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These Are NOT Heroes
A couple of days ago, I was listening on the radio to Joe Biden speaking at the funeral of one of the two NYPD cops who had been killed on December 20th. Biden referred to one of the officers, whose funeral he was attending, as a "hero." Not-so-beloved NYC Mayor de Blasio added to this with "New York City has lost a hero, a remarkable man because of the depth of this commitment to those all around him." So, again: a hero.
I was so angry at what I was hearing that I turned the radio off (and, as boring as driving a car is, it takes a lot for me to choose silence over listening). Why was I so mad? Simple: the fact that these guys were shot dead doesn't make them heroes. Period.
Were they nice guys? I dunno, maybe. Were they diligent officers? Could be; I have no idea. Did they love their families? I don't know! Stop with the questions! What I do know is that the simple act of sitting in a squad car and having a lunatic put a bullet through your brain doesn't make you a hero. The word has become overused, particularly by politicians who are doing nothing more than pandering to the public.
Just as a totally random example, I did a search for Medal of Honor recipients and grabbed a description of the very first one I found; read this:
Discovering seven Iraqi vehicles in a column attempting to depart, Corporal Dunham and his team stopped the vehicles to search them for weapons. As they approached the 
vehicles, an insurgent leaped out and attacked Corporal Dunham. Corporal Dunham wrestled the insurgent to the ground and in the ensuing struggle saw the insurgent release a grenade. Corporal Dunham immediately alerted his fellow Marines to the threat. Aware of the imminent danger and without hesitation, Corporal Dunham covered the grenade with his helmet and body, bearing the brunt of the explosion and shielding his Marines from the blast. In an ultimate and selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded, he saved the lives of at least two fellow Marines
OK, folks, now that is a hero in my book. He did something selfless in the face of horrific risk to his own welfare. Sure, he was in a dangerous place (just like, to a vastly lesser extent, the NYPD cops) but the cold fact of the matter is that he took the path of sacrifice rather than self-preservation. And you don't have to be a soldier or cop to be a hero. Any everyday person can fit the role, and throughout history, many have.
Would either Wenjian Liu or Rafael Ramo behaved in the same fashion as Corporal Dunham? Maybe. Maybe not. We'll never know. And if they did, they should rightly be called heroes. But, for pity's sake, let's try to reserve these labels for those who truly deserve them.
The officers died a needless and tragic death, and I'm glad the shooter took his own life and saved taxpayers the expense of giving him a trial. But...................these are.........not............heroes.
Thank you!
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Seeing the oceans of violence in movies and TV that we are afloat in, I have to wonder about the emotional state of anyone wanting to be a cop.....
light up your loosies if you got em, walk in the middle of the street, make a wrong turn at the white house, piss off a do gooder informer of the state, open carry a plastic toy gun,and die as an Enemy of the State, killed by hero cops.
I just can't stop. This can be your template for understanding.
Hero. Used whenever a person is injured or dies in the line of duty, where the job is voluntary, and in the public good with direct (overt) threats to their life that aren't self-manageable aside from choosing/not choosing the job.
Great hero. Better than above
Exceptional hero. Better than above.
Outstanding Hero. For a high achiever who ends up a hero.
Dignified Hero. 99% of the politicians. Who would rightfully want to be one of them? Very few have the balls or the brains.
Worthwhile Hero. Reserved for those who were/are highly self-conscious.
Perfect Hero. Reserved for guitarists.
Giant Hero. For when great hero is overused.
Hero's Hero. Truely, they exist, but only heros know them.
Just another man. Reserved for those who are heroic every day, by being fathers, turning up to work, or turning on the tv. The hero of the Hero's hero.
This article is the usual ZH rubbish. In addition, the associated ludicrous commentary is revealing as well. While police officers are being assassinated all over the U.S. … Pennsylvania, Las Vegas, and now New York, we are treated to a treatise on the definition of “hero” with the usual collection of losers chiming in with lists of the top 10 most dangerous professions (police are not in the top 10) in an attempt to reinforce the idea that police are merely lazy overpaid government thugs whose jobs are ever so cushy. Clearly, police work is downright genteel. It's the ultimate creampuff job! How dare they be labeled “heroes?”
