In this week’s episode of The Hero Report — which might be my favorite episode in this podcast’s young life — we debate the importance of success to heroism. Does a hero need to be successful and what do we mean when we talk about success?
We also spend a few minutes discussing Whitney Houston’s death, Chris Brown’s success at the Grammy Awards, and what heroic intervention in those cases might look like.
Tell us what you think, discuss these issues with us on Twitter (Matt Langdon / Ari Kohen), and join us every Friday at 4pm Eastern on Google+ for our live broadcast (where you can interact with us as we record the week’s podcast).
Want to make the podcast portable? Subscribe via iTunes (video / audio-only).
The Hero Report Broadcasts
Since it’s Friday morning, I wanted to remind RC readers that The Hero Report podcast will be broadcast live on Google+ this afternoon at 4pm Eastern. Our guest this week will be Mike Dilbeck, whose Every | Day Hero Campaign got under way recently.
We’ve only done one live broadcast — last week — and we’re hoping to use this feature in as many interesting ways as possible. Not only is this a chance to watch the podcast being produced and to hear (and see) it a few days before it’s available, it’s also a chance to impact the conversation as it happens by commenting while we’re on the air.
To be sure that you’ll be able to watch the broadcast and comment on what we’re discussing, I recommend adding me to one of your Google+ circles. Drop by and see what we’re up to … and, of course, tell your friends!
Want to make the podcast portable? Subscribe via iTunes (video / audio-only).
This story about heroism in a Kenyan orphanage and the use of Reddit to raise some money to help is very impressive. Here’s the story, posted by TheLake, a Reddit user:
After two previous invasions during the week, Omari was relatively certain another would occur. He woke up to the sound of footsteps outside his door, he figured it was his mother taking a few of the boys outside to go to the bathroom. He quickly realized that the footsteps were heavy, and that of more than one person; he then saw a flashlight shine beneath the crack of his door. Being the third time this happened that week, he had already stashed a hammer beside his bed. He grabbed it, and threw it at the first person who entered his room. He hit the person square in the head, and chased the rest out. The following night, the three thugs returned, presumably to avenge their friend. Omari put up a fight but was outnumbered. The last thing he remembers was being struck in the face by the machete. He has been in and out of the hospital since, yet remains positive and confident that the suspects will one day see justice. Until then, I only hope that is courage and strength is felt by all of you. Speaking with him was a very humbling and special experience that I will never forget. I told him I would try my best to help, so this is my effort: Reddit, already donations are pouring in, and I can’t thank you enough.
Through a series of updates, we learn that more than $50,000 has been donated … in less than a day.
We’ll be talking about all of this on our next Hero Report podcast, which we’ll record this afternoon at 4pm Eastern (and which will be broadcast live on Google+). Our guest will be Dr. Zeno Franco.
If you subscribe to the podcast (audio and video are available separately in iTunes so you can choose which you’d prefer), the edited version of the episode we record live today should automatically download for you on Monday of next week.
The Hero Report
I’m excited to announce a new venture on which I’m about to embark: A weekly video podcast on heroism with my friend Matt Langdon, an educator and blogger from Michigan (via Australia) with whom I’ve been in conversation for a few years now. Our first episode — which features a discussion on the Costa Concordia shipwreck, the captain’s dereliction of duty, and whether or not it’s appropriate to call someone a hero for doing his or her duty — will be available here tomorrow.
Matt and I have both spent a great deal of time thinking, writing, and lecturing on various aspects of heroism; now we’re ready to discuss what we’ve learned and to learn from others. To do this, we’ll take a look at stories about heroism (or the lack thereof) from the week’s news and we’ll debate what happened, why it happened, and what should have happened. From me, you can expect references to philosophy and pop culture as we go. But, I should note, it won’t just be us droning on about our own opinions: We’ll also have guests each week and we’ll pepper them with questions.
What’s more, we’re hoping to really embrace the social networking environment in which we spend so much of our time by taking suggestions for topics and guests for each week’s show, interacting on Twitter, and even broadcasting the show live via Google+ a few days before it’s polished up and available to download.
For those who don’t have any particular desire to see us, there will be an audio-only version, and both audio and video versions should be available before long via iTunes. New episodes will always broadcast at 4pm Eastern on Google+ and will be available to download on Mondays or Tuesday, depending on how much editing we need to do to make ourselves presentable. We might also sneak in a new episode here and there if something particularly interesting happens; we’ll likely just announce these a bit in advance via Twitter for people who’d like to catch the live broadcast.
I’m excited about this project, and hope you’ll consider checking it out and telling your friends!
