Elevating and tearing down common folk/heroes...

Nearly as great as our need to elevate certain common folk to the status of heroes is the need of others to tear them down--- to show us that our heroes are possessed grievous faults that make them unworthy of the praise and attention we lavish on them.

for a chance at a controversial story if the time ever comes when that someone fails.
IMHO, the words "hero" and "great" are applied far too often without merit.

We looooove someone until they do something we don't like then they're the worst person in the world!!!!!

Happens all the time. I think more people need to learn that no one is perfect. :shrug:

about just who we call "hero"

To many have feet of clay.

"many have feet of clay."

Each and every person has feet of clay.

Accepting imperfections in yourself and others is part of growing up - sadly with the famous many forget that.

Show me someone perfect and I'll show you a fictional character who's rather 2 dimensional.

However, my heroes are such because of a specific attribute or behavior; as such, their hero-status never covers them as complete human beings. And that's just fine.

One hero is far more tolerant and accepting than I think I'll ever be; it is for that reason that I regard her as a kind of hero. Another has an incredible devotion to her beliefs. A third was a professor willing to damage her career in defending the grad students in her department, ruining long-standing relationships for what she considered to be just. Note the *reason* for which I regard each as a hero. It doesn't mean that I'd want to adopt the tolerant person's financial acumen, she has none. The devoted person also had deep flaws. And the professor has more than enough things to make her potentially unpleasant. Were I to find out that the professor was also a racist, it wouldn't diminish the good things she did or made them less admirable or worthy of emulation. The only way to 'tear down' my heroes would be to show that they don't have the attributes I think they have.

Now, this is entirely commensurate with the meaning of hero. A hero was a champion that would go and fight on your behalf. It doesn't mean he was kind to puppies, didn't abuse his children, or was fair in negotiations. His hero-hood derived from his ability to fight, and commitment to fight for you. Nothing more. So not all ancient heroes were always perfect people, even if there was an assumed correlation between strength/victory and righteousness.

If you don't assume that heroes are perfect people, it doesn't matter if their feet are clay or not, unless it's on account of their feet that they've been made heroes.