Police are not all heroes all of the time BUT, the nature of police work requires that they may be called upon to act heroically. In most cases they perform admirably. This cannot be said of arrogant blogosphere clowns such as the author of this latest piece of contemptible ZH twaddle.
Moreover, to be highly enraged over the word "hero" and to write this kind of crap during the funeral of the police officers is doubly contemptible.
After the author suffers a rage-induced aneurysm and is being treated by EMT and police, I suggest that he explain his thoughts on “heroism” to everyone on scene. I’m sure that his thoughts will be most appreciated.
Most police need more pay and more psychological screening and should be relegated to EMT or clerical work, if they could write well. Way too many Barney Fife types.
www.copblock.org
Jesus Fucking Christ (not that I believe in him, of course). I have RSI from all the downarrows I am forced to inflict upon you.
Don't you get it? In America every fool can get a gun, if not directly, then indirectly. For the police, just to wake up, put on a uniform, and walk outside is a heroic act. If they are fat in general, it is probably because the best way to overcome stress is to eat some fucking food. You are mostly all a bunch of tosspots who fail to understand what gun is.
I know what a gun is. I have shot one. My father is a german gunsmith, who came to Australia because he could hunt here. Guns are fucking dangerous, and only a crackpot society would allow just anyone to carry one. To allow such is to encourage death, of police, and citizens.
Jesus! (not that I believe in him)
Here in Australia, we see a bunch of cops worshipping a dead cop, and we think "the poor fucking bastard. Typical results of an urban gun culture". We think about the dead cop, not the thousands of others.
If you want a gun here, you either need your preferred shooting range and gun club first, or you need a farm. Our police can act mostly without fear of being shot, which means they can do their job. Bunch of alcoholic agro jerks or crystal meth theiving squids always out to prove themselves, a cop needs to be assertive to handle them. Fuck being assertive in a gun culture, I would rather shoot or eat. Start to see a pattern yet?
Spoken like a slave who is trying to convince him self that the .gov will save him and change his wet panties.....
Austrialians are bunh of pussy mother fuckers
Get a gun you fucking pussy!
This I find interesting too - You believe guns are dangerous, so apparently want nothing to do with them. Traversed any stairs lately?
This I find interesting - You don't believe in Him, but refuse to ignore him. Why?
What are you, an anti-gun control motivational speaker?
Yeah, because everyone who wants to use a gun just can't wait to shoot up a cop in the country with the most heavily armed police force.
People who like to kill - in whatever situation or state of mind - will do so even without a gun. That's what you need to understand about people, who are the mysterious or perhaps even magical forces that induce guns to kill people.
Sam Stone - John Prine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl9ZkYViEIs
.
John Prine - Sessions at West 54th (full concert)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvUAu89O95c
I hope all the money generated by this thread isn't lining someone's pockets. What is the point of this crap?
Is this now the MSM?
Agreed that not everyone who gets killed by some maniac is a 'hero'. Also agree that we don't know these guys, but it is not useful to dilute the word when there are plenty of PROVEN HEROES out there who deserve our full respect - living or deceased.
Reminds me of the race card - the hero card needs to be put back in the deck and only used when it really means something.
To those 'muricans who knee-jerk worship cops as 'heroes', you need to re-educate yourselves as to the meaning of the word.
FUCK YOU TOO --- You fascist cyber pig telling us how to think. NO ... There is not need for us to re-educate.
What kind of pathetic piece of crap --- tells others how to pay respects?
you missed the "yourself" part in the "re-educate yourself". I would have written "you need to educate yourself"
to spell it out for those who really need it: he used "re-educate". Flash! loaded word! Images of "re-education camps" and "you have to think so and so"
nope. what he meant is: you might be well advised to use a vocabulary, from time to time, and check what the common definitions of the words are
below my rant about heros. note: most conflicts have heros. on both sides. being on the "wrong" or enemy side does not prevent anybody from committing acts of heroism
Lighten up, Francis.
