In a world saturated with fictional caped crusaders and masked vigilantes, we want to redirect our attention to the unsung champions who make a tangible impact in the lives of others, in other words, “real life” people who display acts of courage, compassion and commitment and who transcend the confines of comic book fantasies.

Not all heroes wear flashy costumes or flashy costumes, and they don’t all possess superhuman abilities. Often, they emerge from diverse but garden-variety backgrounds, with regular lives and more or less regular jobs, but find a way to navigate challenges that test the limits of human fortitude, and mange to exhibit the skills or qualities of character that we want to emulate.

What makes a “real life hero” heroic? And how can we keep ourselves from turning them into idols? Are heroes a “childish” fantasy that we should dispense with, or are they necessary to character formation?

In this episode, we discuss the following thinkers/ideas/texts/etc.:

• Emerald Fennel
• The destruction of “homeless encampments” in Portland, ME
• The Muppets Christmas Carol (1992)
• NYT article noting the recent passing of Jason’s hero, Antonio Negri
• HBS Season 2, Episode 23 on “Superheroes”
• Aristotle, Ethics
• Antonio Negri on his experience of autonomous proletarian organization in the period of intense working-class struggle that gripped Italy in the 60s
• HBS Season 8, Episode 108 “The Subversive Seventies (with Michael Hardt)”
• G.W.F. Hegel’s “Lordship and Bondage” passage from The Phenomenology of Spirit (in which the famous passage “no man is a hero to his valet” appears)
• Who tf was Ken Bone?
• Bob Odenkirk
• Donald Glover
• “Charity TikTok Videos Put an Uncomfortable Spin on Morality” (Wired, 2022)
• Elon Musk’s 2023 interview, during which he tells advertisers to “go f*ck themselves”
• Richard Bernstein (Philosophy, The New Sch0ol for Social Research)
• Lucius T. Outlaw (Philosophy, Vanderbilt University)

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