Classic Wonder Woman

Everyday Hero

I have a preoccupation, with heroes.  Not the kind in movies, though these are fictional representations of the qualities embodied by the everyday hero - but with x-ray vision added. 

No, my hero is a man you would walk past every day, and never see.  Or maybe, you would meet him at a social gathering, and shake his hand, and only get a hint of his greatness - a faint magnetism, that draws you to him, but doesn't reveal to you, why, and you would shake the feeling off and move on.  He doesn't employ a secret identity, or a secret hideout - he doesn't need to.  The everyday world is his disguise.  He toils in obscurity, not because he hides his identity, but because those around him won't see it, and such is his nobility of character, he likely doesn't see it, himself.  He knows he is good, but does not consider this exceptional, or worthy of admiration.  He expects the same nobility of character, in those around him, and will feel disappointment and betrayal, when they fail him, but he will never feel cynicism.  He is not capable, of it.  He possesses a deep respect, for a life of productive quality, and finds reward in enriching the lives of others - not for any altruistic goal of "social equality" or "social justice", but for the selfish pleasure of simple earned appreciation.  He helps others because it's right - and it makes him feel good, to do so.

An everyday hero has a fierce sense of honesty and loyalty.  He makes no apologies for striving to attain his goals, but would never sacrifice his principles, to do so.  He will never use guilt or guile, to gain advantage, and would refuse to deal with those, who would.  He has a righteous appreciation for the productivity of others, that would never allow him to feel any entitlement, to their rewards, or envy for their achievements.  He would have a natural compulsion, to aid others, whom he values, but would indignantly oppose those who would force the obligation upon him.  He is a man who would never fail - he would recognize failure, only as a sacrifice of his expectations, and principles.

These heroes do exist.  Most people don't see them, because they expect only the worst, from others.  I find this to be a reflection, not on those they view, but on themselves.  People who do not believe in the noble spirit of others, will never see the heroes, in our midst.  They will remain, forever hidden, beneath a fog of suspicion and a question of motives.  This is the thing I find most tragic.  That some have become so accustomed to disappointment, or so envious of the achievements of others, that they are unable to recognize those who would pull them from the muck of mediocrity.  For me, this is the most bitter betrayal - this unwillingness to perceive true heroism.  It only serves to stifle goodness, in favor of sameness, as an effort to prevent damaging the sensibilities of those who are unwilling or unable to attain greatness, for themselves - and instead, wish to steal it, from others.

To recognize these heroes, you must first believe they exist. 

A hero is the man who would give you the best possible price, for his product, and Honor his commitment, to it's quality.  He would be the man who returns to the grocery store, because the cashier gave him too much change.  He would gladly go out of his way to patronize an establishment that has given him value and service, and would also go out of his way to avoid an establishment, that didn't.  For convenience should never be an excuse to reward poor service.  This hero would be the first to take on a productive task, and would emanate a radiant pride, at it's completion.  He would recoil from sloth and dishonesty, and exile, from his company, anyone guilty of it.  He is not afraid of judging those he deals with, but would never judge by standards to which he would not stand, and he would expect others to judge him by the same measure.

He is a man acutely unaware, of his greatness, while at the same time, aware of the greatness, of his actions.

I have been fortunate enough in life, to have known a rare few, of these heroes.  Often, their roles are minor, but their impact, on my life, has always been significant.  I try to seek out the heroes, wherever I go.  For nothing gives me greater reward, than to share in the greatness of a hero, and to strive to be worthy of that greatness, and return it in kind. 

I have an endless optimism of the potential, of others, and a keen awareness of those who would make it their life's mission, to rob the heroes, of their potential.  I vow to fight these thieves, with my every breath - for their mediocrity is not my vice.

To those heroes, out there, that  have already graced my life, thank you.  To those I have yet to encounter,  I'll be looking for you.  Until then - keep your eyes open - you may find a hero, in your midst.

Erecting scarecrows in Virgina

How to build a straw man...

