“The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the celebrity by his image or trademark. The hero created himself; the celebrity is created by the media. The hero was a big man; the celebrity is a big name. Celebrity-worship and hero-worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so we come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models. We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety… The celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness… In our world of big names our true heroes tend to be anonymous. In this life of illusion and quasi-illusion, the person of solid virtues who can be admired for something more substantial than his well-knownness often proves to be the unsung hero: the teacher, the nurse, the mother, the honest cop, the hard worker at lonely, underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs.” – Daniel Boorstin, from ‘The Image.” It’s worth recalling, as we absorb the pictures of Abu Ghraib, that one soldier stood up to it: Spc. Joe Darby. Like Pat Tillman, quiet but inspiring.
KERRY-McCAIN?: After Abu Ghraib, it’s an obvious thought. It may be unlikely but it just became more likely – and desirable. I explain why in TNR.
YOUR TURN: A blog is an ongoing conversation, not a series of final statements. My attempt to grapple with what has been going on in Iraq in real time is just that: an attempt. And the beauty of a blog like this is that readers can and should be part of the debate. What follows is simply a series of the most thoughtful emails – on all sides – that I received in response to my posts of yesterday. The truth is somewhere in this conversation. I should reiterate that in no way am I arguing for relenting in the effort to liberate Iraq and bring democracy to that country. My point yesterday was that, in the wake of Abu Ghraib, we have a duty to work even harder to achieve that and to support the amazing work that so many American and coalition soldiers are doing. But we have to be accountable to ourselves and to our ideals. We cannot dismiss, as president Bush did yesterday, the gravity of the events by refusing to hold anyone in his administration accountable. Finding a way to win this war while keeping our leaders answerable for their failings is what a democracy does. That’s what makes our wars worth fighting and worth winning.
