Word: heroism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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History, sadly, does not bear out that claim. Throughout the Nazi occupation, cases of citizens rescuing Jews were the exception, not the rule. And denunciation in those cruel times seemed much more common. The rescuers know that, of course. But by insisting on the banality of their heroism, they have launched a powerful challenge to our jaded moral notions of the status quo. To single them out as unusual suggests, in effect, that there was something abnormal about them. On the other hand, to treat them as ordinary human beings is to argue that altruism is accessible to anyone -- saints...
...will prevail over Buchanan and win renomination. In the meantime, the question is whether Bush's advisers can prevent the struggle from diminishing the President's chances in the fall. If Bush faces Bill Clinton in November, the President's aides think that their boss's World War II heroism and image as a devoted family man will compare favorably to the Arkansas Governor's record on at least those two scores. But the Democratic nominee, whoever it turns out to be, will be harder to beat if Buchanan keeps knocking the President off balance. Teeter likes to say that...
...composer, librettist and conductor, he was a tireless writer and proselytizer on subjects as disparate as revolutionary politics, vivisection and racialism. The little man from Leipzig was one of the leading anti-Semitic theorists of his day, venting his views in such pamphlets as Jewry in Music and Heroism and Christianity. Like other prominent anti-Semites, Wagner blamed the Jews for ) most of society's (and his own) ills and offered a solution. "Bear in mind," he exhorted Jews, "that there is but one redemption from the curse weighing upon you: self-destruction...
...business here -- much of it very funny business. The man writes dialogue as if it had not gone out of style. Transforming the hearsay history of a gangster's life into something shrewder than a mere morality tale, yet more disciplined than a romantic celebration of outlaw heroism, he keeps reminding us that back in Bugsy's day, the mark of a good screenplay was great wordplay...
...story is devoid of scandal and full of heroism. As part of the elite Navy Sea, Air and Land corps (the SEALs), Kerrey got his leg blown off in one exchange but still managed to call for support and command his troops. (Nyhan really loves this story. So does everyone else. You'll hear it about a thousand times over the next 13 months.) He got a Congressional Medal of Honor for it, but he initially turned it down. No kidding. He accepted it later on behalf of his platoon...