Let's focus instead on the primary assertion (also echoed in Andrea Harris' comments): that what we witnessed in Virginia Tech was evidence of some sort of societal breakdown whereby an "older ideal" of self-defence and self-reliance has not just fallen out of favour, but actually been determinedly bred out of the populace. In short, "Europeanization", as Derbyshire would have it. (We can note in passing that it's not the mass murder itself which is taken as evidence of some anomaly by Derbyshire and Steyn, but the reaction to it.)

Fine.  This assertion assumes that at some point in the past, red-blooded American males would never have reacted in the "passive" manner seen at Virginia Tech.  A "cultural change" has occurred - so we should be able to identify a point prior to the change, where these ideals were manifest. (emphasis added)

...then proceed to list numerous instances where crowds of otherwise red-blooded American men were reduced to pant-peeing weenies in the face of a crazed lunatic.  You have just proved that the wussification of western society is nothing more than a fallacy.  An elaborate myth, concocted by the gun-happy neocons to eliminate English lit classes and turn everyone into cowboys (of course, I'm paraphrasing...)  All because some of us dared to question why so many students laid down, like lambs to the slaughter, in the face of indiscriminate murderous rage.  How dare we "blame the victims"?

Except...this is not about blaming the victims.  It never was.  As well, none that I have seen has ever posited that "at some point in the past, red-blooded American males would never have reacted in the "passive" manner seen at Virginia Tech."  What we have been saying is that there was a point in time when this fatal passivity was an anomaly.  A reaction that ran contrary to the principles of survival ingrained within the societal fabric...principles that have since been replaced with feel-good false esteem and enforced mediocrity. 

Even worse than the slow erosion of these principles, is the subsequent embrasure of a far more insidious malaise -- the adoption of suffering as a virtue.  Acceptance of the idea that each person's value is measured by his level of suffering, either by his own hands or at the hands of others.   Along with the simple rule that victimization is an impenetrable armor which shields one from criticism or scrutiny.  Buying into this attitude is what has muddled Bob's understanding of the larger issue here.  The victims of this crime did not fail themselves as much as we failed them.

Those who have been charged with teaching our children the principles of self-reliance, independent thought and the exaltation of excellence, have instead opted to teach self-sacrifice, dogmatic consensus-building and ambiguous participation awards.  The concepts of self-preservation and justice are rejected, and those of us who continue to adhere to them are vilified.

It was a monstrous injustice that these hapless students were mowed down in a place where they should have had some assurance of security.  But the greatest injustice was inflicted upon those souls, long before any loser with a gun showed up.  It occurred the very first time they were told to not fight back to a bully.  It was reinforced every time they were encouraged to aspire to be less, lest they make a weaker child feel bad and it came full circle when a mindless bureaucrat decided an imaginary gun-free bubble was enough deterrence for a psychopath bent on going out in a blaze of glory.

The question shouldn't be "when did American men stop being red-blooded cowboys who would rush the gunman"...what we should be asking instead is, when did apathy and victim hood become the default protective impulses?  And when did it become a crime to ask that?

How to build a straw man...

Let's focus instead on the primary assertion (also echoed in Andrea Harris' comments): that what we witnessed in Virginia Tech was evidence of some sort of societal breakdown whereby an "older ideal" of self-defence and self-reliance has not just fallen out of favour, but actually been determinedly bred out of the populace. In short, "Europeanization", as Derbyshire would have it. (We can note in passing that it's not the mass murder itself which is taken as evidence of some anomaly by Derbyshire and Steyn, but the reaction to it.)

Fine.  This assertion assumes that at some point in the past, red-blooded American males would never have reacted in the "passive" manner seen at Virginia Tech.  A "cultural change" has occurred - so we should be able to identify a point prior to the change, where these ideals were manifest. (emphasis added)

...then proceed to list numerous instances where crowds of otherwise red-blooded American men were reduced to pant-peeing weenies in the face of a crazed lunatic.  You have just proved that the wussification of western society is nothing more than a fallacy.  An elaborate myth, concocted by the gun-happy neocons to eliminate English lit classes and turn everyone into cowboys (of course, I'm paraphrasing...)  All because some of us dared to question why so many students laid down, like lambs to the slaughter, in the face of indiscriminate murderous rage.  How dare we "blame the victims"?

