Profiles in Heroism: An Introduction

Recently there has been a rather strong negative push towards destroying figures whose values are at odds with the alleged values of modern society.  From historical figures that can no longer defend themselves to trying to ruin the lives of people based on lackluster evidence or mistakes that they have not done in years, there is a complete desire to bury anything that fails to appeal to modern sensibilities in a manner comparable to the Salem Witch trials.  Though there are MANY problems with this approach and mindset, one problem is that this mindset leaves behind a massive amount of destruction in its wake and creates nothing to replace it.

As is important to remember, evil is the absence of good while good itself is something to be actively pursued.  In order to do good, the focus must be on creating and doing things that are good, not merely destroying things that are bad.  The mindset of cancel culture is designed merely to destroy and not be something it hates, but it never actually creates anything.

For an example of this, look no further than the removal of Native American iconography from sports teams, marketing, etc.  Regardless of the appropriateness of these images and symbols, there have been no major plans to replace them with better representations of Native Americans.  As a result, there is even less presentation of Natives American in the public sphere than before people complained about the Washington Redskins or Leinenkugel's.  It has ironically whitewashed our culture more than that iconography ever did.

So in this case, I am going to try to remedy that.  I’m starting a new, irregular series on my blog where I will be discussing people I consider to be of prominence that our society should look up to and respect.  This will include historical figures, saints, and at times fictional characters that contain positive traits worth emulating.

It is my hope that by doing so, I can remind people the importance of history and what came before.  There are many great things in the past that deserve to be remembered and it can light the way towards how we should continue tomorrow.  In addition, this will actually create heroes as opposed to destroying them.  After all, what we create and leave behind can be enjoyed, but what we destroy merely ceases to exist.