Written by Richard Kane   

It's amazing how much, how someone dies affects how people see them, and we don't even tend to notice. Those who die a flashy death that relates to their work are remembered far more and copied more than those who die of old age.

Evel Knievel is fading from history. Daredevil Steve Irwin's legacy lives on. He held his infant son while feeding crocodiles. He frequently handled poisoned spiders and snakes until a poisoned spider killed him. His now 10-year-old son, in the following link, carries on his father's legacy feeding crocodiles as almost 100 spectators watch,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2770331/Crikey-Terrifying-moment-Steve-Irwin-s-brave-son-Bob-faces-against-giant-crocodile-pulled-way-handler.html

Sometimes it is good news that those dying a violent death are emulated, it allows the work of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King to continue after their death. Abraham Lincoln's legacy would be far different had he been assassinated while fighting a brutal war, then after he gave the Gettysburg Address, pardoned Confederate soldiers and did other things to bring the country together after the war ended.

It was incredibly good news that somehow Malala Yousafzai got though a seemingly impossible situation where the only way girls where she lived could be educated is to be extremely discreet about it. She has a humble, modest dress and style, rather than telling the terrorists “Ha, ha, you can't kill me” that has served her, well since her miraculous survival.

However emulating the dead can be incredibly bad news. Fortunately Fred Philps who founded Westboro Baptist Church that condemns gays and pickets funerals of the war dead died a quiet death rather than becoming a hero to some. The courts affirmed his right to picket, but no one claimed how brave he was and repeated parts of his ravings while reporting on him. In the 80's there was a film Catholics picketed “'Hail Mary”,
http://oldnews.aadl.org/aa_news_19860125-hail_mary_survives_bomb

The media didn't keep repeating such graphic scenes as Baby Jesus in a bathtub with his mother, Jesus swimming toward his mother's open legs blowing bubbles in the water then being picked up asking his mother to again tell the story of his birth, and other scenes to suggest that a dirty mind would find something dirty about the Catholic beliefs involving the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. With Charlie Hebdo, no one depicts his graphic use of words and images relating to the “N” word as they do his words and images relating to Islam,
http://www.loonwatch.com/2015/01/why-i-am-not-charlie-hebdo/

If this country and the western world insisted on Charlie Hebdo's right to disgusting use of free speech as they did the Westboro Baptist Church, Charlie Hebdo would still be alive and there would be less terrorism in the world.

Jenny Jones has a talk show where the contestants expose their secrets. A gay guest who confessed to having a crush on his best friend was murdered, and the lawsuit against the show was called and attack of free speech. If Jenny Jones or the Morley show was murdered would she then become a hero like Charlie Hebdo?
http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/TV/9905/07/talk.show.slaying.03/

When I first watched Donald Trump's the "The Apprentice" as he shouted out, “You're Fired!” I had a fleeting urge to get on the show with a hidden gun and shoot the moment Trump told me, “You're Fired!” Had someone done this then turned the gun on himself, suddenly anyone who shrilly criticized capitalism especially something like in this link below who criticized a specific exorbitant salary. would be condemned,
http://articles.philly.com/2014-09-04/news/53527730_1_fast-food-workers-civil-disobedience-wage

The demeaning comments and spreading pictures about Prophet Mohammad followed the call to assassinate Salman Rushdie. Salman Rushdie had been an intentional irritant in the Muslim world with somewhat the same fame and status as Donald Trump in the West. “Satanic Verses” besides the title of his book was the name of contentious Muslim oriented documents similar to “The lost books of the Bible”. Too bad the West didn't defend his freedom of speech in the same way it defended Fred Phelps and his picketing of funerals, instead many insisted Rushdie was a great brave enlightenment spreading person, like we rightfully do Malala Yousafzai.

When 9/11 happened some said we would be letting the terrorists win if we gave up our freedoms and/or as much as possible stayed away from public places to shield ourselves against terrorism. It is sad how much we allowed al Qaeda and ISIS determine who we are.

I wonder if looking at the way Denmark tries to rehabilitate those returning from fighting in Syria might help a little,
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/09/denmark-introduces-rehab-syrian-fighters-201496125229948625.html

Not that terrorists necessarily believed it, but bin Laden didn't follow the script he set up for his followers. Critically one helicopter crashed clearly giving him warning and his wives and children weren't taken away like the US planned and the relatives didn't state any details bin Laden's followers could find something to inspire themselves with.

Whatever we can or can not do about assassins and terrorists choosing our heroes it is important that we realize how much this effects who almost all our heroes are.