Except...this is not about blaming the victims.  It never was.  As well, none that I have seen has ever posited that "at some point in the past, red-blooded American males would never have reacted in the "passive" manner seen at Virginia Tech."  What we have been saying is that there was a point in time when this fatal passivity was an anomaly.  A reaction that ran contrary to the principles of survival ingrained within the societal fabric...principles that have since been replaced with feel-good false esteem and enforced mediocrity. 

Even worse than the slow erosion of these principles, is the subsequent embrasure of a far more insidious malaise -- the adoption of suffering as a virtue.  Acceptance of the idea that each person's value is measured by his level of suffering, either by his own hands or at the hands of others.   Along with the simple rule that victimization is an impenetrable armor which shields one from criticism or scrutiny.  Buying into this attitude is what has muddled Bob's understanding of the larger issue here.  The victims of this crime did not fail themselves as much as we failed them.

Those who have been charged with teaching our children the principles of self-reliance, independent thought and the exaltation of excellence, have instead opted to teach self-sacrifice, dogmatic consensus-building and ambiguous participation awards.  The concepts of self-preservation and justice are rejected, and those of us who continue to adhere to them are vilified.

It was a monstrous injustice that these hapless students were mowed down in a place where they should have had some assurance of security.  But the greatest injustice was inflicted upon those souls, long before any loser with a gun showed up.  It occurred the very first time they were told to not fight back to a bully.  It was reinforced every time they were encouraged to aspire to be less, lest they make a weaker child feel bad and it came full circle when a mindless bureaucrat decided an imaginary gun-free bubble was enough deterrence for a psychopath bent on going out in a blaze of glory.

The question shouldn't be "when did American men stop being red-blooded cowboys who would rush the gunman"...what we should be asking instead is, when did apathy and victim hood become the default protective impulses?  And when did it become a crime to ask that?

And they wonder why the rest of Canada hates them...

David Miller's Toronto -- bastion of perfidy and politically motivated stupidity, that it is -- has trudged one step further into the miasmic sludge of moral mastication with an insulting campaign to rid municipal vehicles of those unsightly "Support the Troops" magnets.  Because gawd knows...the wretched and over-burdened citizenry of our fair city should not have to suffer the onslaught of constant reminder that we are engaged in  battle for civilization, with a race of nihilistic bloodthirsty pedophiles...it is a tawdry affair, and we are all so much more refined and civilized than the imperialistic knuckle-draggers to the south of us, who wage war like it's the national sport.

So the Mayor (and I use the term loosely) gets a few phone calls from ungracious ninnies who's sensibilities are tarnished by the very sight of a magnet on the back of a fire truck, and he scurries out to remove the offending barnacles, lest the City of Toronto be construed as in support of Canadian soldiers who fight and die so we have the freedom to be the ungrateful, contentious, callous whelps that we apparently are.

A city counselor tries to pass off the expected cop out that "Toronto council should not be using city vehicles to promote political messages that do not fall within its jurisdiction. The federal government calls the shots about Canada's involvement in Afghanistan." Then I take it, the Toronto city counsel wouldn't mind returning any and all federal money allocated towards the procurement and maintenance of those vehicles...or perhaps the City of Toronto would prefer to be extricated from federal affairs, all together...set adrift without obligation to the rest of the country -- and without dipping their greedy little fingers into my wallet for that endless supply of tax dollars.

Probably not.

The fact that a handful of litigious pansies with no better use for their time, would get into a lather at the very sight of a ribbon on the back of an ambulance and phone the Mayor's office to complain, just goes to show how far up their asses the citizens of Toronto really keep their heads.

It would explain the smell there.

