Thank you, Rosa Brooks.

PJ_Saluki

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks3aug03,0,3406790.column?coll=la-opinion-columnists

(Sound of applause)

It's about time somebody tried to take back those words. She nailed it.

Songburst

Wow. That oughta go over well with the Toby Keith crowd.

hippiemom

Very good article! Thanks for posting

Truthmonger

Agreed, although she's far too dismissive of Tillman. He's a hero in my books b/c he was vocal about Iraq and aboiut the war. And he voiced his opposition in the most intimidating arenas. Does that alone make him a hero ? Maybe not, but it certainly makes him exceptional. When the articles came out lately saying that his death may not have been an accident, I wonder why he really died......

RolandTD20Kdrummer

I told a group of cops they suck and their jobs suck 2 weekends ago because they told a street food vendor to shut down his grill (it was 11pm...I dunno...some shitty law)

They all heard me for sure...they all gave me sideways looks, but no one said a word.

They did it right while I was ordering from the guy. I was hungry dammit!

Cooking food past 11pm on the street...it's against the law apparently?!

CorporateWhore

While she speaks the truth, she is also NOT the person to be pointing that fact out. A little prudence would befit her since she's never done a damn thing in her life either. Some nobody journalist deserves far less recognition than a soldier that lost his leg while sleeping in a supply truck when it ran over an IED.

The soldier was there fighting in a war while she sits in the comfort of her home and judges his actions as unheroic. That soldier wouldn't say his actions were heroic, she doesn't need to tell him that.

MLC2006

thanks, that's a minute and a half of my life that I won't get back. I should've stopped and clicked out when I saw the article started with a Bon Jovi quote.

hippiemom

CorporateWhore wrote:

While she speaks the truth, she is also NOT the person to be pointing that fact out. A little prudence would befit her since she's never done a damn thing in her life either. Some nobody journalist deserves far less recognition than a soldier that lost his leg while sleeping in a supply truck when it ran over an IED.

The soldier was there fighting in a war while she sits in the comfort of her home and judges his actions as unheroic. That soldier wouldn't say his actions were heroic, she doesn't need to tell him that.

I didn't see her asking for recognition. She's defending the language. If everyone who overcomes a major obstacle without falling all to pieces is called a "hero," what word do we use when we see true heroics?

PJ_Saluki

CorporateWhore wrote:

While she speaks the truth, she is also NOT the person to be pointing that fact out. A little prudence would befit her since she's never done a damn thing in her life either. Some nobody journalist deserves far less recognition than a soldier that lost his leg while sleeping in a supply truck when it ran over an IED.

The soldier was there fighting in a war while she sits in the comfort of her home and judges his actions as unheroic. That soldier wouldn't say his actions were heroic, she doesn't need to tell him that.

What, exactly, are soldiers supposed to do? They fight wars. It's their jobs. I'm not trying to sound like a callous prick, but when you fight wars professionally, there's always a chance you'll get killed or injured. We do have a volunteer military here in the U.S. They signed on knowing the risks to their lives and health. They weren't conscripted.

CorporateWhore

PJ_Saluki wrote:

What, exactly, are soldiers supposed to do? They fight wars. It's their jobs. I'm not trying to sound like a callous prick, but when you fight wars professionally, there's always a chance you'll get killed or injured. We do have a volunteer military here in the U.S. They signed on knowing the risks to their lives and health. They weren't conscripted.

Soldiers are definitely not heroes because they sign up to fight. I agree with that. But, it sure as hell takes more balls to be a soldier in Iraq than it does to be a journalist. They may not all be heroes, but they're definitely better than the crummy journalists who gnaw and peck at their heels.

hippiemom

CorporateWhore wrote:

Soldiers are definitely not heroes because they sign up to fight. I agree with that. But, it sure as hell takes more balls to be a soldier in Iraq than it does to be a journalist. They may not all be heroes, but they're definitely better than the crummy journalists who gnaw and peck at their heels.

Maybe that's why she did no such thing. Maybe that's why she said "I respect the service and sacrifice of the troops. It takes guts to volunteer for the military. Injured service members deserve top-quality care, and the families of those killed deserve our deepest compassion. Soldiers, firefighters, police and many others accept risk and privation to serve the public, and we should be grateful."

She's criticizing the media, not the soldiers.

PJ_Saluki

CorporateWhore wrote:

Soldiers are definitely not heroes because they sign up to fight. I agree with that. But, it sure as hell takes more balls to be a soldier in Iraq than it does to be a journalist. They may not all be heroes, but they're definitely better than the crummy journalists who gnaw and peck at their heels.

I honestly don't see some sort of conspiracy of the negative when it comes to reporters and the war. Oh, and some of those "crummy journalists," they die in war zones, too.

Here's something: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2006/killed_05/killed_release_03jan05.html

"New York, January 3, 2006—Kidnappers in Iraq, political assassins in Beirut, and hit men in the Philippines made murder the leading cause of work-related deaths among journalists worldwide in 2005, a new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists shows. Forty-seven journalists were killed in 2005, more than three-quarters of whom were murdered to silence their criticism or punish them for their work, CPJ's annual survey found."

And those people signed on for dangerous work, too. Comparing soldiers to journalists, though, is, pardon the cliche, comparing apples to oranges. One group carries guns and tries to kill people; the other group carries note pads and cameras and tries to report on the events, not join in the combat.

blackredyellow

"hero", like a lot of other terms in our vocabulary that used to actually mean something have lost their meaning due to over use.

Like she said, all of a sudden ALL soldiers, firemen, policemen, etc., are now heroes, and when one actually does go above and beyond and does something heroic, they are lumped in with everyone else (including the handful of unsavory characters in those professions).

I consider them (for the most part) unselfish, and people who are willing to risk their lives at a low paying job to make the world better, but until they do something special, they aren't heroes in my book.

A state cop who rescued hostages or saved someone getting attacked is a hero... the guy who writes speeding tickets all day isn't (unless of course he does something heroic in the course of his daily job).