Heroes - Real life people

[kieranfoy]

@Darkninja: The Satanist who wrote an article saying Jews are descended from reptiles? Tell me you're joking, dear Sithis do.

 

As for me:

 

Susan. B. Anthony: Pioneer of womens rights, Atheist (yeah, we got Suan, boo yah!).

 

Oscar Wilde: Brilliant wit.

 

Patricia Foley: Wonderfull freethinking English teacher at my High School. Taught me to question and doubt everything.

 

George Carlin: For teaching me that sometimes, you gotta flip courtesy the bird and just say what you're thinking.

 

Oddly enough, Erwin Rommel. It takes quite the strength of character to remain even somewhat moral when you're in the belly of the Beast, and Rommel managed to be more moral than many of his Allied POW's. He was too bloody loyal to an utter madman, but still.

 

Sidhartha Guatama: for saying "Believe nothing, no matter who says it, no matter if I say it, unless it agrees with your common sense." How many prophets say that?

 

Terry Pratchett: A single novel by him has more moral and ethical truths in it than every holy text in the world combined. And they're fun to read.

[grannywils]

Lt. Leary sounds pretty heroic to me, and he certainly deserves to be here among the famous and not so famous. There have been one or two other not so famous people mentioned. I believe that there are many, many more not so famous heroes among us or in our memories than any of the famous ones. That was really my point in setting up this thread. I'm hoping to give voice and honor to some of those as well as allowing us to recognize once again those who have already received the richly deserved admiration of so many.

[Vindekarr]

here are some more folks who i think are inspiring, not the best heroes, but since a lot of the good ones are already posted, I'll add a few more unsung heroes.

 

"doctor jonston" Industrial revolution era english lexicographer. this man has more guts that every brave person in history combined. He has a history of yelling in the face of some very dangerous people, simply because they were'nt listening to his political rant, so he MADE them listen. I think he deserves a place here because of his courage, utter lack of fear for authority, and willingess to spread political change no matter how many sore ears and snubbed egos resulted. Utterly fearless.

 

Valentino Rossi: a name virtualy any motorsport fan will recognise, a true living legend of motorsport. Rossi is currently recovering from a broken leg-but merely weeks later and still with the leg in a brace he got back on his bike and returned to racing. And he did well too. Rossi has won more races and more championships in motor cycle racing than any other person or team of people in the sport's ~hundred year long history, but he also treats his fellow riders with the utmost respect, and is famous/infamous for, when leading a race by almost a lap, he slowled right down so that he and his championship rival could race fairly, man to man. Simply put Rossi rides because he wants to race, not to win, and I think that's pretty admirable in this day and age. Proof that old fashioned ideas of honour and humility are indeed not dead, even among the elites of sport.

 

Nils Bohlin. Nils Bohlin is the man we have to thank for car seatbelts. but he was also a very moral man, after seeing just how many lives his invention could save, Bohlin left it un copyrighted, un patented and placed it in the public domain, so that others could benefit from it. And that from a busniessman in charge of RD at a very major car company in the 1950s. In the end, the steabelt saves about on average, a life a minute, they've certainly saved me a few times from my own stupidity.

[grannywils]

here are some more folks who i think are inspiring, not the best heroes, but since a lot of the good ones are already posted, I'll add a few more unsung heroes.

 

"doctor jonston" Industrial revolution era english lexicographer. this man has more guts that every brave person in history combined. He has a history of yelling in the face of some very dangerous people, simply because they were'nt listening to his political rant, so he MADE them listen. I think he deserves a place here because of his courage, utter lack of fear for authority, and willingess to spread political change no matter how many sore ears and snubbed egos resulted. Utterly fearless.

 

Valentino Rossi: a name virtualy any motorsport fan will recognise, a true living legend of motorsport. Rossi is currently recovering from a broken leg-but merely weeks later and still with the leg in a brace he got back on his bike and returned to racing. And he did well too. Rossi has won more races and more championships in motor cycle racing than any other person or team of people in the sport's ~hundred year long history, but he also treats his fellow riders with the utmost respect, and is famous/infamous for, when leading a race by almost a lap, he slowled right down so that he and his championship rival could race fairly, man to man. Simply put Rossi rides because he wants to race, not to win, and I think that's pretty admirable in this day and age. Proof that old fashioned ideas of honour and humility are indeed not dead, even among the elites of sport.