David Miller's Toronto -- bastion of perfidy and politically motivated stupidity, that it is -- has trudged one step further into the miasmic sludge of moral mastication with an insulting campaign to rid municipal vehicles of those unsightly "Support the Troops" magnets.  Because gawd knows...the wretched and over-burdened citizenry of our fair city should not have to suffer the onslaught of constant reminder that we are engaged in  battle for civilization, with a race of nihilistic bloodthirsty pedophiles...it is a tawdry affair, and we are all so much more refined and civilized than the imperialistic knuckle-draggers to the south of us, who wage war like it's the national sport.

So the Mayor (and I use the term loosely) gets a few phone calls from ungracious ninnies who's sensibilities are tarnished by the very sight of a magnet on the back of a fire truck, and he scurries out to remove the offending barnacles, lest the City of Toronto be construed as in support of Canadian soldiers who fight and die so we have the freedom to be the ungrateful, contentious, callous whelps that we apparently are.

A city counselor tries to pass off the expected cop out that "Toronto council should not be using city vehicles to promote political messages that do not fall within its jurisdiction. The federal government calls the shots about Canada's involvement in Afghanistan." Then I take it, the Toronto city counsel wouldn't mind returning any and all federal money allocated towards the procurement and maintenance of those vehicles...or perhaps the City of Toronto would prefer to be extricated from federal affairs, all together...set adrift without obligation to the rest of the country -- and without dipping their greedy little fingers into my wallet for that endless supply of tax dollars.

Probably not.

The fact that a handful of litigious pansies with no better use for their time, would get into a lather at the very sight of a ribbon on the back of an ambulance and phone the Mayor's office to complain, just goes to show how far up their asses the citizens of Toronto really keep their heads.

It would explain the smell there.

The Right to Offend

A regular reader emailed yesterday, to humbly ask what my opinion is on all this Mark Steyn business going on, on my doorstep.  It is not often I am silent about things like this, and he understandably misunderstood that silence as having been the result of faintheartedness, in light of the possible legal ramifications I could face for weighing in.

The truth is, with my hectic schedule leading up to Christmas, and the abundance of coverage being given in other corners, by Kathy, Kate, neo, Tim, Melanie, Wendy, the team at The Corner and Mark himself, I simply had very little more to offer that hadn’t already been said by others.

However, in a matter so vitally important to the freedom I take so casually for granted, and in order to cut off at the knees any impression that I could be stifled by hypocritical PC censors, I will take measures to stand up and be counted among my betters as listed above.

Let me make one thing abundantly clear; I hold fierce grievance with anyone who thinks that an assault on their delicate sensibilities is an apt excuse to pierce my lips with needle and thread.  I consider it a heinous injustice for them to be allowed to do so, in the absence of any adherence to justice and fairness.  The crack of the whip stings all the more, that they are enabled to do so, at my expense, through a taxpayer-funded victim-cult hive, with extra-judicial powers and no requirement of due process.

The impotent whiners who exercise such a process are cashing in on a racket designed for the sole purpose of excising all independent thought and opinion, from the public discourse.  And every fine imposed by the dictators on the HRC, is a reward to the parasitic victim-horde which openly flays us – and then tells us it is for our own good.

Where the specific case against Mark Steyn is concerned, I intend to open a subscription to Maclean’s magazine, as well as buy a few spare copies of his book, to pass around to friends and family.  I am composing letters to the PM’s office, my MP, the HRC and the Canadian Islamic Congress, in protest of this detestable process.

To the cry-babies of the Canadian Islamic Congress (and their confederates), when they spend a little less time fundraising and making excuses for goat-humping, self-detonating, dickless head-hackers who bomb nightclubs, malls and school buses and fly airliners into office towers -- when they denounce a culture and religion that treats me, as a female infidel, no better than uncovered cat meat and a legitimate target for slaughter -- when they devote as much dedication to instilling freedom in their own land, as they do instilling fear and slavery in mine -- when they begin shunning and eradicating the bloodthirsty, hate-filled chaos junkies among their co-religionists -- then and only then, will I even consider giving a rat’s ass about their feelings.

Or when Mecca is a smoldering pit of ash and glass.  Whichever comes first.

