All of my heroes are dead

Tagged:  •    •  

Well, maybe not all of them, but the majority of people that I look up to as role models are no longer living. A lot of the people who inspire me are deceased or assassinated political activists, authors, actresses and actors. This is troubling to me, because I know that I'm not the only one. I know that there are some good people out there, but I find that the majority of people that the youth of our nation look up aren't really worth looking up to, or at least in my opinion.
We need better role models for today's youth. It troubles me when I see 12 year old girls in revealing tube tops and short skirts, and when i do see that I wonder who their role model is. What made them dress that way, and why their parents let them out of the house like that (though I suppose their parents could be off working and unaware of their child's attire). It's not just clothing though, but I find that a lot of the younger people I've interacted with didn't have favorite authors and didn't know anything about politics. They had favorite rap artists and pop singers. Growing up, most girls in my grade idolized Britney Spears, now look where she is. I remember my step sister watching MTV with big, attentive eyes, memorizing dance moves and makeup techniques, thinking, "I want to be just like her when I grow up."
I feel like everyone around me is apathetic, which is discouraging in a way, but also inspiring. If there aren't many good role models out there in the media and on magazine covers, maybe we need to find new ones, better ones. Maybe our generation needs to get into gear so the next one will have people to look up to. I guess dead role models are better than nothing.

2
Average: 2 (1 vote)
DrifterDani6886's picture
Member of the Progressive U Alumni Association

you have a good point and I don't really know when there will be another good role model because there hasn't been for so long. I just hope that sometime soon there will be someone who is not dead who we can look up to before it is to late.

1060601's picture

I don't know who your heros are, but I'll assume their some of the iconic common heros. I think that these dead icons provide effective heros for most people, but that doesn't mean that I think they are better suited to their role than their living counter parts. I think part of the reason that they are idolized as hero is simply because they have become icons after their passing. It is quite possible that those living today will become equivalent heros to our dead icons now.

I don't know, i have a bunch of heroes.
Hunter S. Thompson, Bela Lugosi, a bunch of communist revolutionaries, random authors...

Also, I don't think it's fair to say "they are idolized as hero simply because they have become icons after their passing." because, for example, Gandhi was an icon when he was still alive.

Also, I was mostly referring to hollywoodtype people as far as idols not being very good idols, mostly in reference to young girls looking up to people like paris hilton, lindsay lohan and whatnot, I mean, it's not just that, but whatever.

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.