One thing that annoys the hell out of me is the idea that fiction shouldn’t have moral white and black, but shades of gray. The idea that there aren’t really any good guys or bad guys is troubling. Sure, the truth is that everyone is flawed and I have no problem seeing that reflected in fictional characters, but we still need to see heroes and heroines on the big screen, the small screen, the printed page, and the video display of our computer or from our gaming console.
We, as a society, need heroes. We need the idea of heroism to be not just there, but a core part of what people see themselves as aspiring to be.
Why? Because when you downplay heroes, this is what you get:
A shocking video out of Colombia is sparking outrage online after a young male tourist appeared to abandon his female companion during a knife attack.
The man left her to fend off an assailant alone, but luckily other men — real men — intervened.
According to footage published on X and reported on by the New York Post, two backpackers were standing outside a business when a man suddenly approached with what looked like a knife.
The woman was immediately targeted, and the attacker moved to strike her with a blade.
Instead of stepping in, the male traveler hesitated, stepped away, and then backed off completely.
Dude tries to mug American tourists in Colombia and gets mud stomped by the whole block pic.twitter.com/DYTz5JjuFf
— Phoeni𝕏 2A 🇺🇸 (@Phoenix2A_1980s) December 8, 2025
Years ago, I failed to step in and help in a situation that, while unlikely to be fatal, was still a violent assault. I didn’t want to get my butt kicked by a freshman when I was a senior in high school, and I lacked any confidence in my ability to handle myself at the time.
And I’ve had that incident haunt me for over 30 years.
It’s why I’ve stepped into every dangerous situation that I felt needed intervention since then, and there have been a few. The simple truth is that I couldn’t live with myself for not stepping in again, especially with higher stakes.
Our world needs heroes because our world most definitely has villains.
Look at those who acted heroically on Bondi Beach. From the man who tackled a gunman to those who shielded others at the cost of their own lives. Which would you rather be when you face judgment?
In fairness, there are a lot of heroes. Every shooting seems to yield one or two people who put themselves in danger so that others might survive. From a young teen holding the door open at Parkland before being killed to a student in a classroom rushing a gunman to keep him from hurting others, the heroes are around us.
But when some mother or “child expert” starts telling parents they shouldn’t let their kids play with guns, what they’re doing is trying to suppress the heroic instinct in their children. When they purge heroism from fiction and create so much moral ambiguity that there’s no longer anyone worth emulating anywhere, they’re not reflecting reality. They’re teaching that heroes aren’t real and you’re a fool if you don’t just look out for yourself.
It’s well past time we start pushing back at those who somehow think they’re morally superior because they don’t want morally superior characters in fiction, who want to stamp out any hope of cultivating heroic instinct in the next generation, and who act like responding to negative aggression is somehow just as bad as initiating aggression.
Our world needs heroes.
We’ve already got more than enough villains.
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