From Our Heroes, Come Our Values

   Start with John Wayne, if you wonder if movies and movie stars affect us. He's a hero, and from our heroes, come our attitudes.
    I was reading through a list of John Wayne quotes about a week back. Today, as I read them, they seem more innocuous. But, when I was reading them last week, I found in them elements I didn't like.
   Maybe that's because among the first I ran across were these two:
   "The reason there are so many stupid people is because it's illegal to kill them."
   "Life is hard; it's harder when you're stupid."
    You probably don't think they're that bad. In fact, you might have said things like that yourself -- which is exactly my point. Hearing someone we think highly of say something gets us thinking the same way. If nothing else, it reinforces existing values.
    I guess I think it not such a good thing to go around calling people stupid. Worse is when we ridicule them. I can imagine a person who's been influenced by the second quote going off on someone by saying, "Life sure must be tough on you, being's how you're such an idiot."
   We put another person down. We ridicule them. If we are mean-spirited enough, we might even take pleasure if the insult reduces them to crying.
   "Big baby. Did I hurt your feelings?" we continue.
   My question is, where did we learn to treat others this way? From our heroes, come our values. At least to a certain extent.