The Cheapening of the Word, “Hero”
Not too long ago, “Hero” was once defined as, “a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his or her brave deeds and noble qualities.” Things have now changed.
The word “hero” has been so overused and manipulated in recent years that it has reached the level of becoming trivialized. After September 11, 2001, every fireman and cop in the U.S. oddly were elevated to hero status by the media. Of course, the media’s motivation was to play the cheap emotional card in attempts to attract audience. Suddenly, everyone sent off to fight in Bush’s endless war was a hero. Now, the popular copycat trend among TV and radio stations and cable news is to nominate local heros, like the maybe the guy who fixes a flat on your car or a restaurant server who gets your order right.
We have confused just doing a job with the word hero.
It has sunk to this level — Kolbrener, an advertising agency in Pittsburgh, states on its Web site, “We believe the Chief Marketing Officers, Vice Presidents of Marketing and Marketing Directors we work with are heroes critical to their organization’s success.”
Good grief!
About the Author: David is a veteran communications strategist ... writer ... blogger ... online publisher ... and Emmy Award winning former CBS Network News correspondent. He lives in Washington, D. C., area and works worldwide.
George Potts | Oct 15, 2007 | Reply
David,
Thank you for your email inviting me to read your post. I agree that the word “Hero” has been cheapened in our national media; however, your example from our Web site of how the term “Hero” has been generally devalued is off beam.
As a writer, I know that you understand the term “context”. Our Web site and blog are written for senior marketing professionals - an audience that has been under attack by CEOs and CFOs over the last several years when attempting to adhere to sound brand building practices. These professionals have seen their average tenure in the boardroom drop to only 12 months. So, yes, Kolbrener believes we do work with persons of distinguished courage and ability; we admire them for their brave deeds and noble qualities all within the context of our industry.
George Potts
Vice President, Marketing
Kolbrener USA
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David Henderson | Oct 15, 2007 | Reply
I rest my case. DH
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Matt Langdon | Oct 15, 2007 | Reply
Hear hear. The word is out of control - especially after 9/11. I wrote something similar called Ground Zero and the Definition of a Hero - http://heroworkshop.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/ground-zero-and-the-definition-of-hero/
I wish I’d had someone leave a comment that so fully exemplified my post as you got though. Those poor people only having an average of 12 months in the boardroom. How do they survive?
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