In search of the cultural heroes of our time
This one is in English thanks to the fact that this is a shared search.
Together with K, we intend to discover who are the cultural heroes of our time. It is not an easy task. It may be done through comparision, it may be done by applying a definition, it may something completely different.
Where do we start?
I will start the simple way. What is a hero?
So I go to a diccionary (Portuguese, because I allow cultural difference to interfere in my search). From the Priberam online dictionary (translated by me, from Portuguese):
Hero
From Latin, herva < Greek, héros,
hero s. m., extraordinary man due to his battling qualities, triunfs, value or "magnimousity" (does this exist in English?)
Literature, protagonist or main character of a literary work; the most exalted character of an epic poem;
History, name that the Greek gave to divinized men;
Depriciative, man noticeable by his misadventures, that has involved himself in adventures and scandals.
So I already have a problem. This definition only allows for men. I think this is crap. So I will allow for women. I will also ignore the literary and historic approaches, because I am looking for conteporary "real" people. I am also giving some concern to the post-modernist effect of putting everything into perspective and considering that there are no absolute goods or bads. There is a Good or a Bad and even though we might not agree with it. I think that there are some common points that shoud be shared by all. I mean, would anyone here kill someone? Would anyone here steal someone who really needed something? Would you harm anyone who hasn't done anything to you before, just for sport? Would you appreciate doing something socially unacceptable only because it would enhance your appeal? Well, I hope not, or else you are not welcome and can leave. So I do believe that there are some basic values that might be considered absolutely good or bad. Therefore, I am disconsidering the depreciative definition and someone who has involved himself in scandals, will not be considered a hero just because of that. It does not contribute to anything Good. But our quest is not only looking for a hero, I am looking for a cultural heroe. Therefore, we need to define culture.
From the same source:
Culture From Latin, cultura s. f., act, efect of cultivating.
From German, kultur s.f., intelectual development, knowledge; industrial usage of certain natural products; study, elegance; care; the body of behaviour patterns, beliefs , institutions and other moral and material values that characterize a society; civilization.
Wow, things get complicated here. For starters, we disregard the latin definition and stick with the German. I am not looking for a farmer hero. "Old MacDonald had a farm" and someone sang his epic poem, but I am not really looking for someone like him. I am looking for "an extraordinary man (or woman, ok, lets use the P.C. "person") that due to his battling qualities, triunfs, value or "magnimousity", contributed to intelectual development, knowledge, industrial usage of certain natural products, study, elegance, care, civilization and the body of behaviour patterns, beliefs, institutions and other moral and material values that characterize a society". Does anyone know where we can find one?
Together with K, we intend to discover who are the cultural heroes of our time. It is not an easy task. It may be done through comparision, it may be done by applying a definition, it may something completely different.
Where do we start?
I will start the simple way. What is a hero?
So I go to a diccionary (Portuguese, because I allow cultural difference to interfere in my search). From the Priberam online dictionary (translated by me, from Portuguese):
Hero
From Latin, herva < Greek, héros,
hero s. m., extraordinary man due to his battling qualities, triunfs, value or "magnimousity" (does this exist in English?)
Literature, protagonist or main character of a literary work; the most exalted character of an epic poem;
History, name that the Greek gave to divinized men;
Depriciative, man noticeable by his misadventures, that has involved himself in adventures and scandals.
So I already have a problem. This definition only allows for men. I think this is crap. So I will allow for women. I will also ignore the literary and historic approaches, because I am looking for conteporary "real" people. I am also giving some concern to the post-modernist effect of putting everything into perspective and considering that there are no absolute goods or bads. There is a Good or a Bad and even though we might not agree with it. I think that there are some common points that shoud be shared by all. I mean, would anyone here kill someone? Would anyone here steal someone who really needed something? Would you harm anyone who hasn't done anything to you before, just for sport? Would you appreciate doing something socially unacceptable only because it would enhance your appeal? Well, I hope not, or else you are not welcome and can leave. So I do believe that there are some basic values that might be considered absolutely good or bad. Therefore, I am disconsidering the depreciative definition and someone who has involved himself in scandals, will not be considered a hero just because of that. It does not contribute to anything Good. But our quest is not only looking for a hero, I am looking for a cultural heroe. Therefore, we need to define culture.
From the same source:
Culture From Latin, cultura s. f., act, efect of cultivating.
From German, kultur s.f., intelectual development, knowledge; industrial usage of certain natural products; study, elegance; care; the body of behaviour patterns, beliefs , institutions and other moral and material values that characterize a society; civilization.
Wow, things get complicated here. For starters, we disregard the latin definition and stick with the German. I am not looking for a farmer hero. "Old MacDonald had a farm" and someone sang his epic poem, but I am not really looking for someone like him. I am looking for "an extraordinary man (or woman, ok, lets use the P.C. "person") that due to his battling qualities, triunfs, value or "magnimousity", contributed to intelectual development, knowledge, industrial usage of certain natural products, study, elegance, care, civilization and the body of behaviour patterns, beliefs, institutions and other moral and material values that characterize a society". Does anyone know where we can find one?
Etiquetas: Cultura
posted by Hugo Viseu at 7:47 da tarde
7 Comments:
First off, you have to understand that a hero is defined not only by his beliefs, or by his actions; but also by the way he or she inspires others to greatness.
So in that context, I'm not really sure that there are many heroes in this world, certainly none in the way that you and I would desire (a world without mutants or where nuclear accidents don't grant one superpowers just plain sucks!), and it is rare for a single human being to be singled out and be deemed a hero.
