Sci-fi heroes are Iain M Banks, Philip K Dick, Robert Sheckley, Kurt Vonnegut Jnr, Isaac Asimov and Margaret Atwood.
Heroes – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – letter from a nine year old.
They played their hearts out. They stepped forward to take a penalty kick when other more experienced players held back. They were brave.
They certainly did not deserve the racial abuse served up by repugnant racist imbeciles!
They certainly don’t need a Prime Minister stirring up racism and division for his own ends.
My Favourite Heroes.
My ten favourite heroes! – This one made me think a lot! It could go a number of ways!
Posted on February 13, 2015 by Opher
Every man needs a hero to inspire him to do wonderful things and try to be a better person. Here are some of mine:
a. Woody Guthrie.
This was a man who was prepared to stand up for what he believed in – justice, equality and freedom. He was prepared to be there on the picket lines and take the blows. He wanted a strong union to fight for fairness of pay and conditions. He believed you fought fascism by educating people.
b. Charles Darwin
As a Biologist he looked around the world at the variety of life and realised that the religious explanation did not hold true. He used his intellect to work out what was really happening and painstakingly set out researching to test his theory. When he was sure he published despite the furore it caused for him. He set us on the road to freedom from religious oppression.
c. Martin Luther King
He believed all races were equal and died for his beliefs. He marched in the face of violence and death threats. He stood up to the racists and used his words as bullets. They took his life but he proved he was the better man.
d. Jane Goodall
Jane has spent her life working with Chimps and championing their rights. She has been tireless and faced hardships and threats. Thank heavens someone is prepared to speak out and stand up for them. They are being butchered!
e. Jack Kerouac
Jack was, like most of us, an extremely complicated and muddled man who fought his demons of alcohol and catholic indoctrination. On the Road is a book that changed the world. There had never been anything like it before. In writing it he questioned the whole premise of the establishment whose mantra was – work hard, buy and own. He suggested that experience, quest, kicks and sex might be more rewarding. I forgive his misogyny. Nobody’s perfect.
f. Emily Pankhurst
How could you not admire a woman who was prepared to go to prison and be force-fed, who stood up and spoke the truth, who fought for equality and democracy? She organised and fought for women’s rights! She took on the whole establishment and won!
g. Bob Dylan
Without Dylan I do not believe we would have the liberal society we now enjoy. In the early sixties he stood up and sang his songs about civil rights, freedom, anti-war and justice and raised the sensibilities of a whole generation.
h. Mahatma Ghandi
Ghandi was the soul of India. He showed that if you had a just cause you could stand up against authority and use Non-violent Direct Action to defeat them. Nothing has ever been the same. I think partition broke his heart.
I. Ann Frank
Via those diaries Ann showed the resolution and defiance that destroyed Nazi philosophy.
j. Roy Harper
When I first heard Roy sing and speak I felt it was like looking in a mirror. He was putting in words the feelings and thoughts that what buzzing round my head and letting me examine them more closely.
k. Ken Saro-Wiwa
Ken was a writer, poet and environmentalist who stood up against the Nigerian government and exposed their corruption. They were despoiling the environment, selling land to the oil companies without restriction. He campaigned and was threatened. He carried on. They hung him with piano wire.
l. Rachel Carson
She wrote Silent Spring and started the whole environmental movement.
m. David McTaggart
One of the founders of Greenpeace. He used Non-violent Direct Action to fight for the environment. He sailed his little boat around a nuclear bomb holding up a French atmospheric test the like of which was causing huge pollution. He put his life at risk. They rammed him, beat him up and he went back and did it again.
My heroes are men and women who fought for peace, justice, the environment, freedom and equality. They inspire me to do the same in my own little way.
I’d have another list tomorrow!
My ten favourite heroes! – This one made me think a lot! It could go a number of ways!
Every man needs a hero to inspire him to do wonderful things and try to be a better person. Here are some of mine:
a. Woody Guthrie.
