I have occasion to post a certain speech from a certain movie, that being the anti-hero speech written by the great screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, and put into the mouth of James Garner in his role as the quintessentially American coward, Charlie Madison, in The Americanization of Emily.
In this speech, Charlie Madison is explaining to a mother who has lost her son and her husband in WWII, and who is trying to keep a positive mental attitude about the lost heroes, what heroism is really about:
"We shall never end wars, Mrs. Barham, by blaming it on ministers and generals or warmongering imperialists or all the other banal bogies. It’s the rest of us who build statues to those generals and name boulevards after those ministers; the rest of us who make heroes of our dead and shrines of our battlefields. We wear our widows’ weeds like nuns and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifices. My brother died at Anzio – an everyday soldier’s death, no special heroism involved. They buried what pieces they found of him. But my mother insists he died a brave death and pretends to be very proud."
Charlie goes on to explain that in spite of his mother's insistence of pride in her son's heroism, she is terrified because her youngest son wants to run off to be a "hero" now too.
As Charlie says: "It may be ministers and generals who blunder us into wars, but the least the rest of us can do is to resist honoring the institution."
There is a way in which every hero is fake, or a myth anyway. After all, even men sporting the Congressional Medal of Honor honorably, i.e. they actually earned it instead of pretending to, have it on the basis of a story, an "after action report" and a recommendation by one or a few people who may or may not have seen the events alleged to have occurred.
And the thing is, usually in war "hero" means exposing oneself to the imminent danger of getting killed by enemy fire, and preferably doing that in order to kill lots of the enemy.
The greatest American hero, Audie Murphy, was mainly honored for killing well over 200 human beings, close up and personal, not hidden away in a bomber or missile center. He undoubtedly had great courage, and a seething penchant for incredible violence, but does that make him a hero?
Well, it does to most people. After all, they made a movie out of his heroism, so it must be true, right?
And that brings us to the story of Jessica Lynch, whose heroism was at one point much promoted by the Pentagon and the American news media. Lynch's unit was ambushed in the initial invasion of Iraq by US forces, and she was wounded and taken prisoner by the Iraqis. About a week later, on April Fool's Day, Lynch was rescued by US Special Forces, and the whole ordeal (for Lynch) was packaged as a great heroic exploit.
Lynch was reported to have bravely gone down fighting at the initial battle, and then survived the treatment by Iraqi medical personnel until more American heroes rescued her from that horror.
At least that was the story the US military wanted people to believe.
It sounded better than the truth, which was that the American unit Lynch was serving with, got lost, got ambushed, got shot up badly, and Lynch never fired a shot, as her weapon jammed, and she was knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed. The Iraqi medical personnel seemingly treated her kindly, and they say shielded her from Iraqi military. Also, most troubling, there are allegations that the whole "rescue" was staged, since American forces knew in advance that Iraqi military had abandoned the area around the hospital, and that they faced no opposition.
Lynch was so bothered by what had happened, she wrote a book, telling the truth about what had happened and how she felt used by the US military's propaganda machine.
That machine of course has spewed so many lies during the Terror Wars, and during all wars, that it is amazing anybody pays any attention to anything it says about anything, including its alleged heroes.
Now, a week ago, the bloody massacre at Fort Hood took place, and once again, out of the carnage, some heroes had to be manufactured and pretty quickly.
Once again, a woman was chosen, a police officer, Kimberly Munley, who with her partner, Mark Todd, rushed into the building in which the killer, Major Hasan, was committing his version of jihad. Munley was shot by Hasan and went down, but reportedly kept firing and put the jihadist on the ground, and stopped the killing.
She has been proclaimed a hero. She was on Oprah. The Secretary of Defense visited her. The military was desperately trying to make another woman into a heroic killer—or shooter anyway. The Lynch thing hadn't worked out too well, so maybe the Munley thing would.
But, once again, their story seems to be unraveling. The military itself is still investigating the shooting, but it looks like they once again jumped the gun, so to speak, on who is the heroic shooter. While Munley's story was compelling, she had gone down with three bullet wounds, but continued to fire, people sort of forgot she had a partner, who wasn't wounded, who was also firing, and who had actually reported seeing Hasan buckle from his fire, and who was the one who approached Hasan when he was down, kicked away his weapon and handcuffed him.
People just kind of brushed Todd aside. Why?
Like Salon pointed out: "it's more interesting if "Mighty Mouse" saves the day".
Right, because apparently America, having seen a glut of stupid movies where tiny women beat up big men, wanted a diminutive mother to be the one who bitchslapped the Muslim nutcase.
And hey, that's fine, equal opportunity "heroes" all around.
At the end of The Americanization of Emily, Charlie Madison faces the absurd choice of playing along with the US military's plan to make a fake hero out of him, or to nobly tell the truth to the press and go to jail for deserting on the battlefield. At first he wants to do the right thing and go to jail. Then his girlfriend points out this would be totally heroic and violate his coward's code. He thus chooses to be a coward, and to play the hero.
Yesterday was of course the day everyone is supposed to "honor the institution", or those who perpetrate it. Originally, Veteran's Day commemorated the end of that ghastly monument to human idiocy, World War I, although they decided to let the day represent all the stupid military human tricks and be about all the wars and vets.
I just wonder how people will feel during the wars to come, when they start hanging medals around Predator Drones and their nuclear children. Will that satisfy your lust for blood as well as seeing Mighty Mouse be thanked for her mythic exploits, or Audie Murphy for his real ones?
One might think it wise to offer the advice: GROW UP!
But that is the problem. America has. Into a violent, hero-sucking toddler.
UPDATE
Now, Mark Todd himself, backed by a witness, is claiming he is the one who actually shot Major Hasan, and put a stop to the incident at Fort Hood.
(jk)
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