Ruminations on the Cuban prison

Day after tomorrow, Fidel Castro will turn 79 and his life has been, at the very least, eventful.  This is a man who has managed to keep a firm grip on power, in his country, for 46 years.  Even if you don't agree with his politics, it would be impossible to say that this is not an impressive record.  In a country filled with the fiery passion, that Latins are so famous for, it is difficult to fathom, that he had not been wrested from power, long ago, by someone younger, flashier and more power hungry, but I suppose this would be a testament to the fact that, above all else, Fidel is the best at what he does - being a dictator.

In the current political climate, I think more than ever before, Fidel Castro has been enjoying a sort of renaissance,  as a symbol of the new socialist/communist ideology.  Che Guevera can also be included in this movement, but his honor is a posthumous martyrdom.  Fidel is a living breathing symbol, for his Utopian ideology.   Everywhere you look, on University campuses, in high school yards, on the street, what you'll see is teenagers, young adults, all wearing symbols of the socialist state, embracing the fascists, as heroes.   This is a radical new movement, for them.  Problem is, how do you have a radical new movement, with the same tired old ideology, leader, and symbols?  What they don't realize, is that they are on the precipice of a major reorganization of the political landscape - A purging, if you will, from society, of the dead-end metaphysics of socialism.  An indication of this shift, can be seen in the current political climate.  The radical Islamist movement has helped to re-energize conservatism , and in doing so, all the normalized euphemisms of socialism and communism are being questioned by society.  Also helpful, is the glaring evidence pervading in the information age, that Castro's experiment in socialization has been a colossal failure.

The waves of Cubans, washing up on the shore of Florida, are a testament to the death-defying will of a populace that strives to get out from under the jack-boot, of it's government.  Revelations of the imprisonment of Librarians, for the crime of stocking unapproved reading material, the execution and imprisonment of political dissidents, and the violent censorship of speech, are beginning to serve as a rally call, to the free world.  How much longer can they be ignored?

To clarify, I do believe Fidel Castro will die as the leader of Cuba, but what then?  The possibility of a new military fascist taking over is very real.  But for those who believe in freedom, it will be an opportunity to instill a new hope, in Cuba - the hope of freedom.  After all, what good is socialized medicine, if you don't have enough food to eat.  What good is free education, when you're not free to go where you want, and say what you want?  The draw of government takes care of all' is powerful, but it is an illusion that must be propped up with violence.  For when people  realize what it will cost them, and they refuse to take it willingly, they must be forced to accept it, and that has been the life of the Cubans, for far too long.

Surely no leader can be said to match Fidel Castro in his charisma.  He is purported to make speeches over 4 hours long, and has been an active presence in the everyday lives, of his subjects, for his entire tenure, as president.  He is also, I think, unparalleled in his ruthlessness.  This is perhaps the surest reason for his long success, as leader.  To find a new leader, that could match these qualities, and be capable of keeping the U.S. at bay for 46 years would be, thankfully, most unlikely.  For this reason, I believe I will see Cuba become a fledgling democracy, in my lifetime, and it is a change that is long overdue.

The fact that the world has tolerated a fascist dictator having control of an entire country, for 46 years, is shameful.  Those who cheered, when the Berlin Wall came down, could only do so while averting their eyes from the continuing injustice occuring in the name of the same twisted ideology, on the other side of the world.  The same mistake is being made with China, and we only seem to be just waking up to the horrifying conditions in North Korea.  These are the last remaining bastions of fascism, in the world.  With a concerted effort, free nations can wipe this quiet terrorism from the face of the Earth, and relegate it to the annals of history, but it will take the will of people who have made the decision to eliminate the hypocrisy of crying out for freedom, for one country, while quietly ignoring the prison state of another.  It is an attainable goal, and I believe the will is beginning to build.

So to Fidel I say - Happy Birthday!  And may it be your last.  I will look forward to the shining day when I can visit a free Cuba, where my tourist dollars won't go towards fattening up the murderers, while the good people starve.