McCain is NOT a hero; he is a survivor.

[nolawitch58]

Heroes save others; survivors save themselves. Being a POW alone does NOT make one a hero. What did he do that saved any skin besides his own?

McCain's actions have always been selfish. Being born into military brass sheltered him from a hardscrabble existence. Little Johnny McCain the Third didn't have to work hard to get into Annapolis. His admiral grandfather and admiral father's legacy ensured him a slot. He certainly didn't work hard to distinguish himself academically by virtue of his graduaing 894th out of a class of 899. Woo hoo! The bottom tenth of his class. Yet somehow he managed to get a billet as a pilot, normally reserved for the top ten percent of Naval Academy graduates. Strings had to be pulled for that cushy spot.

No accounts of his early career show him to have been anything more than a hard partier, drinker, brawler and womanizer. Why should he have to do anything for others? His name alone was synonymous with two admirals. He must have thought the rank automatically came with the name. In fact, a friend of mine who served under him in the Navy said he acted like he expected to advance to higher rank without going through lower ranks. She is a lifelong Republican, but wouldn't vote for McCain because he was a shitty commanding officer when she worked for him.

Let's reclaim the actual meaning of words. People who survive horrific shit are not heroes, unless they have also performed altruistic deeds for others as well. Victims who make it through horrific shit are survivors, nothing more. Nobody would argue that the broken, twisted survivors of childhood rapes are heroes, not even the ones who punched their attackers in the 'nads and escaped. The same argument applies to victims of torture. Often, they are so damaged by the traumas, they find functioning difficult. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a reality for many of those victims. Stop giving that privileged old man credit he is not due.

Comments

[kelli217.livejournal.com]

The right's justification for the appellation "hero" is the (completely unconfirmed) tale of how at one point during his stay in the POW camp he was offered his freedom, and he asked if any of his fellow prisoners were also being released, and they said "no," so he also said "no."

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

Ah, but that was standard operating procedure and they way all military personnel were trained. Hundreds of other prisoners of war also refused to be released, some of whom didn't cooperate with their North Vietnamese captors the way Jackoff Johnny did. Refusing early release per military directives is not fucking heroic. It's simply following procedures.

They certainly set the bar low for their toadies. If Obama were to run out of a burning building with a child under his arm, he would be excoriated for not having a child under each arm. If anyone isn't sick of these fuckwitted neocons, they're just as venal and stupid as the neocons themselves.

[drderanged.livejournal.com]

I've always thought that. I understand being a POW sucks but to throw the word "hero" around is pretty crazy.

[kitten-goddess.livejournal.com]

You do have to give McCain credit for surviving POW camp. Lots of people either don't make it or come out total wrecks. Considering the guy was a privileged brat before, I am really impressed now that he made it through.

Don't worry, nolawitch. I don't think of him as a hero. Just because he had tons of grit thirty-plus years ago does not mean he is fit to be President.

Could you cite the source that says he graduated 894th of 899? Obama should just run with that. Someone who is that dull has no business being President. Hell, even Bush got C's!

[wyldraven.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srbX26vp57c (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srbX26vp57c) - He himself says that he graduated 5th from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy.

This source (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_did_JOhn_McCain_rank_in_the_Naval_Academy_1958_class), as well as US News & World Report (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070208/8mccainfacts.htm), says 790 out of 795.

[icewyche.livejournal.com]

THANK you. I am so very, very tired of hearing "But McCain served in Vietnam! McCain was a POW!" So did a lot of other people, and so did a lot of other people. That doesn't make them magically qualified to be President.

[icewyche.livejournal.com]

Um, that should be "So did a lot of other people, and so WERE a lot of other people." Oops.

[wyldraven.livejournal.com]

"Noun, Verb, POW." Between that, and Giuliani's "Noun, Verb, 9/11", you have to wonder if the Republicans have anything left to offer ordinary Americans.

[voxwoman.livejournal.com]

No accounts of his early career show him to have been anything more than a hard partier, drinker, brawler and womanizer.

Sounds like presidential material to me. (do I *need* the sarcasm tags?)

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

I keep meaning to email the folk who keep HTML standards and suggest sarcasm tags.

[alagbon.livejournal.com]

Thank you for saying this. At work if I even try to say that his having been a prisoner of war doesn't make him God, I get accused of treason...

[patrixa.livejournal.com]

Thank you for stating publicly what I find true re being a hero. As to his class standing: why am I not surprised?

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

He does have a lot of class: all of it low.

[lionsphil.livejournal.com]

It's just part of the continual devaluing of useful English words by the endless inflation of hyperbole. See also: "literally", "revolution", "star".

Although you appear to contradict yourself in the last paragraph?

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

How so is the last paragraph contradictory? It reiterates that those people are victims, some of whom suffer psychologically.

[lionsphil.livejournal.com]

Dunno. Maybe I misread "are heros" as "aren't heros". Or "argue that" as "argue against". There's something about that paragraph that keeps tripping up my parser.