Now that is a take on the whole Clique Wars that I hadn't come across before. It's not that there's a Conspiracy, it's that the better writers are unjustly gifted.

I think the Person In Question would perhaps think of herself as the latter, which is why she must protect the poor wee less blessed. It's just some BNFs who give the rest of you bad names. Grr.

My current reply to the snarky "You must think you're special!" is a calm, "Yes, yes, I do." Everyone wants to be a winner, but they don't want anyone else to be a winner, not deep down.

You guys are making me want to join this list, just for the trainwreck of it all.

If you read Buffyverse, it's a good list. Most of the time.

It's also about 1,000 members strong.

I don't get the emails, but I peek into the group occasionally. And, yes, I search from my nom de plume to see if anything of mine's been recced lately.

Yes, I am shallow.

I think I have the site bookmarked somewhere, I may have to go check this out. Not like I have anything better to do.

Jacquelyn Mitchard had a column in the paper this weekend about how calling the shuttle astronauts and basically everyone else who dies tragically a "hero" is stripping the word of any meaning whatsoever. The last few posts brought this to mind for some reason. Heh.

calling the shuttle astronauts and basically everyone else who dies tragically a "hero" is stripping the word of any meaning whatsoever.

Yep."Hero" or "courage" should indicate choice, which is why I didn't think Bill Maher was entirely wrong when he was being pilloried after 9/11.

It's like how at one point, survivor meant someone who had been through a genuinely life-threatening experience, like a POW camp. Now anyone who's had a career lasting more than five years or gotten through a difficulty more severe than a hangnail is a survivor.

Athletes are not heroes. Athletes can be incredibly gifted, honestly humble, and sterling examples of good citizens, but there's nothing heroic about playing basketball, jumping over a vaulting horse, or hitting a baseball. Firemen and policemen and other folks who risk their lives for others are heroes.

(Hubby was a fireman, please do not lump him in with Michael Jordan. How many lives has MJ saved, hm? /end rant)

With, of course, the obvious caveat that some athletes are heroes.

And, I wonder, if I look up at someone, anyone, and see in them an example that helps me change my life for the better, does that make them a hero?

What ita said. There are many many ways people can be heroes. While fireman may be braver, I think the amount of good MJ does and the impact he can have makes him somewhat heroic too, and one should not negate the other.