Sullivan - QUOTE FOR THE DAY: "The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the celebrity by his image or trademark. The hero created himself; the celebrity is created by the media. The hero was a big man; the celebrity is a big name. Celebrity-worship and hero-worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so we come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models.
We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety... The celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness... In our world of big names our true heroes tend to be anonymous. In this life of illusion and quasi-illusion, the person of solid virtues who can be admired for something more substantial than his well-knownness often proves to be the unsung hero: the teacher, the nurse, the mother, the honest cop, the hard worker at lonely, underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs."
- Daniel Boorstin, from 'The Image." It's worth recalling, as we absorb the pictures of Abu Ghraib, that one soldier stood up to it: Spc. Joe Darby. Like Pat Tillman, quiet but inspiring. |