Now, of course, it's always a matter of perspective : Saddam and Bin Laden, I'm sure, were heroes to many. Certainly every single firefighter, police officer, ems assistant, and any other soul that entered the twin towers during 9/11 must be considered a hero.
But heroes as youn describe are few and not easy to determine that they are really all that, let alone find them.
In this century past, people like Einstein, Oppenheimer, even Hitler by dint of sheer madness, Martin Luther King, Neil Armstrong and a select few others, may have come close to that definition, because by their actions, words, and ideas alone they changed -- for good or ill -- our world.
Nowadays that line becomes somewhat blurred.
We (you and I) could (successfully, I suppose) argue that Alan Moore is in our eyes a hero, because of the intrinsic qualities that can be eschewed from his body of work, and how he changed the perceptions the outside world held regarding one of the most important art forms of our day.
As the years pass, and as scientific breakthroughs come to pass, then surely shall emerge nw heroes, and their names will be the stuff of legends : the man or woman who cracks the DNA code will be forever remembered, as will be he or she who finds some way of curing the diseases that plague our society, such as AIDS or Cancer.
But in these days? In who do we trust? You know that this is not one of my strengths here, but I can safely say that it is not in politics that one will find a hero -- not even if one should try and start raising people's awareness of how bad we are screwing mother earth through a documentary --, it is not in the corrupt hallways of the High Lords of the church and the faith that we'll find the hope we need.
So now we struggle : alone, and each one tries to do what is best for himself, not really caring for teh sake of others.
And therein lies our folly, our shame : were we to put aside the weapons of our mind, we could actually make a in hell for us a heaven.
As a song I like says : 'A fortitude of hearts and minds'.
That alone explains why mankind cyclically needs Christ figures : to put in their shoulders all our hopes, fears, grieves, pains : if someone else than us can carry our burdens, then surely then we'll have more time for the common folk.
Heroes rise in times of need, like Arthur from his tomb, like Jesus from his cross, like so many others yet to come.
The thing is, we tend to deify our heroes, making them perfect and without fault in our mind's eye, not allowing for that greatest of all weaknesses : that we are ultimately human.
For my part, I have not known a hero as you define it : perhaps I am someone who, albeit still young, is as jaded as a crone.
But I do dream of a golden age... I do dream of a perfect future.
And for one to be a hero all he needs to do is make us all realize that we can be so much more than what we are, not just the shadows of what we are meant to be.
In the end, I think that we have no one else to blame but ourselves : in an age where we should be reaching for the stars, and furthering our long-term goals for our societies, we still revert to typical neanderthal fashion, and invoke the names of deities long out-moded to wage war.
It is sad : our very introspective attitude towards the world in which we live in murders the chance of a a hero rising from the barren wasteland we are doomed to become.
But there is always hope, that rarest of all treasures.
After all...
This is your world. These are your people. You can live for yourself today, or help build tomorrow for everyone.
Right?
janeiro 26, 2008 12:07 da tarde
Hum...
Acredito que ainda existem pessoas que se preocupam com o que as rodeia, não se limitando a olhar para o próprio umbigo.
Poderia indicar umas quantas que conheço, mas é pessoal relativamente novo, não se sabe que mudanças iram sofrer nos próximos anos. :)
Sendo assim a minha proposta, para além do Monstro das Bolachas, é o Exm.º Sr. Paul David Hewson, mais conhecido por Bono Vox.
Penso que será um bom candidato a Herói, não pela sua música, mas por saber aproveitar todo seu carisma para ajudar, ou até mesmo realizar por conta própria, campanhas com causas nobres e em prol de populações carentes.
janeiro 26, 2008 5:50 da tarde
there's a book by a 19th century russian author, i can't remember who, maybe lermontov, that is titled "a hero of our times". you can start your search there, it may have the definitive answer! on a different note, the biggest portuguese hero must be fernando pessoa - there were even 5 or 6 of them (5 or 6 real pessoas!). don't we always says that this is a country of poets? due to whom? you can answer camões, it is true, but pessoa is much closer to us. so pessoa is a portuguese hero! no discussion here, right?
fevereiro 04, 2008 1:02 da tarde
Or maybe, and since this has taken a literary turn, you could read Dicken's 'A tale of two cities', wherein one of the main characters (I forget who), ponders the possibility of who will be the hero of his life; if it's going to be himself, or if he himself might be his own hero.
And 'Nickname', you are entitled to your opinion, just as I am entitled to mine : and to me Pessoa can only be used in a sentence that includes the words 'over rated'... Sá Carneiro and Cesário Verde are by far his betters, and he pales in comparison with the great Soares dos Passos...
fevereiro 04, 2008 9:09 da tarde
not shy, just not the weatherman. see? ;)
fevereiro 07, 2008 10:31 da tarde
I must confess that I was looking for a more "artistic" hero. But at the end, looking at my own definition ("a person that due to his battling qualities, triunfs, value or "magnimousity", contributed to intelectual development, knowledge, industrial usage of certain natural products, study, elegance, care, civilization and the body of behaviour patterns, beliefs, institutions and other moral and material values that characterize a society"). So this actually makes it very difficult to have an artist.
Artists these days are more self-centered, I imagine. I can believe that some might be honestly altruistic, but maybe my scepticism just lets me see their persuit for fame.
I will however continue to look.
More on this soon.
fevereiro 07, 2008 10:56 da tarde
"Not the weatherman", here no one knows about meteorology. That doesn't stop us from guessing if the wind is blowing or not (and I suspect that it's not).
fevereiro 07, 2008 10:58 da tarde
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