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Started by Jim Best
Sun, 04 Oct 1992 20:27
Magic is no Hero
Author: Jim Best
Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1992 20:27
Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1992 20:27
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Sent to me by a friend for posting.
By Mike Barnicle;
This is how it works now in America:
You get a big, famous millionaire athlete who apparently is so
stupid, selfish or both that he cannot control his sexual appetite and when
be becomes HIV-positive, practically the whole country collapse in tears,
puts him on a pedestal and turns him into an idol.
Wednesday, there were long stories about Magic Johnson, who decided
to come out of retirement in order to play basketball again with the Los
Angeles Lakers, Good for him and good luck too because this is who he is:
tremendous ballplayer.
It's the other aspect of the tale that is tragic. Johnson is a
college graduate with great physical and financial resources who must have
been the only man alive unaware of the fact that you might get AIDS if you
go around having sex with a couple hundred different people in various
cities.
Here we have a guy who put his wife at risk of infection as well as
his baby. Yet instead of being labeled a moron, he is called a hero.
* * *
The very word, hero has been so cheapened and demeaned over the
past few years that I guess we should not be surprised. Still, it is kind
of incredible that anyone in their right mind would place such a label on
someone of proven bizarre conduct.
Part of the reason could be that we are told over and over lately
that we must not be judgmental. In other words, there is no such thing as
right and wrong, moral or immoral, crazy or sane. To make any judgment
about someone or something is to risk being slapped with one or another
of the politically correct code words employed to further neuter our
society.
This week, I sat on the porch of a house on Quincy Street in
Roxbury, Mass., talking to an old friend of mine who is dying of cancer.
She is 42 years old.
Four years ago, the killer took a breast. Twenty-two months later,
doctors informed her the illness had spread to her lung.
She has three children. The oldest, a girl, is 16 years old. The
two others, boys, are 12 and 8.
For a couple weeks this summer, the woman underwent chemotherapy
on nearly a daily basis. In order to get back and forth to the hospital,
she took a bus.
Each day that she went for treatment, no matter how sick she felt,
she'd stop at Holy Cross Cathedral to pray. Kneeling at the altar, she
tried again and again to cut a deal with God: Just give her enough time to
get her daughter out of high school and into college and she'd be happy.
Now, with the first chill of fall coming down the avenue, she was
watching these four young guys, maybe 15, 16 years old, moving along the
sidewalk. She knew all of them to be more dangerous than electricity.
Two of the kids wore black leather 8-Ball jackets that people
literally kill for. The other two simply wore smirks.
"It's so sad," my friend was saying. "loo at them. There's nothing
in their eyes. They have these dead eyes.
"They hang around trying to sell enough red-tops to get money to
buy some for themselves. That's what they think life is, selling crack."
* * *
One of the kids nodded to us as the group passed and the woman
said hello. The four of them crossed the street and headed to the
playground at the corner of Blue Hill Avenue.
"He's not 15," she was saying. "He's only 12 years old. He looks
older than he is and you would too if you were him.
"I knew his mother. She was a junkie. She took that boy to day
care when he was about 3 months old and she never came back. Left him
there. I think she died in jail."
"Me, I'm lucky. I know I'm going to die, probably fairly
soon. But I've had time to pray and talk to my children about death and
about life too. About how wonderful life can be if you don't give up, if
you can get yourself an education and if you have people around who love
you."
"My children go to school every day. They work hard and they love
one another and they respect their mother. That's a lot. That's something
God gave me."
In the paper the other morning, there was an obituary for a
young man named Kevin O'Neil who was claimed by cancer at age 20. He was
from Hingham, Mass., went to BC High and on to Harvard where he studied
while struggling with his illness. When he was dying in the hospital,
O'Neil tutored other children on the ward. Give back instead of giving up.
All around us, there are these amazing people who live and raise
families under the weight of tremendous odds. Each day, they inspire with
their selfless gifts.
These are the heroes, who ought to be held up as role models to so
many of the young who are never taught that there is a right and a wrong.
Why would we ever waste our time on a sad, selfish athlete when there are
such champions right in front of us?
Mike Barnicle is an associate
editor of the Boston Globe.
