Heroification
"The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else" Umberto Eco explains just how the heroification process works. Heroification is "a degenerative process that makes people over into heroes." (p.19) The heroification process greatly changes the real truth about historic figures, changing how people see them. James w. Loewen knew this and saw the effect heroification had on various historic figures. He also knew that historians who left certain things out did not do it on purpose either. The historians figured that if people did not know the whole truth it would be okay, as long as they were not lying. The omissions and errors left out in history books and encyclopedias hide the affect of the social archetype, the beliefs, and the actions of historic figures. The power of the social archetype affects the heroification process very much. It can change a normal person to someone admired by the whole world overnight. Betsy Ross is an example of someone who became famous for not really doing anything. She is remembered as "the creator of the first flag" when this is not even true. It was her family that started this myth and it has been carried on as a social archetype throughout hist
ory. With Woodrow Wilson, the fact that textbooks help in creating his social archetype shows just how much the heroification process is affected by social archetype. The textbooks portray Wilson as "good", "for "self-determination, not colonial intervention", "ahead of his time". These mythical things said about historic figures are what is "potentially crippling to students" because the students do not understand the fact that no one is perfect. The students see that these historic figures have no flaws and get the idea that all famous people are like that. Historic figures also performed many actions that were either altered or not included in history books and encyclopedias because of the heroification process. Very few people know about the policies Wilson carried out. Historians feel that they should "take pains to insulate people from wrong-doing." They do so much to try and make historic figures do everything perfect, as if humans are really like that. Although Wilson intervened in Latin America more often than any other time in our history, historians never put the blame on him. Wilson even authorized a naval blockade of the Soviet Union and helped overthrow the Russian Revolutions. Like James W. Loewen stated in his articles, "Any accurate portrayal of the invasions could not possibly show Wilson or the United States in a favorable light." (p.35)
Some common words found in the essay are:
Woodrow Wilson's, Helen Keller, James Loewen, Woodrow Wilson, Brooklyn Eagle, Umberto Eco, Wilson United, Latin America, Betsy Ross, historic figures, , heroification process, social archetype, history books, potentially crippling students, latin america, americans' opinions, historians blame, real truth, truth historic, people truth, real truth historic, history books encyclopedias, truth historic figures,
Approximate Word count = 922
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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