Summary Of Heroism Why Heroes Are Important By Scott Latarge

LaBarge and his Heroes In the passage “Heroism: Why Heroes are Important” by Scott LaBarge, he clearly uses the rhetorical strategy of exemplification and the persuasive appeal of Pathos to explain to the reader that children no longer have ‘real’ heroes. LaBarge discusses modern day heroes and the reasons that they differ from the heroes of older generations. He contributes this fact to to the environment and role models that children are exposed to now. Though LaBarge harms his argument by discussing the cynicism of heroes, his article, “Heroism: Why Heroes are Important,” provides a convincing argument that the idea of heroes as we know it is under attack by the modern generation and their influences. The most compelling piece of information

LaBarge also mentions the fact that we need heroes. I agree with this completely. He says, “We need heroes first and foremost because our heroes help us define the limits of our aspirations.” (LaBarge 1). He also says that we define our ideals from the heroes we admire. I agree with this as well. LaBarge infers that in order to have ambition, drive, and motivation, children and adults both need a hero to look up to. Many children aspire to be just like the man or woman they see as their hero. LaBarge realizes that this is the problem. If children are looking up to rappers and celebrities, they may not amount to much as an adult. Most rappers write about sex, drugs, and women and this is not what we want our children looking up to. LaBarge says that many children are identifying celebrities and rappers as heroes rather than civil rights figures or historical activists. He says, “Gangsta rap is a disaster for heroism.” (LaBarge 2). LaBarge goes on to describe that this type of heroism will most likely be the downfall of the upcoming generations. Pathos is used when LaBarge presents the solution of this problem to parents. He says the only way to fix the downfall of heroism is to teach our children the stories of the civil rights activists and other human rights leaders and leave out the talk about celebrities and

(LaBarge 1). We cannot tell children that they should look up to historical greats and then describe in detail everything that these men and women did wrong. Yes, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were slave owners, but we should teach our children the great things these men did to shape our country and not the problem with their entire time period in history. Martin Luther King Jr was accused of plagiarism, but we should teach heavily about what he did for civil rights in this country, not where his speeches came from. When an individual is greater than the average person, people tend to focus on the flaws within them to make them seem less great. This is why our children don’t admire these men and women as heavily as they should; They are not taught solely the good, they are taught the good sprinkled in with the bad. In a child’s mind, the bad very well may outweigh the