This was a man who was prepared to stand up for what he believed in – justice, equality and freedom. He was prepared to be there on the picket lines and take the blows. He wanted a strong union to fight for fairness of pay and conditions. He believed you fought fascism by educating people.
b. Charles Darwin
As a Biologist he looked around the world at the variety of life and realised that the religious explanation did not hold true. He used his intellect to work out what was really happening and painstakingly set out researching to test his theory. When he was sure he published despite the furore it caused for him. He set us on the road to freedom from religious oppression.
c. Martin Luther King
He believed all races were equal and died for his beliefs. He marched in the face of violence and death threats. He stood up to the racists and used his words as bullets. They took his life but he proved he was the better man.
d. Jane Goodall
Jane has spent her life working with Chimps and championing their rights. She has been tireless and faced hardships and threats. Thank heavens someone is prepared to speak out and stand up for them. They are being butchered!
e. Jack Kerouac
Jack was, like most of us, an extremely complicated and muddled man who fought his demons of alcohol and catholic indoctrination. On the Road is a book that changed the world. There had never been anything like it before. In writing it he questioned the whole premise of the establishment whose mantra was – work hard, buy and own. He suggested that experience, quest, kicks and sex might be more rewarding. I forgive his misogyny. Nobody’s perfect.
f. Emily Pankhurst
How could you not admire a woman who was prepared to go to prison and be force-fed, who stood up and spoke the truth, who fought for equality and democracy? She organised and fought for women’s rights! She took on the whole establishment and won!
g. Bob Dylan
Without Dylan I do not believe we would have the liberal society we now enjoy. In the early sixties he stood up and sang his songs about civil rights, freedom, anti-war and justice and raised the sensibilities of a whole generation.
h. Mahatma Ghandi
Ghandi was the soul of India. He showed that if you had a just cause you could stand up against authority and use Non-violent Direct Action to defeat them. Nothing has ever been the same. I think partition broke his heart.
I. Ann Frank
Via those diaries Ann showed the resolution and defiance that destroyed Nazi philosophy.
j. Roy Harper
When I first heard Roy sing and speak I felt it was like looking in a mirror. He was putting in words the feelings and thoughts that what buzzing round my head and letting me examine them more closely.
k. Ken Saro-Wiwa
Ken was a writer, poet and environmentalist who stood up against the Nigerian government and exposed their corruption. They were despoiling the environment, selling land to the oil companies without restriction. He campaigned and was threatened. He carried on. They hung him with piano wire.
l. Rachel Carson
She wrote Silent Spring and started the whole environmental movement.
m. David McTaggart
One of the founders of Greenpeace. He used Non-violent Direct Action to fight for the environment. He sailed his little boat around a nuclear bomb holding up a French atmospheric test the like of which was causing huge pollution. He put his life at risk. They rammed him, beat him up and he went back and did it again.
My heroes are men and women who fought for peace, justice, the environment, freedom and equality. They inspire me to do the same in my own little way.
I’d have another list tomorrow!
Red poppies – no remembrance of heroes!
I am a pacifist. I do not believe that war is the answer to anything.
War merely creates death, fury and revenge.
It destroys, kills innocents and terrorises.
War is a political tool deployed to gain power.
I believe violence creates more violence.
No matter how good it may make you feel to hit out and hurt someone there is always a better way. It may take longer but the end result is always better.
I do not like the ‘Red Poppy’ – it has become an institution. Insincere politicians pay lip service, jingoistic politics rules and nationalism and patriotism are stirred in a torrid mix.
The red poppy was adopted as a reminder of the agonies of war, the brutality, dehumanising nature and industrial slaughter; to remind ourselves of its futility, stupidity and waste so that we might never make the same horrendous mistakes again. It appears to have become almost a glorification of heroes.
There is nothing glorious or heroic about war.
War is an obscenity.
When a bullet hits a person it wounds both the firer and the recipient. It makes monsters out of humans.
Our soldiers often do horrible things in terrible situations. They are often brave and courageous but mostly they are ordinary people following orders for dubious reasons.
Soldiers are the tools of politicians. These are the same politicians who sanctimoniously parade at the cenotaph and pay lip service to the truth of conflict.
Let us remember the blown off limbs, damaged brains, corrupted lungs, shattered minds, corrupted morals and make sure it never happens again!
Perhaps the white poppy is more fitting!