I give Jessica Lynch (the rescued American POW) a lot of credit for joining the miltary and going off to war. I am sure her experience in Iraq was horrifying.
But is she a HERO? Does she deserve this mythic praise she is receiving?
What exactly did she do to qualify as a hero? (I equate serving in the military as HONORABLE)
What about the men and women who have seen real hand to hand combat over there and will not receive the same recognition.
Is this fair to them? – I think not.
I would contend Jessica Lynch is getting too much attention and too much praise for what she actually did.
I’m with you–I salute her for serving in the Armed Forces; I despise the knuckleheads and crooks who put her and 200,000 other servicemen and -women in Iraq under dubious pretenses; and I think that whomever is seeking to lionize her for what she did is doing so for purposes other than to honor her conduct while in Iraq.
I don’;t have a problem with the folks in Jessica’s hometown calling her a hero and celebrating her return.
I am slightly disturbed, however, by her well-wishers who cites her rescue and return as an act of God. What about the various Iraqis and Americans who put their lives on the line to get her back?
I’m more inclined to treat the guys who rescued her as heroic, though later reports are leaning toward the idea that the rescue wasn’t really all that dangerous.
IMHO, the story, while interesting, has been blown out of proportion and done to death. Yes, it is a heartwarming story, just like the Scott OGrady story was a few years back (the guy who crashed in Bosnia and lived on bugs for a week). It is a story perhaps more suitable to a Lifetime movie of the week than a Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay Explodofest staring Kate Beckinsale and Josh Hartnet (with Michale Biehn as General Franks).
I think that we are a wussier people then we were a few years back. Our “heros” are no longer the Segent Yorks or Audie Murphys. We no longer value the rugged, tough Marine who wades ashore under heavy fire and punches a Nazi in the face.
It is known that she didn’t do anything else but being in an accident, got captured and got treated very well in an Iraqy hospital. I find the story of her sudden “amnesia” which prevents her from recalling that very touching.
I have a few questions related to this:
How come Americans are in such a great need to create heros all the time?
Why has the US population such an asthonishing admiration for this whole military business and for those who wear that military uniform by their own choice?
Those people go in the army voluntarely and they know - since the USA always has to have some wars as long as they aren’t fought on their own territory - that they risk to be in combat situations sooner or later.
Yet they are already made into heros because they make a living by learning how to kill… And when they then actually go somewhere to do the killing, they become saints.
I think you must be American to get this.
I certainly don’t get it, but then that is for me the same with every exaggerated US patriotism. (I’m not alone in this… The vast majority of the non-US world certainly looks at it with a partially amused amazement)
Salaam. A.
I agree with you all, but I think the publicity will fade away pretty quickly. I mean, how often do you hear about ex-POWs from Korea or Vietnam or the first Gulf War?
You are obviously uninformed and inexperienced with traumatic stress syndrome. My father was involved in a near-fatal auto accident many years ago. He never, for the 60 years between that event and his death, regained the memory of the days immediately preceding that accident. Non-physical trauma can cause memory loss, too. I myself remember absolutely nothing about the months following my mother’s death. Nothing at all; it’s like that period of time never happened. A psychologist told me that it’s not uncommon for the brain to simply cease recording, in a sense, while everything perceived is just too painful to deal with.
To Al Debaran: How does the fact that a person volunteered to knowingly put himself in mortal danger for the benefit of others make him less brave than if he were a conscript? Some of us admire people who will do that, and respect the sacrifices they and their families make. Many consider firefighters, who volunteer to put their lives on the line to save the lives and property of others, to be heroes.
I also am puzzled by your implication that Americans are alone in needing and wanting heroes. My impression is that most if not all cultures and nationalities do so. I’m trying to think of one that does not honor military and others who perform brave and memorable deeds, and I am coming up empty. Among European heroes we have Churchill and DeGaulle among the first who come to mind. I’m not knowledgeable enough about Asian history to know who is a hero in China and Japan, but I am sure they exist. Was Ho Chi Min a hero to the Vietnamese? I imagine the kamikaze pilots were heroes to the Japanese. Russians honor the heroes who defended Moscow and Leningrad. Certainly the Red Baron was a hero to the Germans of WWII.
I suppose if you look among true pacifists such as the Society of Friends you will not find military heroes, but such examples would be quite rare. Even among pacifists, perhaps they consider those who perform brave but non-violent acts to be heroes. Perhaps you can enlighten me with an example of a nation that does not honor those it considers heroic.
There are a number of reasons:
-One of them is because the people in our military are there by their own choosing. They are not a bunch of rabble pressed into service
-The are are able to achieve a level of discipline and physical training that most people can’t comprehend.
-They believe in something greater than themselves and are willing to risk their lives defending it
-They kick ass
I mean who should we choose as our heros? Some millionare who was gifted with the ability to toss, catch or kick a ball? Some cynical, opinionated dirtbag with a home made sign who has taken up the cause of the week? A school teacher who would rather pass an illiterate kid than deal with him in summer school?
I mean lets face it. Most people are fat stupid pussies who lead dull uninteresting lives. My admin freakin complains every day about everything. Half the people I know have their day ruined if they get stuck in a subway for 5 minutes. We live in a world where if you bitch and complain long enough, someone will make your big bad problem go away. These people jump out of airplanes and live in a world where their buddies might get blown up tomorrow for delivering auto supplies to the wrong map coordinates.
I don’t know which part of that statement to correct first.
Out of curiousity, is there anything you would be willing to kill for?
You know, the Japanese used to consider being captured by the enemy one of the worse disgraces.
Personally, I don’t think she is being treated as a war hero. I think the media can’t decide if they want to treat her like little girl who fell down a well and was rescued or a female Bradock: Missing in Action Part V.
Survival is not heroic. Hero is a word that in my opinion should only be bestowed upon those who knowingly risk their lives for the sake of the greater good. Jessica Lynch simply survived a war zone.
She did not forget everything, as we now know from her recent appearence in front of the press, she said she remembered saying “I’m an American soldier, too”.