毛泽东、戴安娜、姚明是一类人吗？

Heroes and Cultural Icons²
Gary Gashgarian

If you were asked to list ten American heroes and heroines, you would probably name some or all of the following: Gorge³ Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart, Susan B. Anthony, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Helen Keller, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Rosa Parks.

If next you were asked to list people who are generally admired by society, who somehow seem bigger than life, you might come up with an entirely⁴ different list. You might, in fact, name people who are celebrated⁵ for their wealth and glamour⁶ rather their achievements and moral strength of character.

And you would not be alone, because pollsters have found that people today do not choose political leaders who shape history for their “Most Admired” list, but rather movie and television celebrities⁷, fashion models, professional athletes, and even comic book and cartoon characters. In short media icons.

By definition, heroes and heroines are men and women distinguished⁸ by uncommon⁹ courage, achievements, and self-sacrifice made most for the benefit of others --- they are people against whom we measure others. They are men and women recognized for shaping our nation’s consciousness and development as well as the lives of those who admire them.

Yet some people say that ours is an age where true heroes and heroines are hard to come by, where the very ideal of heroism¹⁰ is something beyond us --- an artifact of the past. Some maintain that because the Cold War is over and because America is at peace our age is essentially¹¹ an unheroic one. Furthermore, the overall crime rate is down, poverty has been eased by a strong and growing economy, and advances continue to be made in medical science.

Consequently, bereft¹² of cultural heroes, we have latched¹³ onto cultural icons --- media superstars such as actors, actresses, sports celebrities, television personalities¹⁴, and people who are famous for being famous.

Cultural icons are harder to define, but we know them when we see them. They are people who manage to transcend¹⁵ celebrities, who are legendary¹⁶, who somehow manage to become mythic. In part, their lives have the quality of a story. For instance, the beautiful young Diana Spencer who at 19 married a prince, bore a king, renounced¹⁷ marriage and the throne, and died at the moment she found the true love. Good looks certainly help. So does a special indefinable charisma¹⁸, with the help of the media. But nothing becomes an icon more than a tragic¹⁹ and early death --- such as Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Princess Diana.