# Lynch. An American hero? C'mon!? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 6, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948 "2003-04-06T23:44:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948/101 "2003-04-09T00:12:51Z")
How do we know anything about how she conducted her self in the fight? Aren’t all of her comrades either dead or captured? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948/102 "2003-04-09T01:54:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TwistofFate \* > who? \*\* Durant was the “Black Hawk Down” pilot captured by the Somalis. For God’s sake man! There’s been countless articles, TV specials, a book and a Jerry Bruckheimer movie about the subject. O’Grady was the pilot who was shot down in Bosnia some years back. He was rescued by Marines after about 6 days behind enemy lines. Both were pretty big news stories at the time. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948/103 "2003-04-09T09:30:44Z")
I knew who Durant was, O’Grady is a new one to me. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the oppertunity 😃 ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948/104 "2003-04-09T10:12:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > See, I’ve been praying for those seven soldiers ever since I heard of the video of their interrogation and torture. I saw some of this video. I saw no torture. I saw breaches of the GC no question but have they videoed US soldiers getting tortured? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948/105 "2003-04-09T10:37:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimbo \* > \*\*I saw some of this video. I saw no torture. I saw breaches of the GC no question but have they videoed US soldiers getting tortured? \*\* Hm. I didn’t **see** the video. On reviewing some old new briefs, it appears that I jumped to a conclusion: the warning to Al-Jazeera **not** to broadcast images of POWs being tortured led me to believe that they **had** videoed such things. Still, torture or not, it’s not a situation I’d wish on anyone. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948/106 "2003-04-09T10:46:08Z")
No question about that. Those people looked scared and I wouldn’t blame them. Lets hope that they get home safe unlike many others from all sides of this conflict. ---
**Author:** ![SpasticKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@SpasticKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpasticKitty)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948/107 "2003-04-09T18:03:12Z")
I can identify with Jessica Lynch in that we are both 19 year old females from West Virgina. I can’t even begin to imagine going through what she did. And she doesn’t even seem to expect this media circus surrounding her…from what I understand, she was asking her parents if her story made the local newspaper! Yes, the media is blowing her story out of proportion, as it often tends to do. It doesn’t matter, though. Jessica Lynch will always be a hero in my book. ---
**Author:** ![sWitchazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@sWitchazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sWitchazel)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948/108 "2003-04-09T20:39:07Z")
To me a hero is someone who intentionally puts him/herself at great personal risk for the benefit of others. It covers a whole lot of people, but it works for me and it would include Jessica Lynch. I don’t think the publication of her story is denigrating to women in the larger sense. Just look at Amelia Earhart or Sally Ride. I believe the publicity around them were great sources of inspiration and helped women at the time realize they could do whatever they wanted to. Even the “Heh, look at that purty gal fly in thuh ayer” kind of reports had some benefit to them. So yes, Jessica is in the news a lot because she is a young, fresh-faced woman and it is sad in a way because she is no more special than anyone else in the same situation. However, she is also there because stories about female soldiers aren’t ones we see very often. Of course, other types of people and their stories need to be told as well. \ I’m looking forward to the day when labels aren’t the driving force behind the news because our diversity will be such a common thing. ================== I looked at NASA’s bio on Sally Ride. [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/ride.htm](http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/er/seh/ride.htm) It doesn’t mention her being the first American woman astronaut and I think that’s a good thing. At the time, though, it was wonderful to see in the news. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948/109 "2003-04-10T14:40:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sWitchazel \* > So yes, Jessica is in the news a lot because she is a young, fresh-faced woman and it is sad in a way because she is no more special than anyone else in the same situation. However, she is also there because stories about female soldiers aren’t ones we see very often. Of course, other types of people and their stories need to be told as well. > \*\* Not to mention that, in spite of what you see in Hollywood, a POW rescue by Special Forces is almost unheard of. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lynch-an-american-hero-cmon/166948.md?page=5)