The Banality of Heroism

[HoreTore]

Which completely misses the point of heroics - as others have shown.

Why would you even think heroism could be banal?

This thread has a lot of good responses from a number of people who are not ideologically blinded.

How much are you worth HoreTore?

About 50 bucks an hour according to my employer.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

This thread has a lot of good responses from a number of people who are not ideologically blinded.

None of them agree with you.

[HoreTore]

None of them agree with you.

Since I haven't offered any opinions at all, it would be weird for anyone to "agree".

[Hooahguy]

Since I haven't offered any opinions at all, it would be weird for anyone to "agree".

You imply that you are of the opinion that heroism is on more of the banal side of things.

[The Stranger]

he did not really imply, he was merely posing a hypothetical.

[Kralizec]

Because I was thinking about Hannah Aarendt in the shower

Whatever makes you happy

As for your original question, now that I think about it, I guess there's something to say for the position that most human individuals are capable of both doing great evil or good deeds, depending on their situation and their state of mind.

I imagine that some heroic deeds were done in the heat of the moment, and the person doing it might not have done the heroic thing if he had time to ponder his actions. And also the other way around - people who are naturally cautious and timid, but with strong willpower, might be able to sacrifce themselves after making a conscious decision.

I'm not sure if it's plausible that someone would by his own initiative sacrifice himself because he thought it was expected of him as opposed to genuine altruism. I wouldn't rule it out.

Heroic deeds are still admirable even if you take a down-to-earth approach and examine the reasons and motivations, of course.