a breadth of interest.

YABU because:

1. The press have reported extensively on the bravery of the divers
2. The term 'hero' is greatly overused in the media - the footballers are far from the only ones thus misdescribed.

I think some of you are being rather irresponsible.

There's only a certain amount of times the word 'hero' can be used. It's a finite resource. You have to be very careful about whom you use it to describe, if you go over quota real heroes start physically disintegrating, and then they're gone forever. Do you want that sort of shit on your conscience?

Yanbu OP. Ignore these murderers.

Absolutely not.

We need a new word as hero has been so debased

@JacquesHammer not necessarily but I think it has to be taken in context. Sportspeople should absolutely be admired for their hard-work and dedication (role models-person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger) but heroes/ heroines (courage, outstanding achievements and noble qualities) should be reserved for those that go above and beyond.

@nottaken actually its a threat about the British press and their priorities

Is it though? It seems much more focused on berating the footballing news in comparison to the wonderful rescue mission. It’s a ‘whataboutery’ thread.

If you wanted to discuss the priorities of the British press you should rethink your title.

Many sportspeople make lots of personal sacrifice to get themselves to the level where they can represent their country. They are courageous in pushing themselves further than they thought possible and making outstanding achievements, what about Roger Bannister running the first sub four minute mile? We didn't think the human body was even capable of doing that. What about those who put their team's success against the own personal success, isn't that noble?

The word "hero" hasn't been debased at all. It still essentially means "someone we look up to" and can apply to the cave divers and the England team without it devaluing what the rescuers achieved.

I think people just want to sneer at footballers. It's a bit distasteful.

It doesn't have to be one or the other. Both are inspirational (footballers perhaps only tosome people) in different ways. They work in different ways. They achieve different things.

Like comparing apples and oranges and saying only one can be nice.

Aren't you making a bit of a category error here?

LadyLoveYourWhat Serously?

You equate the "personal sacrifice" of a highly paid sportsman to the risk run by lowly paid cave divers risking their lives to save those children?

They are not comparable - and whilst I honour those divers I certainly look up to no sportsman on earth.

Totally agree.

YANBU.

Whatever, ladylove

Cannot understand the hysteria over football.

Utter boring irrelevance.

LadyPenelope68: ..kick a bag of air round a pitch..

pigeondujour: Do people who say this realise quite how stupid it makes them sound?

LadyPenelope68: do England supporters who think footballers are heroes realise how stupid that makes THEM sound

I have to agree with pigeondujour on this one. I am not especially interested in or knowledgeable about football. I have seen only a little of the football when it has been on in the same room. I wouldn't exactly count myself as an England supporter other than the fact I am English and it would have been rather nice to see them go further but they didn't so shrug and move on.

But "kick a bag of air around a pitch"? Really? That is clearly such an ignorant, dismissive and stupid description of something that requires talent, training and years of hard work..

Would you describe a concert pianist as someone who sits in front of a piano and plonks their fingers about on the keys?

A leading ballerina as someone who skips about the stage in a tutu?

A surgeon as someone who cuts people open and rummages about in their insides?

Not all of those last three would necessarily be described as heroes either but it's entirely possible that aspiring musicians, dancers and doctors might view certain people in those professions as their heroes.

As other have pointed out - you can't "use up" the number of heroes. Most people really are capable of recognising the distinction between different sorts of heroes and really I can't understand why this thread rattled on after CosmicCanary posted at Thu 12-Jul-18 06:23:13.

You equate the "personal sacrifice" of a highly paid sportsman to the risk run by lowly paid cave divers risking their lives to save those children?

No elphame, I am not equating the two, I am refuting HallowsAndHorcruxes assertion that sportspeople don't have any noble qualities.

If my DS10 saw a footballer as his hero, I'd wonder where I went wrong with my parenting. Thankfully, he is able to see what real heroes are.

This.

Footballers are sports stars. Like movie stars to be honest. They are highly paid and good at what they do.

They do not, however, do anything 'heroic' in their day to day lives.

People like those cavedivers are heros. People that put their own life at risk to save others. Those people are heroes.

People like you are absolute fun sponges.

The two things aren't mutually exclusive.

I think it's just part of the general hyperbole around football; the language the media encourages us to accept. I've been reading today about despair, devastation, the end of the dream. crushed hopes, the 'shattered bodies' of England players falling to the turf. You'd think it was a war or the aftermath of a disaster. I guess that calling the players 'heroes' is another manifestation of that, using language which strictly belongs to another context. I can see how you'd feel the word was a bit overused, although I doubt anyone would put footballers in the same category as lifesavers.

They do not, however, do anything 'heroic' in their day to day lives

And yet the dictionary definition of "hero" is: -

a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities

So are we really saying sports stars for example don't make outstanding achievements.

Or actually are we saying really we should be able to understand the nuances of language and that when we say "sporting star is a hero" it isn't in comparison with "cave rescuer is a hero".

The two aren't mutually exclusive, there isn't a finite amount of "heroism" to go around.

^This

I listened to one of the cave divers mums on the local radio this morning. From the interview her son is an extreme sports enthusiast of which cave diving is one he does. He is not part of some search and rescue outfit but went out to help with only a slim chance of finding all the boys alive. Can’t remember the fellas name of the top of my head but he was the diver who made first contact.

What he did was heroic but cave diving is a sport to him in the same way football is a sport to others.

So why can’t both the divers and the footballers both be heroes in their own fields. One does not distract from the other.