# Why are trapped gold miners considered heroes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 11, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412 "2006-05-11T19:35:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/21 "2006-05-12T04:49:47Z")
> [@blinkingblinking](#): > > No it is not.Our language is being misused so often that we are losing the meanings of words. If the office worker who went to work and got killed in the Twin towers is a hero, what can you call the firefighters ? > Here are some definitions I like > > 1. a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his/her brave deeds and noble qualities (factmonster) > 2.A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life (American heritage dictionary). > 3.A person normally becomes courageous by performing an extraordinary and praiseworthy deed. A hero normally fulfills the definitions of what is considered good and noble in the originating culture(wikipedia on hero) > > Going by these definitions, being stuck down a hole does not qualify you as a hero. But probably qualifies a lot of the rescue workers who got them out of the hole. Are you an Australian? Because by your definiton #3, these guys did everything required of them to become heroes. They faced a horrific ordeal, with insouciant humour and without complaint, they believed in one another throughout said ordeal and, maintained thier dignity and their “code” as miners (note the gesture of hanging up their tags when they came out of the pit) and they discharged themsleves from hospital to make it to the funeral of a fallen comerade. See, thats what we seem to call heroism in Australia. Mind you, serial sex pervert (and cricketer) Shane Warne is consdiered a hero down here and so is horse theif, bank robber, murderer and terrorist Ned Kelly - so clearly mocking of the Gods is a necessary attribute for heroes inthis part of the world. Sure, they guys that dug them out are just as much heroes - and the media is shamefully disregarding this. And for the two resuced men, how they conduct themselves in the media in weeks, months and years to come willd etermine how long they wear the hero tag. The minute the public starts to think they are milking it and losing sight of the values which made them heroes, out will come the shears and we will cut those tall poppies down. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/22 "2006-05-12T11:14:13Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > For my own opinion… getting stuck in an accident and dying or surviving a horrible ordeal doesn’t make you a hero. Helping to save someone else’s life while you’re both stuck might, though. 🙂 Exactly. Merely getting stuck in the mine doesn’t make them heroes, it makes them victims. But somewhere along the line, the word “victim” became just as bastardized as the word “hero” has become. “Victim” now seems to mean “weak-willed person whose problems are his own fault” as opposed to “person to whom something bad happened”. So now when something bad happens to a person, through no fault of their own, we call them a “hero”, whether they had any hand in resolving the situation or not. Of course, victims can behave heroically, but if you just sat there waiting for the rescue team to arrive, you’re not a hero, you’re a victim. And a survivor. Which is another word that seems to have taken on some not-originally-intended connotations. It kind of makes my head hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/23 "2006-05-12T11:24:53Z")
I’ve long believed that the concept of “suffering” has been conflated into the concept of “heroism” in the US. I’d have to say the roots of this go straight back to Christianity (at least - probably earlier, but I don’t know older religions well enough to judge), in that Jesus supposedly suffered to save humanity. But the current media climate, with its penchant for sensationalism and simplistic coverage, certainly has contributed enormously! ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/24 "2006-05-12T13:49:37Z")
If you do whatever it takes to stay alive, or save you own ass, you are not a hero. A hero is someone who risks his own life to save someone else’s. Firemen are heroes. A guy who is trapped in a well by accident is not a hero. We are happy for him, glad he is alive, etc. but by definition not a hero. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/25 "2006-05-12T14:58:55Z")
> [@Wee Bairn](#): > > If you do whatever it takes to stay alive, or save you own ass, you are not a hero. A hero is someone who risks his own life to save someone else’s. Firemen are heroes. A guy who is trapped in a well by accident is not a hero. We are happy for him, glad he is alive, etc. but by definition not a hero. Are you sure? If your father was that guy who cut off his leg with a swiss army knife to escape from under a fallen tree, wouldn’t you consider him a hero? I would. I know myself and I know I may well just give up in such a situation. And someone that is has the grit to that kind of pain and be that decisive in order to be back with their loved ones is a hero to me. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/26 "2006-05-12T15:04:18Z")
I find him admirable, but not _heroic_. IMO, heroics are acts above and beyond the call of duty in the aid of others. Self-preservation, by definition, isn’t _heroic_. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/27 "2006-05-12T15:36:56Z")
