this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
438 points (99.3% liked)
History Memes
3479 readers
269 users here now
THIS COMM HAS MOVED
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
He’s not my personal hero at all, never heard of the dude.
Just saying that a horrible piece of shit can still do heroic things, even if awful deeds outshine them. I’d say that those heroic deeds by definition makes them a hero, even if it’s only in a narrow context as “American naval warfare”.
Again, no one is forcing you to call a child rapist a hero.... It's a pretty wild move imo.
By your own definition......is Hitler also a hero?
I think maybe it's important when mantling someone with the title of "hero" that we weigh the positive and the negative aspects of their contributions, otherwise it can get awkward.
I don't know of any heroic deeds that Hitler did.
Do you?
Edit: also, you may have me confused with a different user. I didn’t say he was a hero, that was dagwoodiii a bit upthread, and I suspect he was just copy/pasting some other reference, not his personal moral evaluation of the life of John Paul Jones.
My definition of hero includes general morality..... If we adopt your definition of just being brave or inspirational, then you would be hypocritical not too. He was a combat veteran who eventually went on to be the leader of his country. By your definition that's not heroic?
"I’d say that those heroic deeds by definition makes them a hero, even if it’s only in a narrow context as “American naval warfare”."
I’d say there’s more to heroism than being brave or inspirational, but eh. This conversation is clearly going nowhere — have a great weekend.