Kalimat al-Mutafalsif

Well, last night I saw a news story that got me really fired up. I wrote a rather lengthy post about it, saved the draft, and went to sleep. I'm glad I did. I got up today thinking a bit more rationally, and trying to determine the purpose of this blog. So far I've used it to talk (rant) about various tech decisions and products, gaming I do, and things I've done. I've tried my best to keep religion and politics out of it, for those are two subjects that tend to tear societies apart. My post last night would have infringed a little on those, but it was more of a semantics argument that I feel would be out of place on this website, which I'm trying to keep moderate. I did, however, decide that, due to the hacker nature I lean towards, posing it as questions would be a lot more helpful. I won't tell you my answers, but these are things you should think about, as the term is used a lot in today's American culture.

What makes a "hero"?
Does dieing for any reason make one a "hero"?
Are you automatically a "hero" if your job puts you in harms way?
Can you be a "hero" when not in any danger?
If you know what your job requires, and you accept it, are you a "hero"?
Does telling someone you can't do anything make one a "hero"?

I found that these are good questions to muse on, and also that the answer is not black and white. What I consider a "hero" can be radically different from how you define it. I've always had a problem seeing things in black and white, ones and zeroes, which has actually caused some problems for me. So, I end this post urging you to think about everything around you. Don't accept what you hear in the media, from the government, from your peers, but only what you accept for yourself. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I'm not trying to say the government's trying to keep the people down, what I'm saying is everything you hear is coming from another person's perspective, question it before accepting it.