“Ours is an age without heroes,” declared Harvard historian and social critic Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., 65 years ago. (Adventures of the Mind, “The Decline of Heroes,” p. 97, Alford A. Knopf (1959).) He blamed “the common man” who both “admires and resents” a hero. (Id.) That resentment, he said, results in envy, whether it be “envy of great men’s material possessions or merely their character or intelligence.” (Id.) “While the purpose of democracy was to give everyone a fair chance to rise, [in the middle of the 20th Century] rancorous men [began] to invoke ‘equality’ as an excuse for keeping all down to their own level.” (Id., p. 98.) Schlesinger’s elitist analysis ignored religion.
Western Civilization has had a long history of recognizing heroes beginning with the Hebrew tradition, recorded more than 14 hundred years before Christ, and the Greek epics, written nine centuries B.C. Despite their human imperfections, heroes have qualities akin to the verities cherished and shared by Western culture. Heroes, often brave and patriotic, were a celebrated part of exaggerated folklore and factual history. In addition to a love of heroes, the West shared love for a common faith that was based on Judeo-Christian principles.
Charity, or forgiveness, is a primary mark of Western heroism. One of the best examples of this virtue in an American hero is found in Lincoln’s second inaugural speech when his sentiment for healing a reunited nation was expressed in the words: “With malice towards none.” Being a “Man of the People” Lincoln spoke to the common people, North and South, who shared with him an understanding of charity and a fear of God.
National heroes have become increasingly rare since the middle of the last century. In the 21st Century, old ones are declared anathema and new ones are missing altogether. This seems to coincide with efforts to erase traditional values. (I discount entertainers as heroes - - they’re actors for goodness’ sake!)
Uprisings against civil authority and cultural mores developed shortly after Schlesinger’s critique. Some, informed by religion, were based on good faith and justice, but others were dishonest and harmful. There has been a significant change over 60 years. Christian civility is no longer prevalent in our code of conduct. Its replacement has been secularism, faith-less by definition. Common moral beliefs grow fewer.
Increasingly, a God-less politic decides matters of morality. Constant principles that were the backbone of Western civilization are now amorphous rationalizations. The dying civilization’s new religion is no religion. (See, for instance, contemporary PEW research.) Emotion has replaced belief; vice, virtue. Immoral chaos grows where there is no moral order.
In America, heroes ranging from George Washington to George Washington Carver, and others before and after them, have been discredited for pragmatically recognizing the societal manners and ways of their times. Their heroic efforts for positive changes to old standards are discounted or ignored. Based on whims of the day, brave men and women willing to take risks for contemporary good of the country are being humiliated. The unforgiving secular code grows harsher each year. Its radical morphing will continue until either a cruel or hallowed end is reached (depending on whether Man’s will or God’s, prevails).
Part of the current situation comes from a phenomenon known as “Critical Theory,” not to be confused with critical thinking which was originally devised by early Christian theologians in the Third Century. “In a narrow sense, ‘Critical Theory’ refers to the work of several generations of philosophers and social theorists in the Western European Marxist tradition known as the Frankfurt School.” (www.Plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory (12/12/2023).)
Whether applied to the arts, economics, history, politics or religion, legitimate criticism traditionally entails a reasoned and systematic discussion. Criticism in Western tradition typically includes study and analysis by those with a shared belief in God and Judeo-Christian virtues, including mercy (forgiveness).
In opposition is Marxism, or Marxian communism. An atheistic doctrine, it forbids belief in God and holds that virtue is a relative term. In the words of its own authors: “Communism abolishes eternal truths; it abolishes all religion and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis.” (The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, translation by Samuel Moore, Washington Square Press (8th printing, 1969), pp. 91-92.) Among the Western freedoms it would abolish are private property, the nuclear family, and even marriage. (Id.)
Mirroring Marxism, Critical Theory is intolerant of opposing ideas and those who profess them. Its analysis is judgmental and without forgiveness. Its form of criticism is always fault-finding. It is a hammer used to shatter the philosophies, religions, and traditions in Western society and the people who embrace them.
Western heroes are courageous. They discern right from wrong and are willing to act at great sacrifice, even death, for the victory of good over evil.
The common faith of the common man used to be Christianity. The West, including America, started losing her heroes at a time coinciding with Christianity’s decline in the life of the common man. As a result, admiration and celebration were replaced by envy and criticism. In my opinion, the resulting cultural-political devolution explains why ours became an age without heroes.
Chip Williams is a Northsider.
