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> much of the coverage "HERO PILOT saves the day by <professionally executing standard emergency procedures>" does seem to have become a news media trope. "Mi

> much of the coverage "HERO PILOT saves the day by <professionally executing standard emergency procedures>" does seem to have become a news media trope. "Military, and then decades of experience" has been mentioned for decades. But my fuzzy impression is it would be emphasized as it related to specific challenges of the event. That threshold seemed to drop over the years. The bizarre "hero" bit seems more recent, and perhaps increasingly common. Spice for ambulance chasing. At least it raises the societal visibility of female military aviators. And of older women as professionally excellent. I wonder if one might usefully engineer the addition of tropes to news media playbooks. Like "in an example of industry/profession/class groupthink/filterbubble, X said Y". Or "trade agreement section X came from industry Y because Z" - the TPP now vs TPP under US leadership diff would seemingly make for accessible storytelling, but there's been little. > the NYT, was much the same. My lifetime paper, but... the NYT is ok with ambulance chasing. And regrettably ok with sloppy emphasis. Faced with 9/11, setting the tone for the nation, given a menu of options like "stiff upper lip", "carry on", "spirit of Mumbai", and "back to work", we got... something else. Pulitzer-prize-winning ambulance-chasing death fetish? I've wondered, at the time and since, how might the nation have responded, if offered something very vaguely like <diverse 1/3-immigrant new yorkers>: "We are New York - f'em - we can build 'em up faster than the f'ers can knock 'em down"? Oh well - an alternate timeline. I wonder if one could get a "carry on" trope going. Instead of "this passenger is taking it in stride - drat - turn off the camera and seek dramatic emotions elsewhere", perhaps a "person demonstrating a stiff upper lip" could become one additional troped story component. Once one exists, it would be easier for it's relative emphasis to increase with time.

maxxxxx 9y ago
I don't like the hero worship either. first time I noticed it was with the firemen during 9/11. Now it seems the media always wants to have a hero for each event. I don't want to diminish the pilots but as far as I know an engine loss is normal procedure and well understood. There are probably dozens of events every day where a truck driver is faced with an exploding tire or other problems that are as difficult or more difficult to handle.
- mncharity 9y ago
  > hero worship Perhaps part of what's happening is the word "hero" is picking up new roles, while retaining old associations. One can have a hero without something heroic. "Oh, not me, it's Joe that's the hero - he spotted that the meeting munchies were delivered to the wrong room." One can be heroic without heroism. "Thank you for your heroic efforts this evening to get the server back up." One can have heroism without bravery. "Your dauntless heroism in being here every single day without fail, has been critical to our success". We don't seem to have a very rich or nuanced active vocabulary for describing excellence, or contribution, or sacrifice, or adversity? Or exemplars, or recognition, or celebration. So meaning blurs. Especially when there's an incentive for it to.
- elfchief 9y ago
  The 9/11 firefighters (especially the first responders that went in before the towers fell) were heroes by just about every definition, though. They risked (and in many cases gave) their lives to try to try to save innocent people. They weren't trying to save their own necks, like a pilot would be. If that doesn't count as being a hero, I'm pretty sure nothing does.
- isostatic 9y ago
  "I don't like the hero worship either" I find it as a branch of this Military worship the US has fallen into, again since 9/11. Anything from "Thank you for your service" as an automated greeting, and applause when someone in a uniform walks into a bar. Nobody says "thank you for your service" to the guy who's just spent 12 hours shovelling shit out of the sewer.
L_Rahman 9y ago
Low effort comment - but I appreciate this breakdown of the story metagame that surrounds any event that receive coverage and that a big function of changing society is changing the structure and tropes of stories we tell. As one of those immigrant New Yorkers, I too wonder what would have happened if we'd gone down that road.

maxxxxx 9y ago

I don't like the hero worship either. first time I noticed it was with the firemen during 9/11. Now it seems the media always wants to have a hero for each event. I don't want to diminish the pilots but as far as I know an engine loss is normal procedure and well understood. There are probably dozens of events every day where a truck driver is faced with an exploding tire or other problems that are as difficult or more difficult to handle.

mncharity 9y ago
> hero worship Perhaps part of what's happening is the word "hero" is picking up new roles, while retaining old associations. One can have a hero without something heroic. "Oh, not me, it's Joe that's the hero - he spotted that the meeting munchies were delivered to the wrong room." One can be heroic without heroism. "Thank you for your heroic efforts this evening to get the server back up." One can have heroism without bravery. "Your dauntless heroism in being here every single day without fail, has been critical to our success". We don't seem to have a very rich or nuanced active vocabulary for describing excellence, or contribution, or sacrifice, or adversity? Or exemplars, or recognition, or celebration. So meaning blurs. Especially when there's an incentive for it to.
elfchief 9y ago
The 9/11 firefighters (especially the first responders that went in before the towers fell) were heroes by just about every definition, though. They risked (and in many cases gave) their lives to try to try to save innocent people. They weren't trying to save their own necks, like a pilot would be. If that doesn't count as being a hero, I'm pretty sure nothing does.
isostatic 9y ago
"I don't like the hero worship either" I find it as a branch of this Military worship the US has fallen into, again since 9/11. Anything from "Thank you for your service" as an automated greeting, and applause when someone in a uniform walks into a bar. Nobody says "thank you for your service" to the guy who's just spent 12 hours shovelling shit out of the sewer.

L_Rahman 9y ago

Low effort comment - but I appreciate this breakdown of the story metagame that surrounds any event that receive coverage and that a big function of changing society is changing the structure and tropes of stories we tell. As one of those immigrant New Yorkers, I too wonder what would have happened if we'd gone down that road.