What is Heroism? USA Today Tells Us

Not enough "injustice" to be described as heroic

What is a hero? We ask this question after reading The USA Today and learning that orchestras across the nation are in danger of shuttering their symphony halls. Whoops, that wasn't the article we meant to talk about, though the discussion of the racial breakdown of the dwindling audiences wasn't mentioned in that piece. Perhaps a reason for the declining revenue... never mind.

The article we meant to discuss is this one, where we learn that Black people and Hispanics are twice as likely as white people to have performed heroic deeds:

New research would seem to support President Obama's observation Wednesday night in Tucson that "heroism is here, all around us."


Philip Zimbardo, a Stanford University professor emeritus and colleagues used a nationally-representative sample of 4,000 adults and found that 20% qualified as heroes — they had helped during a dangerous emergency, taken a stand against injustice, or sacrificed for a stranger.

"Heroes are ordinary people," says Zimbardo, of San Francisco. "You become a hero by doing an extraordinary deed."

In the study, both blacks and Hispanics were twice as likely as whites to have performed heroic deeds. Zimbardo says they want to do follow-up research on the reasons for the racial/ethnic differences, which he speculates could be attributed to "greater opportunities to respond" or "being discriminated against makes them have more compassion to others in need."


The study, supported by the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford, asked participants "Have you ever done something that other people — not necessarily you yourself — considered a heroic act or deed?" Those who answered "yes" selected from a list the actions most similar to their own: helping another person in a dangerous emergency; "blowing the whistle" on an injustice with awareness of the personal risk or threat to yourself; sacrifice on behalf of a non-relative or stranger, such as an organ donation; defying unjust authority; or other.


Among the 20% who met the survey definition, 55% had helped someone during an emergency, 8% confronted an injustice, 14% had defied unjust authority and 5% had sacrificed for a stranger.

The 21st century is still a land of extreme prejudice and injustice, where a Department of Justice actively discriminates against one group and fire departments across the nation discriminate against that same group because of their propensity to pass tests that Black people fail to perform satisfactorily upon.

Confronted an injustice? Defied an unjust authority? The authority and justice in Black Run America (BRA) is administered by Disingenuous White Liberals (DWLs) bent on perpetuating the myth of eternal white racism holding back Black people from becoming the next NASA scientist.

DWLs profit mightily off of this myth, maintaining hegemony over the hated and despised rabble they deem untouchable whites. Only white racism can blamed for poor credit scores, test scores, and lack of qualified Black job applicants in, well, name your vocation.

We know that DWLs run this country and preside over the editorial board of every newspaper, network and cable television channel, and university, this study on heroism make perfect sense. The never ending battle to confront injustice and deify authority must be waged in earnest to supply DWLs with heroic images of Black people participating in a struggle - long ago won - to defeat rampant racism, omnipresent and persistent that keeps Black people under the heel of whites.

Let's stop for a moment and imagine a world where the rules governing BRA didn't dictate every inane study published by USA Today and other media outlets. Why don't we look at who is actually volunteering out of the goodness of their own heart? Remember, we have done an entry on volunteering and on those who give blood and donate organs.

What about the United States military? Who is doing the fighting and dying?

Who exactly joins Teach for America and tries to educate inner-city students, all the while Waiting for Superman? Who are the teachers who strive to educate those who seem impossible of education (they do a good job for whites and Asians)?

Who are the social workers who help those in need? We'll give you a hint:

A majority (87%) of regular members list their racial/ethnic origin as “White/Caucasian,” and 5% selected “African American/Black.” The remainder of members fall into other racial/ethnic categories.

Who joins the Peace Corps? Who are the primary people going into impoverished areas and building Habitat for Humanity homes? Who is it that cares for the environment and then bemoans the fact that diversity isn't noticeable in their ranks?

What group of people fight littering, work to create a culture of recycling as a major priority and strive to implement green policies that would benefit future generations who will be increasingly brown?

Who cares for animals, treats them with dignity and provides habitats for these creatures to flourish?

Who works in the national park system? Who works to cure disease and enrich our understanding of biology, genetics and infection so that plagues can be stopped before they spread?

Who volunteers and donates to food banks? And this is called a white privilege.

Who fights fires because one group of people continually fail tests in every city where fire departments require written exams to gauge the aptitude of their applicants? Why are the standards being lowered on these tests and who does this benefit?

What group of people in America go out of their way to adopt the unwanted children of a certain racial group, the majority of whom treat their children as unwanted detritus or just have them aborted?

Athletes aren't heroes, they are paid to play children's games that adults with widening bellies treat as Gods. Some do open charities and work to improve the city that is written across their jersey, but most go bankrupt pursuing more interesting endeavors while making it rain.

USA Today has no problem publishing a study on heroism, though the facts are hardly on the side of the only virtuous people in people in the eyes of that newspaper, academia and those who control and guide BRA.

People need heroes, those who strive to promote good and better the lives of those around them. USA Today has a much different view of hero then the real world, but it makes perfect sense when you understand how the DWL thinks and how BRA works.

This week Stuff Black People Don't Like encourages all readers to go out of their way to donate food to a food bank; any unworn clothes to the Salvation Army; perhaps volunteer at a nursing home, church or community center; assist a neighbor with their yard work or shoveling snow; or visit a hospital or animal shelter.

Read to your children and spend time with them; be their hero (this goes for all readers, Black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Indian). Call a brother, a sister, a father or mother, maybe that friend you haven't spoken to in ages. Make a surprise visit to your grandparents and you'll see immediately who is their hero.
It is acts of unrewarded kindness and altruistic sacrifices that are truly heroic not what USA Today tells us, which borders on the moronic.