Monsters and Heroes

One theme that crosses my mind a lot as I meander through life, be it watching the news or dissecting plots of movies, is this idea that, though it is attributed to Nietzsche, but must have been around before him, one must take care when pursuing monsters, not to become a monster. I first met this theme in the 1988 movie Criminal Law with Kevin Bacon. I would go on to read Nietzsche in undergrad but he never caught on with me the way other philosophers did like Heidegger and Leibnitz. But, like I said, the theme crosses my mind often because of the power and length of its reach – torture of Iraqis, mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders, etc. Recently, I have found another theme that is crossing my mind a lot and I think I first met this theme in the 1998 movie The Big Lebowski with Jeff Bridges. 

Here is a lil something from the script:

INTERIOR   RALPH'S

               It is late, the supermarket all but deserted.  We are tracking

               in on a fortyish man in Bermuda shorts and sunglasses at the

               dairy case.  He is the Dude.  His rumpled look and relaxed

               manner suggest a man in whom casualness runs deep.

               He is feeling quarts of milk for coldness and examining their

               expiration dates.

                                     VOICE-OVER

                         Now this story I'm about to unfold

                         took place back in the early nineties--

                         just about the time of our conflict

                         with Sad'm and the Eye-rackies.  I

                         only mention it 'cause some- times

                         there's a man--I won't say a hee-ro,

                         'cause what's a hee-ro?--but sometimes

                         there's a man.

               The Dude glances furtively about and then opens a quart of

               milk.  He sticks his nose in the spout and sniffs.

                                     VOICE-OVER

                         And I'm talkin' about the Dude here--

                         sometimes there's a man who, wal,

                         he's the man for his time'n place,

                         he fits right in there--and that's

                         the Dude, in Los Angeles.

So I ask you: What’s a hero?

Just as you must take care when pursuing monsters, you must also take care when you designate a hero.

By all accounts, ok most account I suppose, Bill Cosby was a hero. And now, it appears that the man is by all but a few accounts (his own and his wife Camille’s?), and I realize this is a strong term, a monster.

Perhaps it is best if we take care when pursuing monsters and that we never designate anyone a hero. 

George Carlin said:

i'm also tired
of hearing about
"innocent victims".
this is an outmoded idea.
there are no
"innocent victims".
if you live on this planet,
you're guilty.
period.
fuck you.
end of report, next case.
NEXT FUCKING CASE!
next case.
your birth certificate
is proof of guilt.

 …I might add that your birth certificate is also proof that you and no one else, is a hero. Too many warts, too many skeletons in closets, too many lies told, too many indiscretions, too much collateral damage for anyone to be a hero. You’ve hurt others directly, indirectly, you’ve caused pain and anguish. 

How can one be both a hero and a human, what with all the human fallibility?

Now you might counter that if there are no hero’s then there are no monsters and I would hear you out.

But let us come full circle to Nietzsche and admit, at bottom, that you, me, all of us are

human, all too human.