Word: heroic
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...large measure, the modern Mob lacks the traditional justification for crime?the bitter spur of poverty. It also lacks the occasional, near-heroic dimension of defying law and the established order for the sake of rebellion. It is by and large a middle-class sort of Mob, more or less tolerated by the affluent. Among the public there is often a certain psychological hypocrisy. Rage is great over conspicuous criminal acts, but there is less anger over the far more harmful depredations that are the specialty of organized crime. Until there is a popular revolt, La Cosa Nostra will probably...
...castle within by trapping enemies seeking entrance. Modern man reduced the notion to a geometric style of gardening, an intricate network of hedged alleys that can lead a visitor to an open space in the middle-if he makes all the correct turns. Still, mythology lent the maze heroic proportions: it took a Theseus to tackle the labyrinth at Knossos, kill the Minotaur within and return from the depths...
...down the stretch the other Saturday to win the Jim Dandy Stakes by 10 lengths. It was a most convincing victory, and people have begun to bandy the word 'great' around when mentioning this quick little champion. 'Great' in horse racing applies only to the sacrosanct, exaulted by their heroic achievements and Olympic genealogy...
...says, "and talking revolution, jeez, I'll hit it pretty good." Forever the superpatriot, he once refused to let a bandleader play his favorite tune because "everybody would've had to stand up." Yet beyond the self-parody, beyond the fifth-face-at-Mount-Rushmore pose, there is a heroic essence that Wayne manages to convey. Today, like "war," the word "hero" is usually preceded by a disinfectant: "anti." Not to the Duke. Conflict is made to be won; heroes are created to be the uncommon man sans imperfection. "I stay away from nuances," he says. "From psychoanalyst-couch scenes...
...ancient mariners and American pioneers, the early Polar explorers like Scott and Peary, the early aviators like the Wright brothers and Lindbergh. To many of today's young, who view courage in moral terms as a battle against impersonal organization, the astronauts do not seem particularly heroic precisely because they epitomize the organization...