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\ / \ /
I had a seat in the very first row +-------------+
I heard it all on my radio | 0 -(....) 0 | uunet!jack!jsb
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Maybe hero creation is our problem. Re: Magic is no Hero
Author: stephen
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 04:07
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 04:07
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In article <1992Oct4.202705.1254@jack.sns.com> jsb@jack.sns.com (Jim Best) writes: >Sent to me by a friend for posting. > >By Mike Barnicle; > > This is how it works now in America: > You get a big, famous millionaire athlete who apparently is so >stupid, selfish or both that he cannot control his sexual appetite and when >be becomes HIV-positive, practically the whole country collapse in tears, >puts him on a pedestal and turns him into an idol. Now I would say that this has been the way for decades.. maybe we are just waking up to the fact that we as a society create our heros from the myths that make up what we are striving to become. Money, fame in such things as sports, have become incredibly distorted, to the point where all we promote in everyday life.. are just these values. Look at TV and marketers for products who have rested the conditions of making money on our 'physical' warriors. > Wednesday, there were long stories about Magic Johnson, who decided >to come out of retirement in order to play basketball again with the Los >Angeles Lakers, Good for him and good luck too because this is who he is: >tremendous ballplayer. Yes- there are childern/teenagers in the same thing- let's take ourselves out of worshiping sports heros and try looking at the people who reallyt make the differences, and giving them the recognition they deserve. Let's face it, sports has only one function ( it the sense of commerical sports) to make money. > It's the other aspect of the tale that is tragic. Johnson is a >college graduate with great physical and financial resources who must have >been the only man alive unaware of the fact that you might get AIDS if you >go around having sex with a couple hundred different people in various >cities. No he is not the only one. People in general think they are safe becuase they are not 'gay' or drug users. Well everyday now we see that this is not true. Anyone and everyone can contract the condition of AIDS. > Here we have a guy who put his wife at risk of infection as well as >his baby. Yet instead of being labeled a moron, he is called a hero. All within the mythos that he has been taught. It is a matter of blaming himn correctly. That is he should have 'thought' about what he was doing. but some of the most intelligent people still do , what we would consider 'dumb' things. > * * * > The very word, hero has been so cheapened and demeaned over the >past few years that I guess we should not be surprised. Still, it is kind >of incredible that anyone in their right mind would place such a label on >someone of proven bizarre conduct. > Part of the reason could be that we are told over and over lately >that we must not be judgmental. In other words, there is no such thing as >right and wrong, moral or immoral, crazy or sane. To make any judgment >about someone or something is to risk being slapped with one or another >of the politically correct code words employed to further neuter our >society. We have to see if the concept of hero has merit anymore... at least in terms of the type of myths that we project and perpetuate. You have to be careful about what you mean by 'judgemental'. This can take on all types of subjective overtones. Magic Johnson was living his myth to the fullest, and he was exercising his 'rights' as some people would tell you. Watch very carefully about what you say in this sense. IF you want to change things.... then stop supporting in a peaceful manner any form of business that has no more purpose than making money for themselves. [deleted story - not saying it isn't important] We must look at our society as a whole and look at what we do in it. Cancer is an interesting area- they are many scientist who put forth the idea that many types of our cancers have been induced by what we do in our industrial world. The corporate world tends to maintain the position (some scientist also) that the risk is worth it. The teaching of right an wrong is a myth, since in the end it lies in whatever we decide what is right and wrong. We need to give our childern the education that prepares them to think and evaluate, not mimic and copy. That is what we do today, so if you want your childern to start off on a better road, teach them to think and weigh the ideas and concepts of others, not simply repeat what some other people think is the correct way. [deleted some more stuff]
Re: Maybe hero creation is our problem. Re: Magic is no Hero
Author: Clayton Cramer
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 23:51
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 23:51
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In article <1aof1bINNenk@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>, stephen@orchid.UCSC.EDU writes:
> In article <1992Oct4.202705.1254@jack.sns.com> jsb@jack.sns.com (Jim Best) writes:
> >Sent to me by a friend for posting.
> >
> >By Mike Barnicle;
> > It's the other aspect of the tale that is tragic. Johnson is a
> >college graduate with great physical and financial resources who must have
> >been the only man alive unaware of the fact that you might get AIDS if you
> >go around having sex with a couple hundred different people in various
> >cities.
