Care to speculate about who'd detonate pressure cookers filled with explosives, nails and shards of metal in a crowd of people? By so doing, these villains killed at least three innocent bystanders, wounded 170 more-- some of whom lost limbs—and terrorized countless others. President Barack Obama said officials don't know "whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual." Whoever the villain(s), he or they … [Read more...]
Lance Armstrong, a Sociopath? Or a Psychopath on the order of O.J and maybe Oscar Pistorius?
Nothing new about a hero falling from grace and joining the ranks of the villainous or foolish. This site includes pictures of Babe Ruth, General Patton, and Charlie Chaplin who travelled this path in the eyes of many. The infractions of these three, besides a kind of un-American personal arrogance, included, respectively, abusing a wife, slapping a soldier, and engaging in controversial relationships and politics. What bothers many people about … [Read more...]
Heroes on the Front Lines in the Classroom–Violence in Taft & Newtown
Less than a month after a disturbed 20 year-old gunman killed 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut, authorities hailed California science teacher Ryan Heber and campus supervisor Kim Fields as heroes for talking a 16-year-old shooter into putting down his shotgun. The school personnel thus averted further carnage at Taft High School 30 miles southwest of Bakersfield, California where the shooter with a hit list had opened fire and critically wounded a student he … [Read more...]
Heroes, Villains and Fools: Mixes and Archetypes
Are any of the iconic figures in the slide show to the left a mixture of heroic, villainous and foolish? (Pause the show with your cursor or finger. If you can't figure out who's who, go to the PROMOTIONS page for the answers. In my opinion some of the icons in the slide show--and many who are not included in the show--are a mix. Why would this be? Well, many icons have been 'debunked' in modern life by journalists, biographers, and people “in the know.” For example, former hero and … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]