The only hero america has had the last 50 years has been jfk and snowden. The only way you are eligible for being an american hero is if you stand up to the jews
They were executed in the line of duty and some dumb ass cyber poster takes the floor and wants to get into a game of semantics. Well, let me give you some semantics ---- FUCK YOU ... AND YOUR SEMANTICAL BULLCRAP ... YOU SUCK
Now that's what I call a literate response. Costumed agent of the state, I assume.
50 Sn tin : [Kr] 4d10 5s2 5p2
I give the NYPD, Port Authority, NJ police credit for at least arresting the MOSSAD Israelis and the rest of the Jews that helped blow up the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001. They arrested the Dancing Israelis who were videotaping and caught celebrating the airplanes hitting the towers. Those same MOSSAD agents later explained on Israeli TV that they were "recording the events for posterity". The police stopped the explosives laden van suspected to be headed to blow up the George Washington bridge and arrested the Jews inside. The police also arrested the Jews inside the URBAN MOVING SYSTEMS Van that had the mural painted on the side of it...nothing less than an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center. They caught these guys in Lower Manhattan and their vehicle contained traces of explosive. The police also arrested hundreds of more Israelis many posing as "Art Students" often with expired Visas right after September 11th. None of these suspects were prosecuted. They were released and deported under pressure from the Michael Chertoff (a Dual Israeli) controlled Justice Department and FBI. At least give the police credit for trying.
DONT forget we stopped the Jews from building that mosque in NY and we are bombing the bejeebers out of those Isis Jews. I could go on about the Knight Templar Jews and the fact that all Nazis were really Jews but . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJyCAZGRpf8&feature=youtu.be
There you go, pal.
In a Police State, all the cops are heroes......... to TPTB.
Ever since 911 hero has been the most over used word around.
Getting killed, by accident or otherwise in the line of work you chose does not make anyone a hero.
I served in the Air National Guard, I'm a hero
I served in the DoD as a civilian, I'm a hero
I served in the civil service as an administrative enforcer; I'm a hero
Now I despise them all...
I need that cage over my head so that I may consult w/ Ben and get back my hero status.
So Israel had a top notch spy in the ANG too? Well, we are truly good and fucked. Get a chance to bomb any schools or hospitals? Machine gun any pre-teens for throwing rocks?
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/watch-testimonies-atroc...
In a world where grade inflation makes everybody above average and you get a prize for participating hero means just signing up is heroic. The politicians also think that issuing everybody a black beret makes them all super soldiers. Watch - in time they will figure out how to issue themselves hero medals for the bravery of being a public official. Somebody MIGHT target them.
We're all heroes. Them too.
Well, we could be. Just for one day.
If two GIs are gunned down while on guard duty, they are no less heros than those who have the opportunity for self sacrifice. The fact that they were putting themselves in the line of fire wearing a uniform that for all intents and purposes is a bull"s eye, is enough in my book to qualify them as some degree of heros. When I read an article like this, my first question is whether the author served in any public safety capacity. As a an armchair philosopher and linguist; veteran and retired safety officer, I definitely appreciate the importance of the meaning of words. I wasn't impressed with the author's logic.
they were sitting in a car earning time and a half for doing nothing. victims of an inexcusable crimes, sure, but there's nothing heroic about being shot, or about collecting a government paycheck.
Examine your premises.
I served in the military and I'm no HERO. You've been brainwashed to believe that everyone sucked in by the poverty draft is somehow heroic. WTFU and start thinking for yourself.
Seeing how the police can turn their backs and disrespect the mayor who is an anti gun POS that could drop dead for all I care, but still their boss.
The question is how will this army react when their pensions are cut in 1/2 or disappear, fed into Wall Street.
Will these guys still be cracking sculls for JPM.
