Who are your heroes?

[Byrd]

In popular American culture? If you are American, that is.

I was wondering this because I was reading this Business Insider article from back in 2020:


And thought, "dang, he's got a point", because I couldn't think of any. Maybe Sad Keanu Reeves? He seems like a good soul. But that is just a Hollywood person!

How about you?

What an interesting question!

I think you've hit on an interesting problem with American culture -- the lack of heroes.  At one time we'd point to war heroes or even scientists or people associated with science (test pilot Chuck Yeager) and perhaps a movie star like Roy Rogers.  While they might have had some problematic beliefs or actions, those were kept private and the public persona they crafted was designed to be "what does the Ideal American look like?"

There are, of course, huge problems with this.  The "heroes" were young, Caucasian, and male.  Everyone else was relegated to the role of "sidekick" (Tonto), "love interest", "amusing elder", "buffoon", "plucky kid", "Magical Negro" (a real term), or "bit part."  So my brother had many heroic role models to look up to and emulate.

I got bupkiss.

So, then we should ask "what makes a hero?"  In the past, it was easy -- popular figure who fought something.  In today's polarized culture, picking someone like Neal Degrasse Tyson is questionable -- he's a popularizer and has done science, but does that make him heroic?  Picking (for example) Ruth Bader Ginsberg (who is a hero to many women) doesn't work for those who dislike liberal Supreme Court Justices (though she did fight against many things.)

Your example of Sully was quite good, but we don't know much about his beliefs or personality, only that he's good in a crash-landing situation.

Hmm...

Dolly Parton, perhaps?  She's known to be kind, to be charitable to others no matter how different politically or socially, popular, an advocate for children and reading... but I don't think many men would relate to her.

We all need heroes who look like ourselves (if your gender/race was always portrayed as the stooge and never as a hero, then it impacts you)

I'm going to think on this some more, but it's quite a good question that you've asked.