Heroes and myths are pretty much constants in human societies. These stories we tell ourselves to tell us who we are vary wildly across time and space, of course, but every culture has them. Sometimes the myths are pure invention, based on magic and the supernatural; sometimes they are idealized versions of history. But something all these myths do is impart messages about not just history, but what the people in that culture are supposed to be like. The United States is no different in this regard, though as a young nation our heroes and myths are generally more “reality based.” Our history does not stretch back into the dim, unknowable mists of antiquity, but instead just a few centuries. So we have the Founding Fathers and Davy Crockett and General Patton and Chris Columbus and the Wright Brothers and Honest Abe and such forth. We have sort of secondary mythical heroes in the form of Batman and Superman and Han Solo and the Lone Ranger and cowboys and the like as well.
Except…
In the last few generations there has been a concerted effort to not only remake our heroes and myths, but to destroy them. Columbus is now a genocidal villain. The Founding Fathers are now a bunch of slaveowning hypocrites. The video below shows what has become of our more mythical heroes in recent years:
The long-standing general hero stereotype of the strong man who fights for right against overwhelming odds and ends up being recognized as, indeed, a Hero seems to be changing into a stereotype of a guy who is basically a sucker who knowingly or unknowingly serves the interests of The Man and ends up ground under the wheel… of the hero is just a disillusioned cynic who lives a life of misery. The goal – if one assumes there is any such thing here as an intended goal – certainly seems to be to *destroy* the heroes and myths that helped make America into a powerful and confident nation and replace them with either nothing at all, or with heroes who are weak, emasculated proponents of “progressive” ideologies.
I am a fan of Cold Hard Facts. And facts often stand in contradiction to deeply held beliefs, even beliefs about historical heroes. Yes, many of the Founders were slave owners. Yes, many of them were hypocritical in holding onto slaves while going on about Freedom and Liberty. But it seems to me that focusing on those issues, important as they were, trashes the social utility of the myth. And the thing is… societies seem to *need* their myths to hold together. What happens to a society when their myths are simply erased? I dunno, but I suspect it would result in something like what we’re seeing: the nation is fragmenting into identity groups… feminists vs. men, blacks vs. whites. Muslims vs. “Islamophobes,” left vs.right, etc., etc. If we cannot agreed on who we are and who we were and who we want to be, then we are no longer in this together.