" Seeing how the police can turn their backs and disrespect the mayor who is an anti gun POS that could drop dead for all I care, but still their boss."
I haven't followed this story closely and have nothing invested in it however it seems untoward that the police see themselves as unaccountable to the mayor when the mayor himself is accountable to the people (at least in theory). Without that (hypothetical) chain of command the people have no control over the armed enforcement class. And the underlying cause is the immoral if not illegal killing of a human being. That's troubling.
Good piece, Tim.
If words lose meaning, all thought is lost.
We are a long way down that rabbit hole.
"If words lose meaning, all thought is lost."
Some words are meant to mislead. Consider the phrase "selfless act." There is no such thing. If one were to say "swam" or "flew" or "saved" there would be no meaning. One can enunciate a verb but without an actor -- a self -- no action can have taken place. "The fish swam in the river," the bird flew from the tree," and "Dunham saved his friends" are sensible pronouncements because the actors are present as themselves.
Dunham saved his friends because he, himself, considered them to be friends. No disembodied nonentity devoid of self could have saved those men. They would be dead today if he were not there himself, in the flesh.
To call Dunham's actions selfless dishonors him by suggesting that he was not present at the time his friends lives were saved, as if his medal could be pinned upon an empty jacket, as if he was unimportant and ultimately disposable.
All I know is: we need a shit-ton of hero bankers and politicians.
Nah,
just nail guns.
Look, every person who signs on to be a cop understands, or SHOULD understand that it's a job that comes with personal risk, possibly considerable risk, that's one reason why it pays well, has great benefits, and an early retirement. You ain't being hired for your good looks Bubba, you're being paid to sometimes put your life on the line for the benefit of your fellow citizens and you may get hurt. It comes with the territory and there's no guarantee you're going home to your family every night. Like a firefighter or others who serve the public, a cop has to take the bitter with the sweet and not be a crybaby. It's a tragedy that these two guys lost their lives just doing their jobs but it's a reality that every GOOD cop accepts and is able to live with.
I was draftedt mother fucker. They were going to put me in Jail.
Not everyone here is still living with their mommy.
The troll from Huff post and moveon.org are in full force here.
Glad I live in Asia. Not coming back you can keep it.
Yeah right.
I spent some several months in DC waiting on some ass in the state dept to sign some paperwork.
Saw police passing out parking tickets in Georgetown, while all hell was breaking out in
SE DC. DC was the murder capital of the US back then, per capita.
I reckon the biggest danger for DC police was stubbing their pencil, and not being able to
get workers comp..
Neither cop nor soldier make the list for top ten most dangerous jobs. Here are the real heroes who risk their lives to make your life more worthwhile:
The 10 Deadliest Jobs:
1. Logging workers
2. Fishers and related fishing workers
3. Aircraft pilot and flight engineers
4. Roofers
5. Structural iron and steel workers
6. Refuse and recyclable material collectors
7. Electrical power-line installers and repairers
8. Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers
9. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers
10. Construction laborers
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/08/22/americas-10-deadli...
So that brain-dead meth head roofer who climbed that ladder and patched the hole in the school roof and gave all those small children a dry place to learn is the true hero?
Or the dude that stars in AMerica's Deadly Catch?
Semantics.
However, we must be on guard with the way a Praetorian Class is being cultivated and worshiped.
No.
Semiotics.
Learn the difference.
Retired cop here. Agree with the piece and a lot of the thread. Agree with Obaminator. Eventually the pendulum will swing back and cops will give up the whole militarization worship- largely brought about by free equipment and grants from our nanny government to protect the aristocracy.
Agreed, I'm helping shape it. I talk to young cops all the time. Me? 3%, Oathkeeper.
Totally Libertarian, Oathkeppers. We in the business have been fighting this shit for decades.
You fucking civillians have been in a Sports and beer induced coma.
And guess what. Now you blame us collectivlly? We are on YOUR side uyou stupid mother fuckers
Suck a bag of dicsks! and Molon labe!