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version seven. http://demongin.org |
The Brinksman's Valediction
One theory on the proliferation of cowardice and pride.
Friday, 2008-10-10 | Philosophy
| Banzai! |
Few would dispute that hand-wringing, equivocating cowards proliferate increasingly shamelessly and that vainglorious braggarts ride higher in the saddle in Real Life than they would ever be permitted if the ethics and mores of Real Life were closer to those of Shane Black movies.
My theory as to why this is the case is not that these action movie ethics are unattainable or unpopular. On the contrary: I would argue that the moral values and rules that leap from between the lines on the scripts of the blockbuster films of the 80's and early 90's, with their notorious emphasis on excessive (rather than mimetic) revenge, looking cool and possessing combat skills, are moral values and rules that most people aspire to embody.
No, it's not that these ethics are unpopular. The reason that we see so few people attempting to actually live according to these principles of right and wrong is a lack of education.
Take the cliche popularly known as the Brinksman's Last Words: "no guts, no glory". It is my contention that most people don't have good working definitions of "guts" or of "glory".
Guts: fortitude, determination and courage. Glory: exaltation, fame and greatness. Fine.
But the synonyms I've listed aren't what flash through the minds of most of the cowards and braggarts who frequently find themselves saying or thinking that famous phrase.
No, "guts" and "glory" are the usually the last things on the minds of people uttering that once great phrase. Rather, what flashes through the minds and hearts of these people is something more like a commercial for Gatorade.
Basically, that old cliche--the one that has sent countless heroes to their untimely deaths--has come to be synonymous in the minds of most of the people currently bandying it about with some inane anecdote about an uncommonly dramatic performance by an athlete participating in a competitive sport (either for pay or for personal satisfaction). And that is why the phrase is meaningless.
Competitive athletics is to guts and glory as Oklahoma is to Beijing: they are antipodes.
