Heroism and Victimhood

 

There were two article at the Free Press this week about men and heroism. Both were well written, but one in particular misunderstood heroism in a way that is typical of out cultural milieu by its emphasis on sacrifice. It is an example of the present and recent tendency to glorify victims and victimhood, sometimes to the extent of an apparent inability to admire or care about much else. It shows up when politicians and media people try to say something nice about veterans and members of the armed forces. It is almost always some cliché about their sacrifice. Yet the real virtue is not sacrifice but valor – doing a tough, dangerous job with honor and fidelity at mortal risk. One can illustrate this with a simple thought experiment. If the men who stormed the beaches at Normandy on D-Day had gone ashore meek and unarmed and been slaughtered to a man while accomplishing nothing, their sacrifice would have been complete. Yet I doubt that reasonable people would have found that admirable or that Americans would rightly be commemorating their deeds eighty years later.

Heroes sometimes fail and sometimes suffer and die, but that is not what makes them heroic. The present day apotheosis of victims and victimhood is not only incompatible with heroism and the desire for the heroic. It is antithetical to them.

Pride in June

 

The first week of June is a very important one in the history of the armed forces of the United States. Between June 4^th and 6^th,1942  an outnumbered and outgunned American naval force defeated the Japanese navy at Midway in the most decisive and historically important naval battle since Trafalgar, ending Japan’s offensive in the Pacific. On June 6^th,1944, American forces landed in Normandy, securing their beachhead and beginning the great campaign leading to the destruction of Nazi Germany.

It’s a free country, and people can select what they want to be proud of and when they want to show their pride. For me this June, it will be the armed forces of the United States from the time of the revolution to the present. This year is the 80^th anniversary of the invasion in Normandy. I have read that there are major commemorations every five years on June 6^th , and that this year’s may be the last one with any veterans of the battle attending. We should honor and be proud of them and their valor especially.