 

Nils Bohlin. Nils Bohlin is the man we have to thank for car seatbelts. but he was also a very moral man, after seeing just how many lives his invention could save, Bohlin left it un copyrighted, un patented and placed it in the public domain, so that others could benefit from it. And that from a busniessman in charge of RD at a very major car company in the 1950s. In the end, the steabelt saves about on average, a life a minute, they've certainly saved me a few times from my own stupidity.

 

 

What a great list! You've gotten totally in the spirit. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and are heroic for all kinds of reasons. I love this post. Good for you Vindekarr!

[Salamander8]

As for me:

 

Susan. B. Anthony: Pioneer of womens rights, Atheist (yeah, we got Suan, boo yah!).

 

Oscar Wilde: Brilliant wit.

 

Patricia Foley: Wonderfull freethinking English teacher at my High School. Taught me to question and doubt everything.

 

George Carlin: For teaching me that sometimes, you gotta flip courtesy the bird and just say what you're thinking.

 

Oddly enough, Erwin Rommel. It takes quite the strength of character to remain even somewhat moral when you're in the belly of the Beast, and Rommel managed to be more moral than many of his Allied POW's. He was too bloody loyal to an utter madman, but still.

 

Sidhartha Guatama: for saying "Believe nothing, no matter who says it, no matter if I say it, unless it agrees with your common sense." How many prophets say that?

 

Terry Pratchett: A single novel by him has more moral and ethical truths in it than every holy text in the world combined. And they're fun to read.

Interesting list. I am a huge Terry Pratchett fan, and find your comment on him to be spot on. I am also a big fan of Erwin Rommel as I'm a WWII history fan. George Carlin, along with Lewis Black are my favorite comedians.

I would add:

 

Heinz Guderian: I've almost finished reading Panzer Leader, and his brilliance and inner steel are reinforced by his constant disagreements with Hitler and his party. He stood his ground time and again against the national socialists and their power to help his country and it's people.

 

Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller: The most decorated marine in US history. Here's one of his quotes:"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time."

 

Miklos Horthy: Not very well known in the west and some of the information I do have between wikipedia and reading an English language translation of his book:A Life for Hungary, have some discrepancies. But while he did join the axis he fought tooth and nail to keep Hungary free from the domination of National Socialism (while he was unquestionably right-wing, he had some of the leaders of the Arrow Cross party, the Hungarian version of National Socialists imprisoned). It's hard to go into too much depth without being very verbose here, but if you get a chance to read more on him, I recommend it highly. A very interesting figure between being an admiral in the Austro-Hungarian navy in WWI to being the regent of Hungary til he was arrested by Hitler and lived in exile after the war.

 

Doris (Dorie) Miller: The heroic man who manned an anti-aircraft gun during the attack on Pearl Harbor and was the first African-American to win the Navy Cross.

[kieranfoy]

Good choices, all.

 

And I'm glad to know I'm not the only Pterry fan here. I seem to recall Slof is, also.

 

I'd also like to add the Tuskeegee Airmen. All of them. Flying, fighting, and doing their job in the face of that much freaking bigotry is simply inspiring.

[grannywils]

Great choices. I had forgotten Dorie Miller's name. I'm glad you came up with it. He was quite a hero and one we don't here mentioned nearly often enough.. And the mention of Miiklos Horthy made me think of a great Polish hero, Lech Wałęsa who stood up against all odds.

[SilverDNA]

I have one add of a whole bunch of heroes and heroines to come up with.

More names than I'm allowed to post.

Heroes and heroines that aren't mostly recognized but are everywhere.

Day to day heroes and heroines that you see if I point them out loud.

Now think about disabled persons in day to day live and their troubles for at least a good minute and then especially every participant of every Paralympic Games!

[TheCalliton]

chuck norris (not a joke)

me (not egotistic, i just feel i am a hero to myself)

[grannywils]

I have one add of a whole bunch of heroes and heroines to come up with.

More names than I'm allowed to post.

Heroes and heroines that aren't mostly recognized but are everywhere.

Day to day heroes and heroines that you see if I point them out loud.

Now think about disabled persons in day to day live and their troubles for at least a good minute and then especially every participant of every Paralympic Games!

 

Silver: What a great one. I'm a big supporter of the Special Olympics participants. These people are true heroes to me.