Yes, Jack Bauer is a fictional character. But what is the purpose of our modern day tales and legends if not moral instruction? Don't we invent heroes because we wish to emulate them in some way, because their exaggerated traits are our ideal? We don't watch 24 because we want Jack to wimp out and take the easy way to appease the enemy; we watch it because we want our inner heroes to strive to measure up to our fictional heroes.

I wrote this a year and a half ago, and I still firmly believe it:

I'm also convinced that Flight 93 would've crashed into the White House or whatever its destination if the passengers on board hadn't been raised on good old fashioned Hollywood movies. If these men and women had never seen Passenger 57 or Air Force One, they might never have thought that they could've overpower the hijackers. One of the men on board even had a Superman tatoo; they were steeped in American culture and taught from day one that they can do anything they put their minds to. I honestly believe this is what brought Flight 93 down in a field instead of in D.C., and I'm ever grateful for the bravery those passengers showed.

But would they have had the guts to do it if they hadn't seen Wesley Snipes do it first?

I'm well aware that life isn't a movie and we don't always get a happy ending. But Fabrizio Quattrocchi had a fiancee and family too, and he still had the courage to defy the enemy. I'm saying I hope I'd do the same. You don't have to agree with me, but don't insult my intelligence by reducing my very serious and heartfelt post into pretending I don't understand the difference between TV death and real death.

Posted by: Sarah at 12:49 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 311 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Look up from your comic book and realize that reality must be granted at least a little creadence.

Posted by: Jimdennis at September 04, 2006 12:57 PM (+TF9w)

2 Youcan keep thinking that, but in my heart I know the government would have authorized the shooting down of this airliner. There were already F-15's and F-16's scrambled and armed. This plane would not have made it another 100 miles, and since they crashed about 150 miles from DC I think you are to put it mildly delusional.

Posted by: BubbaBoBobBrain, at September 04, 2006 01:00 PM (8ruhu)

3 I wonder about the motivations of people who post comments like the two above. Isn't the purpose of political dialogue to try and change people's minds? Could anyone think that a comment like "look up from your comic book" would contribute to changing Sarah's thinking, or the thinking of any of those who visit here? So what's the point.

Posted by: david foster at September 04, 2006 01:35 PM (/Z304)

4 David Foster, You have me exactly sir. All appologies. Nobody changes anybody's mind.

Posted by: jimdennis at September 04, 2006 01:41 PM (wn3bo)

5 Well, "nobody" is too broad-brushed, but folks with winning personalities like yours and the lab mouse's aren't too convincing, jimdennis.

Posted by: Patrick Chester at September 04, 2006 01:55 PM (MKaa5)

6 Almost nobody then. Almost nobody changes almost anybody's mind.

Posted by: jimdennis at September 04, 2006 02:02 PM (wn3bo)

7 Silence... glad to see that I've prevailed in this struggle of the Titans... now,I'm going hooome!

Posted by: jimdennis at September 04, 2006 02:25 PM (Dix1f)

8 Oh look, a comment leech! Usually you can just burn those off with a match, they let go right off and fall to the ground. No need to worry about infection, this species simply has a head up the cloaca of the previous leech, creating a charming circle of regurgitated excrement that goes round and round, each one feeding themselves the same shit reflexively without hope of any new input. Pay it no mind.

Posted by: Deskmerc at September 04, 2006 03:04 PM (7efBj)

9 Screw you guyths.

Posted by: jimdennis at September 05, 2006 01:43 PM (vEWGl)

10 Sarah, you're right in one way, television and movies are todays fables. In earlier times these were the stories told round the fire. The brothers Grimm told tales (the real original hair raising tales - not the Disney pap) to make children stop and think about the consequences of their actions. What might happen if you do "this"? What might happen if someone you know does "that"? But I also think the American way of life has much to do with how Americans react and jump in to "do" instead of sitting back and accepting. On thinking about this, I wonder if you had a plane load of "welfare raised" people, would they have done anything at all or would they have been shouting into their cell phones that the government better get up there and save them... (and while it would be a stretch to imagine a plane full of welfare people - I do know most of them have cell phones) I hope I would be able to stand up for what I believe in if I was confronted by these people. I will never know unless I am confronted though - but I do think about it.

Posted by: Teresa at September 05, 2006 05:33 PM (o4pJS)

11 Wellfare-raised people have no spines. Only the wealthy have heart enough to lead this country to victory. If a hijacked plane reaches its target, it's the fault of the poor and their enablers - the liberals.

Posted by: Will at September 05, 2006 08:41 PM (H4u2c)

12 I find it funny that so many complain that there are no role models in current society and that children have so few to look up to. When Sarah chooses two people with admirable behavior (one real and one fictional) sheÂ’s slammed and told that her opinion that these models of human nature are just some sort of delusion she's created with her head stuck in the sand. Fictional or otherwise, behaviors as well as people can be looked upon as a source of encouragement and ones you would like to adopt for your own. Is there really something wrong with hoping that you would be as strong as Superman when standing up for the safety of your family? Or maybe as smart as another superhero in resolving something with your government? If it makes you act better, or hell take action at all then thereÂ’s nothing wrong with really wrong with a comic book character or TV or whatever.

Posted by: Household6 at September 06, 2006 07:14 AM (40zEu)

13 Yes, it's all good and whatever to look up to heroic archetypes. But just remember that facists tend to create mythological heroes and villains (scapegoats) in order to rally the people and realize their skewed visions. Mythology is an important for the fabric of any society. WIthout myth we are lost in a world without direction. But the danger lies in fusing the fantasy with reality - in creating 1 to 1 comparisons like Sarah has done with Baur and Snipes and the people who fell from the burning towers. Allegory is on a higher plane of philosophy. You can't shape it into current affairs because it is bigger than that. And that's important, or else petty liberals and conservatives would start claiming it for themselves, and that ultimately leads to genocide. I think that's what gets me so angry when politicians invoke religion. It's inappropriate of them to do so because they don't speak for everyone - not nearly everyone. So what gives them the right to speak on behalf of myth or speak on behalf of God.

Posted by: Will at September 06, 2006 01:47 PM (H4u2c)

14 Wow, Sarah. Congrats on attracting such wonderful people! OVER and OVER! I am amazed that the simple themes of your posts are drown by exhausting rhetoric! I, too, wonder if I would maintain myself and my beliefs!? It's a scary thing....

Posted by: Allicadem at September 06, 2006 03:36 PM (hozcp)

15 It's scary because no person of great character can have their beliefs swayed, and those who aren't great are afraid to admit that they could be better.

Posted by: Will at September 06, 2006 10:52 PM (H4u2c)

16 Hmm, so either Will was born a "great character" or he is afraid. Interesting. I'm going with "afraid" for Will, since he demonstrates repeatedly that he is not of great character. The reason the persons on the plane were heroes was because the terrorists shut off the locater once they entered the cockpit. Thus, the plane showed as any other plane on the screens of the air traffic controllers. If you look at the technology at the time that day, the planes could not be identified until all other planes had been grounded. "Let's roll." How can anyone be so jaded and small in spirit that they can't appreciate the actions of persons on that plane in the face of insurmountable odds? Your posters - Billybob, Will and others - are the types that skulk off the battlefield and return later to rob the corpses. And BRAG about how much brighter they are than those poor fools who fought for something other than their immediate family and cretinous existence. A pox on them.

Posted by: Oda Mae at September 08, 2006 03:03 AM (A+GMh)

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