#030: Rad Panda

[JimB]

ahhhh look at his little hair ruff he's so cute I wanna die

I don't want to be a hero, I'd rather be a protagonist.

Heh. Good reference.

 

[Gorrath]

When I say that heroes are make-believe, I am talking about what makes someone a hero. Soldiers are regular people who sometimes are put in a position to do something extraordinary. Heroes are not people, heroes are stories. This point is perfectly illustrated by the very next thing you write. When Americans hero-worship the military, they aren't "worshiping" the men and women who do these things, they are "worshiping" the narrative itself, they are "worshiping" an idealized illustration, not any person. I know precisely what Zhukov was on about, which is why I made my comment. If America cared so dearly about the people and not the stories, soldiers wouldn't have to fight tooth and nail for their VA benefits. The heroes themselves are forgotten in body, many trying to scrape a life together after the service, while the tales of their deeds outlive their misery. And soldiers either know this inevitability or discover it with some experience. Service is sacrifice.

The whole reason people get pissed when you question what the military is forced to do is not because those people care about the soldiers, it's because they care about you ruining the narrative. Heroism is a tale, not a person and not even an action. Believe me, or don't, when I tell you there is nothing at all heroic about shooting other people, or about dragging around your injured buddies while under fire, or about blowing up a convoy with explosives strapped to your body. Being a hero is just about being in the right place at the right time, doing what you feel you have to do and hoping you and everyone else doesn't get killed in the process, then having those tales blown up large for an audience that wants to feel patriotic. I do not condemn people for liking heroic stories, it's natural, even helpful but I do caution about conflating the stories with the men and women who serve as their core. Heroes are myths, people are messy and soldiers are just doing a really difficult job.

I liked that post, I'm gonna jot that one down if you don't mind.

So long as I get to keep the movie and merchandising rights! I admit that I wax poetic now and then. Glad you enjoyed reading it!

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Someone just took a level in Badass.

He has no helmet, according to all laws of Hollywood, he will survive.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Yep as well all know being a hero is abandoning everything else no matter the consequences to save deadweight. It only sounds good when its fake.

In this case, "Everything Else" is securing a flag... Is that really worth allowing someone to die over?

Also, not even dead weight deserves to be dead meat. And Rad doesn't see her as a dead weight, he sees her as a friend.

Finally, this is all a game being played out in the mind of a drug-hallucinating recluse.

OT: I knew this was going to happen. I called 2 comics ago.

 

[FalloutJack]

I would give real money to see Rad pull a Red Panda right about now.

(Am I right, Decoder ring Theatre people?)

 

[JagerBombastic]

Go get Erin, Rad she is your friend after all, never leave them behind.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

So Rad is a red panda?

http://www.knoxville-zoo.org/sites/www/Uploads/images/Exhibits/panda1_709041545401.png

Pssst... Check out Comic #002 of this series... He's from the game 'Rad Panda'.

 

[flashoverride]

DELETED

 

[Lunar Templar]

I feel this video is appropriate, and ironic

The distant rumbling noise you can hear right about now is the sound of several thousand Americans grinding their teeth in unison.

"B-b-b-but those are the same thing!"

Ya know, as an American, I get why it exists but it still annoys me. Especially since I'm willing to bet a good chunk of those 'heroes' where really just looking for a steady job and training to get them skills to get a decent job later when they signed up.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Oh, and this idea that somehow wars are less moral now... I have no idea where it comes from. The entire casualties of the Iraq war - on both the civilian and military side - are less than that of a single battle in WW2, the battle for Okinawa. I guess it's just easier to dislike or discredit people with whom you disagree if you just assign impure motives to them.

Less deaths does not make the Iraq war less moral, being a completely pointless and completely avoidable cluster**** that only made everybody on all sides far worse off than any would have ever been if it never happened and which only happened in the first place for the sole benefit of so called leaders is what makes it less moral. Countless people can die in a war, but if those deaths occur so many more people can live in peace and safety every last one of those deaths is a morally just one in a morally just war. In reverse, a war that results in a few thousand deaths or less but accomplishes precisely jack and/or makes things worse ESPECIALLY for those that had absolutely NOTHING to do with either side is in no way a moral war.

Heroes are a reality but being a hero is completely independent of one's role in society, it has nothing to do with any job, position, rank, or ability to fight whatsoever. Regardless of what they fight for, a soldier is not a hero because they are a soldier nor do they become one if and when they die in battle, any more than all the Axis soldiers that fought and died against the Allies are heroes. Soldiers are heroes if by their actions they allow as many people as possible to live their lives in peace and prevent them from having to live their lives in fear as slaves virtual and/or literal and/or as corpses for as long as possible. A soldier fights wars, a hero does whatever they can to put an end to them as quickly and with as few innocent casualties as possible and prevents wars from happening in the first place whenever and wherever possible.