Where are America’s celebrity Heroes?

By RU Contributor Gunship Load

If you’ll notice, I chose not to capitalize “celebrity” in the title of this piece, as proper American English dictates. I do not believe that the American celebrity deserves any sort of capitalization. Although, I am not so sure as to the capitalization of the word “are”… perhaps some of you edumatcated personnel can give me a hand with that one…

So, I read. I read A LOT.

I recently read an article (and viewed it as well because it contained an embedded video – granted, it was on the internet), about how a British “hero” saved a little girl’s life. As we all know, if it’s on the internet, it must be true. Well, you’re the one reading this; take your own judgment into account there.

Anyway, as most Americans know, Prince William, who is heir to the throne of England, married a commoner. The big debacle over his wedding was that it all but removes him from making the accession to the throne as King. If you recall, his wedding was all the rage during one of the American Congress’s multiple budget crises, when they said “the US military might not get paid.” And yet, all the media attention was on the Prince.

There is a funny thing about England’s royal family. The men have all served in their military. They all carry a rank, title, and a job. The Prince is an aircraft commander/pilot of a Sea King helo. The Royal Air Force, just like our military, requires those who are in the service to actually serve, even if they are part of the royal family. And when the RAF called, the Prince went to work.

Prince William is currently assigned to the Number 22 Squadron, whose specialty is search and rescue, and based out of Anglesey, Wales, UK. 38 seconds after receiving a rescue mission, Prince William and his crew arrived on the scene to find a 16 year old girl caught in a rip tide. With the help of a couple of surfers pointing to her location, he brought the bird down; his aircrew dropped a lifeline and pulled up an exhausted British teenager from the Irish Sea.

Now, I live on the lovely beaches of northwest Florida. The sun is clean, the water a beautiful turquoise blue/green, the sand is sugar white, and we have rip currents. Rip tides/currents are nothing to be fucked with. They will drag you out to sea and swimming directly against them is a futile effort at best. A riptide can overpower the best Olympic swimmer and eventually they will die from exhaustion – IF they don’t know how to counter the effects. That’s how they work – they are nasty. Even the slightest one will take you off of your feet, and severely fuck with you.

Given all of that, it was a lovely story about how a member of the royal family, a celebrity, went to work, did his job, saved a life, and is now celebrated as a hero. Here’s my problem with this whole story. While there are the extremely rare and very quietly celebrated American celebrities, when was the last time you read about, heard about, or viewed on TV a “big star” American celebrity doing anything good, let alone “heroic”?

Seriously, WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE AMERICAN CELEBRITY HEROES???? I really don’t ask for that much from my fellow American. I would like to, but I don’t. The reason being, I know they can’t – or won’t – deliver what I want or expect them to. And the worst part of all of it to me; the common American still sees our movie stars, musicians, and athletes as “heroes.”

What happened in this country?

Where are today’s:

Gene Autry, Ed McMahan, Ronald Regan (the actor, before he was POTUS), Henry Fonda (not his daughter), Rod Sterling, Kirk Douglas, hell even Rock Hudson?… That’s only the beginning of Hollywood Celebrities from WW II.

Anymore I feel at a complete loss, and so incredibly disconnected from the majority of United States citizens. As a whole, we celebrate the most mediocre of events. We celebrate a movie, a song, a TV show, or the making of a basket/goal/touchdown in a game. We no longer celebrate those who have changed the course of our country, or more importantly, the world.

America, all I ask of you, or have ever asked of you, is to recognize those of us who are serving, those who have served, and above all, those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for you. All of you, especially athletes (who are “heroes”); you can start when you stand for the Anthem, shut the fuck up, stand still, and remove your damn hat. Don’t spit, don’t sway; stand there like a fucking statue! You are a “hero.” SET THE EXAMPLE. It is the very least you can to do to show respect to what we so proudly defend, and to what those far greater than you have paid for.

“I’ve seen who real heroes are. And they don’t wear cleats on game day.” – Sean Parnell

 

6 Comments

1. 

   Nik Corvus

   August 23, 2012 at 12:46 pm

   Is it the celebrities’ fault, because they are undeserving, or the people’s fault because they are undemanding?

   I’m thinking both.

   Reply
2. 

   Izzzzzzz

   August 23, 2012 at 1:22 pm

   I wholeheartedly agree with this article. Count the number of hits on the original “two girls one cup” video from youtube.com and you have an excellent representation of how wrong-minded this country is. We pay more attention to train wrecks, debauchery and destruction than anything else and everyone seems to be happy to do so as long as there’s popcorn and 400 liter soda to go with it. Although their service may have been limited, guys like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and those mentioned at the beginning of the article above are possibly a thing of the past,like those men that served others first. In the day and age of “entitlement” that everyone wears like we used to wear our love for this country, how could you expect any of these douche-bags to think about something bigger than themselves? The world revolves around them!

   Reply
3. 

   Jack

   August 24, 2012 at 3:09 am

   “Gunship Load” Probably the best RU contributor’s name ever.

   Reply
   • 

     Gunship Load

     August 24, 2012 at 2:11 pm

     Jack,

     Thanks!

     It’s not a clever name, it’s just my job.

     Reply
4. 

   just Plain Jason

   September 8, 2012 at 10:52 am

   I think that we have some pretty big heroes in our generation. Now about them becoming celebrities in their own light that is another thing. We have to support each other in our endeavors. I think the we have an opportunity to show who we are all the time. Tim Kennedy in his fights, Chris Kyle’s book, David Bellivia running for office, and your company. Hopefully one day we can push ourselves out there.

   Reply
5. 

   Kevin B.

   October 3, 2012 at 12:42 pm

   They are out there. Harrison Ford has participated in search and rescue as a pilot. Mark Harmon pulled two teenagers out of a burning car. Corey Booker went into a burning building to save a neighbor.

   But yeah, most live in a cacoon and believe their own press…..

   Reply