Meeting our heroes

[Nebulous]

Question: Should we meet our heroes? Why or why not?

(You don't actually have to read the rest unless you're bored :P)

There's a lyric in a Metric song that says:

They were right when they said we should never meet our heroes
When they bowed at their feet, in the end it wasn't me

I wonder about this a lot.
I'm in a lot of fandoms so this thought has passed through my mind, and hearing it in a song just makes me think about it even more.

Should we meet our heroes? I've heard people online who've met their hero(es) say that "it was the best day of their life". It seems great to the majority of people- someone means a lot to you? Why wouldn't you want to meet them?

With me, I'll love a band, but not want to see them live. Why? Because maybe I'll be disappointed. Maybe it'll be a bad experience and I'll have trouble enjoying them /their music afterwards. Them doing or saying one shitty thing is enough to really ruin my respect for them. It sucks that I'm like that, I guess I'm just really sensitive, but still. And I don't mean 'if they make one mistake I'll loose all respect for them because I view them as perfect beings'-- I understand that celebrities are human beings. They're not going to sound perfect live, they might even sound bad, but that's okay because I expect it. What I'm scared of is them making some comment that's messed up or insulting a fan. That could ruin the experience for me.
(This definitely applies to heroes who aren't bands as well, I was just using bands as an example)

Two of my heroes are Amanda Palmer and Gerard Way.
I honestly feel like it would be pretty cool to meet either of them. (Going to a show, some sort of event where you can see them or just running into them somewhere.)
They're both aware of how much they mean to people, so they probably wouldn't be rude or say anything that'll make people feel shitty about themselves.
So I think it depends on who it is.

Trying to summarize my thoughts a bit:

Reasons why I wouldn't want to meet a hero of mine irl:
- maybe I'll find out that they're actually a jerk
- once you've met them, you loose that drive (?) that you had before, that longing to meet them, because you already have? I think some people view meeting their hero as a goal, and once they've done they cross it off their list, feel glad that they've accomplished ipit, and then move on to the next thing. I'm not sure why but this should make me feel weird. Maybe I don't like closure. Hmm.

Things that might happen if I meet/see them irl that I don't mind:
- I'll get to see that they aren't perfect. I actually like this part, makes them even more relatable and inspiring. Perfect people seem so untouchable and their skills seem unattainable. Seeing your heroes being human shows that you can be someone's hero without being perfect. Extremely inspiring.


These thoughts aren't really put together so well right now...

But my question is:
Should we meet our heroes? Why or why not?

Also what do you think that lyric means? It's from this song: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/metric/breathingunderwater.html

I don't really get what she's saying in the "When they bowed at their feet, in the end it wasn't me" line.
When her heroes bowed at her feet, in the end it wasn't her?
She met her heroes, they bowed at her feet, but they weren't really seeing her as she is? (It wasn't her they were bowing to, but some perception they had of her?)
That would make more sense if the roles were switched, though.
When the fans bowed at the feet of their heroes, they were just bowing to their perception of the hero as 'perfect', and that's not who the hero really is.

I dunno.

I'd love to look at my question in context of the whole song, as well as any thoughts on the question itself (like not taking the song into the mix).

Have you met any of your heroes? Are you glad you did?

Tangents and examples are welcome.

(Also I know that not all heroes are celebrities! They just happen to be in my case. If you have a hero who isn't a celeb, feel free to talk about that too.)

 

[Sinny91]

Majority of my heros are dead...

I suppose my musical heros are Amy Lee, Linkin Park, Pink, Eminem and Lauryn Hill.

I've seen Evanescence live twice, and they were fucking epic.
Same with Lauryn Hill... Can't Iimagine Linkin Park or Pink disappointing me.

Spose I'd still like to see Eminem, but he is hardly the man he used to be.

But as they are my heros I can see past some of their occasional flaws or not so great performances.

 

[PaulMaster]

Sure meet them. As well, expect them to be human.

 

[Nebulous]

Ayy I'm here again.

I've gotten out of my house once or twice since making this thread, but I'm still a relatively sheltered and clueless kid who's scared of experiencing real world stuff.

William Shatner.
Captain Kirk.

I'm a fan.

Say I have a slim chance to see him irl at a comic con.

Geez how would that go?

