Why a website partly dedicated to Heroes, Villains and Fools?

 

 

 

 

 

My latest blog post is immediately below this one. Also, look to the right margin for lists of all recent blogs and archived ones. For collages of photos from Cleft Heart, click on Dec 2013 and Jan 2014 on the archive list.

Part of the rationale for this website is that many people in western societies are obsessed with celebrities who often act out the hero, villain or fool roles in their work–be it in entertainment, athletics, government, etc.–or in their real life. Since there seems to be a palpable yearning afoot to find icons representing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly Fools of our time, it’s worth examining why. We’ll try to figure out why—with your input and assistance—as time goes on. This website can also help all of us sort out our own attitudes towards iconic figures. It could be part of a values clarification process. Sometimes a certain icon is clearly heroic, villainous, or foolish to us, but others may vehemently disagree.  One person’s hero is often another’s villain or fool.

• Do you see Lady Gaga or Kim Kardashian as a heroine, villain or fool?

Age, gender and social class probably drive the answers to this question. Many oldsters likely don’t have a clue about these two…and probably  don’t know who Snooki is, either. There are benefits to being older.

• Do you consider President Obama to be a hero, villain or fool? What about the head of the National Rifle Association?

The answer probably depends on your party preference. We know from recent elections that Americans, at least, are pretty much polarized in how they regard political figures from different parties. However. in those cases where age, class, and party affiliation aren’t in play, this website can help us discover why we still don’t all agree on our heroes, villains and fools.

• How often is there a consensus on who’s a hero, villain or fool?

The amount of consensus or agreement  may have to do with, among other things,  whether we’re talking about athletes, politicians,  or Tinseltown celebrities.

• Do decisions about our heroes, villains and fools depend on the times we live in or on a need we may have as a collectivity  (e.g., for a Father Figure like Reagan, for a  Fuhrer leader like Hitler)?

Some people say the death of a key icon often triggers a mad scramble in a society to find a replacement to assure ourselves that our collective “story” has all the necessary characters. Hence, the rush to find another sex symbol after Marilyn Monroe died and more recently, Anna Nicole Smith.

• Look at the paintings of icons in the slide show to the left. Which do you feel  are heroes,  villains, and fools? If you don’t know some of the icons, see PROMOTIONS for all the slide show identities and my opinion of where each of them fall.

 Click here for Part Two of this blog post.

My latest book, PRIVILEGED KILLERS, is a true story about a half-dozen Dark Triad people in my everyday life - narcissists, manipulators, and psychopaths. Three of 'em murdered people, and one came after my wife and me. Print and e-book versions of this (and CLEFT HEART) available at Amazon and elsewhere online. Also at your local bookstore.