>
> No he is not the only one. People in general think they are safe becuase
> they are not 'gay' or drug users. Well everyday now we see that this is
> not true. Anyone and everyone can contract the condition of AIDS.
Yes, "anyone and everyone" CAN contract AIDS, but only in the sense
that "anyone and everyone" CAN get killed by lightning -- but people
that play tennis with aluminum rackets in electrical storms are
at substantially greater risk than those people that move indoors
when the lightning starts.
Most people have enough sense, or morals, to not engage in casual
sex with hundreds of different partners, and to not abuse IV drugs.
Magic Johnson is that relatively rare phenomenon, a straight person
as promiscuous as the average homosexual, and it is not surprising
that he got AIDS.
Yes, there are people who do everything right, and get AIDS. Infected
by sloppy homosexual dentists, or a blood transfusion (and the blood
supply still cares about 1:60,000 risk per unit of blood of causing
AIDS). There are women out there with the misfortune to marry
someone like Magic Johnson, and suffer the consequences. But those
are quite exceptional in America.
> > Here we have a guy who put his wife at risk of infection as well as
> >his baby. Yet instead of being labeled a moron, he is called a hero.
>
> All within the mythos that he has been taught. It is a matter of blaming
WHAT mythos? You mean the liberal notion: "If it feels good, do it?"
--
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer My opinions, all mine!
Lesson learned from Gov. Wilson's signing of AB 2601: if you don't get
your way, have a riot. Next time, Gov. Wilson will cower appropriately.
Re: Maybe hero creation is our problem. Re: Magic is no Hero
Author: stephen
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1992 21:45
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1992 21:45
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In article <12641@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
>In article <1aof1bINNenk@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>, stephen@orchid.UCSC.EDU writes:
>> In article <1992Oct4.202705.1254@jack.sns.com> jsb@jack.sns.com (Jim Best) writes:
>> >
>> No he is not the only one. People in general think they are safe becuase
>> they are not 'gay' or drug users. Well everyday now we see that this is
>> not true. Anyone and everyone can contract the condition of AIDS.
>
>Most people have enough sense, or morals, to not engage in casual
>sex with hundreds of different partners, and to not abuse IV drugs.
>Magic Johnson is that relatively rare phenomenon, a straight person
>as promiscuous as the average homosexual, and it is not surprising
>that he got AIDS.
This is an incorrect statement that only continues to perpetuate a
general view of a class of people. It is useless and does not advance
any positive or supportive ideas.
>
>Yes, there are people who do everything right, and get AIDS. Infected
>by sloppy homosexual dentists, or a blood transfusion (and the blood
>supply still cares about 1:60,000 risk per unit of blood of causing
I have read several different values for the ratio of risk. It is probably
difficult to come up with a 'certain' or concrete value. Your world is
filled with risks, and I do not know what various ratios for different
risks. But you could be killed today in an auto accident, or shot by
someone, or fall down a flight of stairs.
>AIDS). There are women out there with the misfortune to marry
>someone like Magic Johnson, and suffer the consequences. But those
>are quite exceptional in America.
>
The drift of your argument seems twofold; homosexuals as blame targets
and others who act like homosexuals, when it comes to sexual activity.
Again these are, at best, shaky arguments. You have presented arguments
and citations that still do not give you a solid foundation on which to
attack particular groups.
>> > Here we have a guy who put his wife at risk of infection as well as
>> >his baby. Yet instead of being labeled a moron, he is called a hero.
>>
>> All within the mythos that he has been taught. It is a matter of blaming
>
>WHAT mythos? You mean the liberal notion: "If it feels good, do it?"
The mythos that you and I live under- freedom, liberty, the pursuit of
our own interest, etc. I am not interested in hearing about 'liberal' this
and 'liberal' that, or 'conservative' notions either. We will lose the
battle against many things, if all we really want to do is pin the blame
on someone or some group. Scapegoating is an old and tired method of
problem solving.
It is ashame that people cannot exceed themselves and start talking in
terms of what can be done and how can I be part of the solution, instead
of a finger pointer or a name caller.
>
>--
>Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer My opinions, all mine!
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