How dare you deminish the heroism of those brave men who spent all those days in a hole! A freakin’ HOLE man! When was the last time you spent any time in a hole? Who are you to question their heroism? A god damn hole! anyway… how do we really know they were heroic? No one could see what they were doing in that mine shaft. They could have been totally freaking out, resorted to homosexuality and were the verge of bashing each other with rocks to get at the last flashlight battery then at the last minute before the rescuers reached them were like…“ok be cool dude…as far as anyone know we were just in here licking condensation off the wall for a week.” I’m just saying… ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/28 "2006-05-12T18:20:24Z")
> [@even sven](#): > > It’s a relic of a time when we considered labor to have it’s own intrinsic dignity, and we respected people for simply doing what it takes to keep society going. It’s easy to sit here and forget that a miner had to mine that gold that makes the circuits on your computer work, and times like this remind us that there are guys down there risking their lives in a big dark pit so that we can have this. Well, there’s an important part of that that I think is debatable. Are they risking their lives daily so that we can have our modern technology and our microwave ovens? Or, are they risking their lives daily because, hey, that’s their job, and they feel well compensated, or they feel that that job is their best option at the moment? We may reap the benefits of their work, but that doesn’t mean that any given individual is doing that work because, “well, someone’s got to keep society going, and it might as well be me.” FWIW, I agree with **DianaG** ’s definitions and analysis in post#22. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/29 "2006-05-12T18:36:36Z")
> [@blinkingblinking](#): > > I am not denying that anyone dying of cancer is a tragedy. You could, though, since in the classic sense “tragedy” is not the same as “something sad”. No tragic flaw, just nature taking its course. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/30 "2006-05-13T08:25:28Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > You could, though, since in the classic sense “tragedy” is not the same as “something sad”. No tragic flaw, just nature taking its course. You are right - it is something sad, not a tragedy. There are just too many people who say it is a tragedy. I was affected by that. Mamboman- I have lived in Australia of and on for a number of years. But I am not Australian. I am sure you can guess what country I am from. Msmith537 - I also wanted to ask people who say that the two guys are heroes…Is there anything that the two guys had done in the hole which would have disqualified them from being called heroes? All they did was get stuck in a hole for two weeks and not resort to cannibalism or murder. That does not make them heroes. These guys were simply doing their jobs when they got stuck in the hole. It is not a heroic job. It may be a dangerous job. I would not do it. But it is not a heroic job. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/31 "2006-05-13T09:06:15Z")
> [@blinkingblinking](#): > > These guys were simply doing their jobs when they got stuck in the hole. It is not a heroic job. It may be a dangerous job. I would not do it. But it is not a heroic job. And I reiterate, they are considered heroes because they fulfilled the prevailing cultural imperative for heroism in Australia. And that is a local imperative. Here in Australia we generally do not consider US troops in Iraq to be heroes, whereas in the US, these troops fufill the prevailing cultural imperative. This whole thing is an example of YMMV in action. mm ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/32 "2006-05-13T10:21:47Z")
> [@priapus](#): > > Hero seems as good a word as any other.I would think any human maintaining dignity under duress and dire circumstances is a hero,a hero in the sense of a good example to follow.I don’t know what I would do under similar circumstances,probably blubber for few hours,then try to eat the weak How do you know that’s not just what they did? They are not heroes, they’re merely victims of an accident. It was not bravery that sent them in the mine, it was economics and chance. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/33 "2006-05-13T11:03:33Z")
> [@priapus](#): > > Hero seems as good a word as any other.I would think any human maintaining dignity under duress and dire circumstances is a hero,a hero in the sense of a good example to follow.I don’t know what I would do under similar circumstances,probably blubber for few hours,then try to eat the weak A hero doesn’t simply do a dangerous act (otherwise, all hang gliders would be wearing medals). You have to do it selflessly, and I think you have to be pretty damn sure you’re going to die. These guys get paid a shitload of money and mining has become much safer in recent decades. There are far more dangerous jobs out there that pay far less. These guys are no more heroes than the guy who builds skyscrapers or the kid who works the midnight shift at an inner-city convenience store. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/34 "2006-05-13T12:00:59Z")
> [@even sven](#): > > Are you sure? If your father was that guy who cut off his leg with a swiss army knife to escape from under a fallen tree, wouldn’t you consider him a hero? . Personnally, no. I’ll probably think he has a will and balls of steel, and respect him for this, but like for a number of other posters, the concept of “hero” include in my mind putting oneself voluntarily at risk for a noble cause. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412/35 "2006-05-13T13:11:19Z")
> [@blinkingblinking](#): > > When did the word ‘hero’ lose its true meaning? When they started calling sportspeople heroes due to them being pretty good at sports (but usually very ordinary at everything else). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-trapped-gold-miners-considered-heroes/356412.md?page=1)