I (Still) Need a Hero: Civilians, Society and the Continuing Need for Military Heroism and Heroes

Abstract

The following chapter examines post-heroic society’s perception of military heroes. Using the Israeli case, this chapter argues that despite the shift to a more individualistic society in the post-heroic era, the need for military heroes persists. It suggests that civilian society, at least in Western democracies, is not yet ready to forgo its expectations from military heroes and transition into a post-heroic mindset. It still needs heroes to exist in order to infuse meaning into extreme situations, serving as a crucial coping mechanism for civilians. The paper will first discuss the idea that heroism enables meaning; still a much-needed component in society. It will then explore this idea through an extreme case study: Israeli medical personnel treating military patients during times of HIC versus routine occurrences. Moving from the extreme case of HIC, the paper will then discuss Israeli civilian perceptions of military heroes and military heroism during routine events. The case of Israel in both extreme and routine situations will demonstrate how the possibility of military heroes enables civilians to give meaning to their own actions and cope better with a difficult reality. The chapter will conclude with broader examples from outside of Israel and with thoughts for future research on this topic.

I thank the participants in the workshop on heroism in the post-heroic era for their invaluable comments on my presentation, which served as the basis for this chapter. Special thanks to Eyal Ben Ari, Uzi Ben Shalom and Nehemia Stern for their thoughts on the presentation and for encouraging me to develop these ideas further.