Regarding the Minnesota appearance on July 4 of Shoshanna Johnson (quoth Mayor Randy Kelly, "a true American hero"), blog Damscus Road points us to this article by Captain Roger Lee Crosland of the US Naval Institute. Excerpts:
The individual heroes of the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, generally are unknown. Deluged by lengthy, detailed stories of the extreme efforts taken by terrorists, we have heard little of the extreme efforts taken by members of the U.S. armed forces.
We help our enemies by default, by allowing lesser images to be presented as substitutes. Everyone knows the name Jessica Lynch. She wore her country's uniform, went willingly to her duty in Iraq, and suffered grievous injuries, but does she qualify to be known first among those who served in this war? We have brushed aside battlefield resolution and action - which should be foremost - and allowed the image of victimization and suffering to take its place.
On the media's role in glorifying victimization:
Another factor surely at work is that victims are easier to identify and celebrate than heroes. They are less controversial. They inspire sympathy. They can be identified using fairly objective standards. It is their status rather than their acts or intentions that define them. Clearly, we need to know their stories, but we should give greater attention to the heroes of war. Substituting victims for heroes, the media have cheapened the concept of heroism. They have sent it into obscurity.
When I first saw the Shoshana Johnson article it was on the Pioneer Press web site and I figured it was appropriately buried somewhere in the Metro section. I didn't realize until I got home and scanned the print edition that it was the lead article, above the fold on page 1A of the paper. Entitled: A HERO'S WELCOME.
The Pioneer Press, at the head of the class of lazy, cheapening influences in the local media. At least for today.
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