Are you a hero or a villain?

When tragedy strikes, heroes step up. Pearl Harbor, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, mass shootings and countless other disasters all have that in common. And when a catastrophe occurs in other nations, the United States sends aid. This is a country of heroes. So where are they? The COVID-19 pandemic has killed millions. Normally, when such a tragedy strikes, Americans pride themselves on being the hero. Get the glory, save the life, go home. We see heroes in people who respond quickly — tackle a shooter, do CPR, run into a burning building. But it seems some prefer to ignore health protocols; to not be a hero. Some see themselves as the hero taking the anti-vaccine position. But if misguided, seeking to be a hero can be damaging. So writes Karl Marlantes, who, in "What It Is Like To Go to War," said: "Wanting to be a society-certified hero is a specialness issue. I see people killing themselves at work and at home to pay for mortgages that are too much for them, or taking vacations they can't afford in the right spots, all to be special. Wanting a medal in war is just killing yourself at a faster pace, for all the same wrong reasons." Leah Carroll referenced Marlantes in her 2011 column in The Atlantic about America's hero situation. She published the piece around the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks about those who pulled people from the debris. She also references Marlantes' take on members of the military, and how they do, in fact, carry out heroic acts. But military worship and the like is tunnel vision; a short-term view of the heroes. When being a hero requires many months of sacrifice or patience, suddenly it's not popular or outright ignored. Look at the number of homeless veterans. Look at the drug epidemic. Look at the death toll for the COVID-19 pandemic. These are all long-term problems that require everyday people to step up and be a hero. And I believe most Americans, if asked, would seek to mitigate such problems. But it's not clear to everyone how to help. In regards to COVID-19, the heroes are still here. They're the health care workers and mask-wearers. The vaccine adopters. The social distancers. But they're often drowned out by the "hoax" proponents, the anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists. These people are not heroes, even if they believe so. Look to any vaccine-related article online and you'll find dozens of mind-numbing comments from people convinced vaccines and masks are a bad idea. So what's going on here? People rarely act under the assumption they're wrong. The anti-vaxxers believe their fight is justified. The truth is those who scoff at health regulations are trapped in a web of conspiracy and lies. Anti-vaxxers and "hoax" proponents remind me of Cold War enthusiasts. The Red Scare drew a line in the sand that clearly identified the "good guys" and the "bad guys." We all want to be the "good guy," the hero. But in 2021, the line is twisted. The modern-day "Scare" is about masks and vaccines. They're viewed as anti-American by the most extreme. To such people, being a hero means being anti-vaccine. How dare you force health orders on us. How dare you take away my rights, they say. We can't let socialist policies win, they think. Fight the masks. Stop the steal. These people must long for the 1980s era of chest-thumping Americanism. We're the best. We're the good guys. We're the heroes. People don't usually arrive at these conclusions by themselves. They need a bad example. And, unfortunately, they got one who, I think, may have re-ignited the Cold War-era "good guys" vs "bad guys" way of thinking. John Beck, a professor in English for the University of Westminster in London, wrote about how Cold War anxieties are still shaping our world today. "The geopolitics may be different, but the technology, infrastructure, and worldview that built up and hardened during the Cold War era are still with us. Normalized surveillance, generalized anxiety, an obsession with security, nationalized identities, pervasive suspicion and secrecy, spectacular military technology and proxy wars, spies, whistleblowers, and the enemy within." People who fight health regulations fear a "radical" agenda trampling on their rights. They have what I view as Cold War-era anxiety and fear. So while they view themselves as heroes fighting for their rights, really, they're doing the opposite. The ordinary American hero seeks to save others by wearing a mask and getting a vaccine, not fighting them.