Who are your Heroes?

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My first job was being an usher in a (ghetto) movie theater, and I will never forget the day we got the reel of Robocop. My hairs stood up, as I realized that was an ART Film hiding inside of an action flick. It's director, Paul Verhoeven, later made Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, and yes Showgirls. He's been a personal hero for a long time.

a tentative List:

1. Paul Verhoeven, director
2. Philip Dick, Sci-Fi author
3. Ken Anger, avante-garde director, tabloid author, and raconteur
4. Oscar Wilde, subversive wit
5. Darryl Strawberry, graceful depraved athlete

What about you guys? Do you have any personal heroes, people whose neat accomplishments and/or career trajectories speak to y'all in a personal way? Were they on the spectrum?

Last edited by Romofan on 19 Aug 2020, 5:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.

A big one for me was Dawud Wharnsby Ali.
I actually got to 'work' with him (volunteer work) when I was 15 for a few weeks. My dad moved us shortly afterwards but I was lucky enough to do that AND attend a concert
I was totally like
this all the time when he spoke to me.
No words just
He was v kind by just politely saying the same thing to someone else to ask me...
he seemed a bit surprised at how I was.

My elder cousin Sarah got me the 'job' (unpaid, because volunteer obv). She was working (actual work) and she heard I loved his songs/lyrics and she was my reference.

He was really nice and kind, and sincere (and hyper and creative). The camera guys from that studio seem to love him, they tried to badmouth their wives in a mild way (where u imply something) and include him but he praised her in a very concise and sincere way. I overheard that and just felt even more in admiration of him.

Wow, blooiejagwa!

It's an incredible thing to actually meet an idol, and doubly incredible to not be disappointed or turned off by them.

Great Story!

N/A. I'm fairly anti-hero. To me the word hero implies perfection. The effects of putting someone at that level are:
A) Since people believe they are perfect (thus they do no wrong), their followers are suceptible to manipulation and fanatical behavior.
B) The person in question struggles to live up to the impossible expectations set by their followers.

Yeah, I'm a buzzkill.

I agree with this. I prefer admiring people with human flaws.

Wait, who says admiring someone as a hero and aspiring to aspects of their personalities or to their accomplishments = no flaws? The people I look up to all have flaws and I don't worship them at all.. certainly.

To me the word hero implies perfection...

A thoughtful response. Perhaps a better word would be "inspiration", someone whose deeds or words provide a model for possible future efforts. Lord knows, all of my "heroes" were deeply flawed

^ Yes, I think there are people who have inspired me in various ways. Specific examples may come to mind soon.

I’ve never had a “hero,” per se.

I have admired people (and animals), though.

I used to really admire the four women from The Golden Girls.

No hero is perfect - they just manage to make their good bits the main news.
In no particular order:
I'm keen on Robert Persig, author of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and "Lila," the sequel. He made philosophy a living art to me. (possible Aspie)
J.E. Gordon not only lends his name to the Cook-Gordon mechanism for crack stopping, which explains why non-metals can be tough, he is such a superb storyteller that he can painlessly impart a first-class engineering education just by reading the history of those who discovered it.
M.K. Gandhi, for experimenting with truth and non-violent restoration of justice. Also, M.L. King, Steve Biko, and hundreds of other martyrs, famous or not.
Prof. Chet Kyle, UCLA, for starting an organization to allow streamlining on racing bicycles, previously banned for the sake of athletics.
Jerry Mander, for "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television."
Bill Burr, comedian, for his routine about feminists wanting to cherry-pick only the fun parts of being male for themselves.
Steve Hughes, for similar rare truths, slipped into acceptability by laughter.
Jim Jeffries, Aspie, and dozens of other comedians.
Greta Thunberg, Aspie, for withstanding the attention her school strike for the climate attracted.
M. King Hubbert, for pointing out the inevitable approach of Peak Oil back in '57, which changed my life, and all the scientists who have worked to save nature.
Burt Rutan, for designing great home-built aircraft.

Mashiakh Yeshua ben Yosef, the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon.

Ruby Bridges and Rosa Parks. Nelson Mandela. The person who invented feta.

Inspired by:

Cormac McCarthy. Authored Blood Meridian and The Road. I see these two books as a dyad, the imperfect world in all its evil and good. They've helped shape my worldview.

J.R.R. Tolkien. Authored the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion (posthumously), and other works. Tolkien was a veteran of WWI and that probably shaped the humanist themes in his stores. The thematic ideas are often misinterpreted at face value and modern reinterpretations have stripped some away entirely (the movies).

You're not a buzzkill at all and I couldn't agree more. I've never had "heroes" and I'm even more averse to the idea of role models. And yes, I've got a lot of either uncomfortable silences or hostility for expressing this too

There are a lot of people I love, admire and respect: for their ideas, art, character, strength, humour, achievements and failures, won and lost struggles. For their greatness and frailty alike. Most of them are dead.

Carl Friedrich Gauss, the inventor [in 1805!] of the FFT, without which i could not process music in the way that i do.