Where have all the heroes gone?

[Kaos]

In typical old man fashion a friend and I were grousing today about the direction of America's youth.  The stunted work ethic, the overall sense of entitlement, the coddling, the expectation that things have "always been great and will keep on being so just because" and the disinterest in anything other than what Snooki has to say or what Lindsay wore to court. 

It occurred to me then that this generation has no heroes.  It has no role models.  None. 

My father's generation had the veterans of WWI and WWII.  Strong generals like Patton and McArthur.  Visionary politicians, titans of industry.  John Wayne. Mickey Mantle.

Our (my) generation had the astronauts who walked on the moon, we had Reagan, we had Hank Aaron. 

What do today's kids have?  Fucking narcissistic Obama?  God help us.  Barry Bonds? 

Much of it is the fault of the media.  John Kennedy was no saint, but a sympathetic media with respect for the office and the power it holds kept his dirty laundry out of the public arena.  Same with Mickey Mantle. 

Doesn't seem like this generation WANTS heroes, though.  You get a good guy, somebody who is a natural leader and who spends his spare time working with children and encouraging them to achieve and all of that is trashed because somebody thinks his smile is fake?   It's like we can't stand success.  Somebody achieves and the jackals swarm in to bring them back to earth. 

Good people won't run for public office for fear of the fabric of their entire lives being twisted and tortured in order to find some speck of dirt with which to smear them personally.  If the dirt doesn't exist?  Allege it.  Insinuate it. Then the candidate is in a no-win situation.  Deny it and you establish its credibility.  Ignore it and silence indicates guilt. 

Our soldiers are vilified for doing their job and have been since Dan Rather took his ass to Vietnam. 

Ask somebody under 21 who their heroes are.  Lil' Fucking Wayne?   Some dusty relic from the past like Abraham Lincoln or Rosa Parks who has no real resonance in their lives? 

There are no more heroes.  And that's a sad state of affairs.

[Snaggletiger]

Did you ever know that you're my hero?  You are the wind beneath my wings.

Hammer meets nail here and especially the part concerning the diggage of dirt.  Everyone, from the media right down to the media want to be bloggers are far more interested in bringing someone down than they are building up.  There are some exceptions in the Tebows and Brees' of the world, but for the most part, people are hanging on every new TMZ scoop to see who screwed up. 

[Jumbo]

Did you ever know that you're my hero?  You are the wind beneath my wings.

Hammer meets nail here and especially the part concerning the diggage of dirt.  Everyone, from the media right down to the media want to be bloggers are far more interested in bringing someone down than they are building up.  There are some exceptions in the Tebows and Brees' of the world, but for the most part, people are hanging on every new TMZ scoop to see who screwed up.

I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero 'till the end of the night, he's gotta be strong....

[AUTailgatingRules]

My goal is to be a hero to my daughter.  The problem started with, and lies mostly at the feet of the parents or parent (another problem altogether) that raised them.  It somehow became the norm to be "friends" with your kids. To always blame authority for the sins of the child instead of teaching that child to respect authority and behave respectfully.

Political correctness and lack of corporal punishment at home have raised a generation of whining pussies.    I can damn sure guarantee you that I would much prefer to have been put in "time out" than to have the wrath of my parents, but I'm pretty sure I would have turned out slightly different.

Until we return to the days of parental guidance and responsibility for our children, things will only get worse.

[JR4AU]

Worse than the digging for dirt, is the mindset of creating the dirt by creating and continuing a lie and bolstering unfounded rumors to take down someone that has achieved.  Then, IF something substantial is ever uncovered, you get to use all the lies and rumors to substantiate the current founded allegation.  Or, one founded misstep in the past, is proof of every future rumor or lie told about you.