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it's a term that's used too much and mostly to sell a war. the idea appears to be to bypass the politics of the war and act as though it's a necessary frame within which various things happen. it's kinda new that way, too. i dont think it was thrown around in quite the same way as it is now during previous periods. its usage seems to me to have gotten out of hand during cowboy's george's regime.
and i agree with charlatan and dlish...the points they make converge with maybe a less cynical version of the same i'm making
this isn't to say that there aren't particular actions that should be understood as heroic. but i've never understood the creation of a theatrical/public dimension of those people who do such acts many of whom were heroic for the duration of that act. i dont really see how any single action defines who someone is. this part is not at all new--its as old as the hills. seems like there's always been a tendency to create public personae around this hero idea. some of the oldest ones seem at least honest--the odyssey and iliad for example involve alot of scurvy dealings. those folk aren't always Heroic.
but i digress
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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