OK, let’s acknowledge up front that Donald Trump is an asshole who does not deserve a moment of our attention. He is also a lunatic who believes that the Mexican government is controlling which Mexicans to send across our border, of whom a few may be ordinary people but most are scum. While he took some shit for this, it was not until he attacked a white, establishment politician that most of his co-candidates really criticized him. That tells you something about the Republican party. The funny thing is, he was right about McCain.
Don’t get me wrong. Trump called McCain a loser for getting captured and spending the Vietnam war in a prison camp. This is bullshit, especially coming from someone who has declared bankruptcy several times. But the main comment that Trump made about McCain, that he is not a hero, is correct.
American society has been in the grip of word inflation for a long time, and the word “hero” is one of the worst violators. It used to refer to someone who went above and beyond the call of duty, doing more than what was expected of others in the same situation, often at personal risk. Like jumping on a live grenade to save the lives of those around you. These days virtually every soldier is described as a hero, and ordinary incidents are turned into hero stories.
Is a firefighter a hero for rushing into a burning building to save someone? No!!! A firefighter’s job is rushing into a burning building to save someone. He would be disciplined if he did not, assuming the building was not about to fall down. Now Cory Booker, while mayor of Newark, WAS a hero for saving someone from a fire; that is not part of his job description, nor was it expected for someone encountering the situation he faced. It may have been foolish—as a non-professional, he could have made the situation worse—but he displayed uncommon valor and generosity by doing what he did.
The bottom line is, people who do what they are supposed to do in a given situation are doing nothing unusual. If you have been trained, and are being paid, to rush into a burning building to save someone, you damn well better do it. (Note that I am much more generous with volunteer firefighters, but still, they are doing what they are supposed to do.)
So let’s get back to McCain. He flew his plane and got shot down. He was captured and put in a prison camp. What is a captured prisoner supposed to do? Give name, rank and serial number, and nothing else. What did McCain do? Precisely that. Did he do more than was expected of (and done by most) other soldiers in the same situation? No. So what makes him a hero?
Maybe we need a new word to describe someone whose job involves danger, be it firefighter, policeman, soldier, whatever. I agree that such people are well deserving of our gratitude and respect. But having taken such a job, it should not be considered unusual that they do it. We should reserve the term “hero” for someone who does more than what is expected for someone in their situation.