I'm stressin

I've never been to a Comic Con before, like if someone offered me tickets right now I'd freak the hell out with anxiety, what do I do? How does one go about this? Who do I go with? My parents? That would be awkward as hell. Do I have to be with an adult? Probably, I mean it's far from home and all that too, argh. Out of state.
I don't know all the nerdy trivia. I'm picturing myself being embarrassed by people who think they're superior fans to me. Goddamnit I love Star Trek, I haven't seen every episode or the movies but god that show makes my heart glow like the sun and gives me so much hope and motivation. That show kept me alive.
I love it.
*considering taking the Vulcan approach of unemotional logic. Clear my head of the frantic illogical mess it often is and get back into the rational swing. Makes your defenses sound more acceptable. Therefore hopefully decreasing chances of getting hurt..*

I overthink things but I don't know what else to do / how else to go about existing

Blah blah

Have any of you been to a comic con?
What was it like? Who should/can I go with?
Would you recommend going at all?
What are the most personally scary parts of it?

Ahh???!?
Halp I'm a mess

I am a nerd tho I've been emotional about comic con for years, jealous of those who do go yet I snap at any offers for me to be there, one of those envy things where you want to kill ppl for going because you want that but you're scared of being there so why not just blow up comic con and yourself ay help me

(Uh if it helps at all I've got social anxiety and just issues in general. Try to view it through that lens; that's how I see things often.)

 

[TheManBeyond]

i've been to a comic/anime convention once, i felt extremely out of place even tho i was really into some shows at that time. my friends were wearing cat ears. no one told me anything or made me feel uncofortable but i could feel in their skin how they wanted to tell me: you don't belong here. hard to explain. specially when our group clashed with another. nerds can be really segregational.
but my advice is, u should go, if you don't like it, don't go again, that's what i did.
the strong smell of ramen / nerdsweat won't leave your head in at least 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[JR_IsP]

Hm, my heroes?

Fictional I guess I'd pick Patrick Jane (yeah, me and my avatar just love that series), uh, Temperance Brennan, Sherlock Holmes, pleople like that. When I started to write this I was thinking of "hey, I should meet star wars characters" or other sci-fi non-human characters, but I guess they're so fictional and alien to an intp context such as mine than they will either feel out of place or try to burn this to pieces.

In real world, however, I admire several bands (such as Iron Maiden), but just as Nebulous stated, see them live may be dissapointing (on the other hand, a friend of mine went to a Maiden concert on Argentina like 2 years ago and keeps telling me that it was the best day of his life).

Also several scientists, not only Einstein, but Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku (idk why but he always appear in every documentary), Higgs, Tesla... I could go on.

But I'm 80% sure that as many other people I've met in the past, probably my mental image will always overestimate them making the real meeting... dissapointing.

 

[Nebulous]

A Farewell - DeForest Kelley - A Tribute

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FCSPimDxXDw

Reading through the comments here just really struck me. Life is short and opportunities pass before you even realize.
This summer I was one day away from seeing Nichelle Nichols; if we had known we might have been able to plan things differently so that it worked out.

Spoiler

I was in the Enterprise- here's a pic I took in the transporter room!- but that was a stop on our drive around the Vermont area.

[bIMG]http://media.nola.com/celebrities/photo/nichelle-nichols-who-played-lieutenant-uhura-on-the-star-trek-series-to-appear-at-wizard-world-comic-con-new-orleans-2017-f39344801293d24a.jpg[/bIMG]
Nichelle, the Queen of Space. I love her so.

Spoiler

[bIMG]http://tansyrr.com/tansywp/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/uhura3.jpg[/bIMG]
[bIMG]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U7aZZH9-qH0/UquL94lCX_I/AAAAAAAACdk/zk2JBQcFs60/s1600/Nichelle+Nichols,+publicity+photo,+circa+late+'50s+-+early+'60s.png[/bIMG]

She was so important in history.

MARTIN: Now, in hindsight, of course, you know, everybody recognizes that this was a groundbreaking role. An African-American woman fourth in command on a spaceship in the 23rd century, you know, an officer, a leader. But you had actually planned to quit after your first season. Why?

Ms. NICHOLS: Well, I grew up in musical theater. To me, the highlight and the epitome of my life as a singer and actor and a dancer/choreographer was to star on Broadway. And as my popularity grew once the show was on the air, I was beginning to get all kinds of offers. And I decided I was going to leave, go to New York and make my way on the Broadway stage. And a funny thing happened.

MARTIN: Well, tell us about that funny thing that happened.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. NICHOLS: I went in to tell Gene Roddenberry that I was leaving after the first season, and he was very upset about it. And he said, take the weekend and think about what I am trying to achieve here in this show. You're an integral part and very important to it. And so I said, yes, I would. And that - on Saturday night, I went to an NAACP fundraiser, I believe it was, in Beverly Hills. And one of the promoters came over to me and said, Ms. Nichols, there's someone who would like to meet you. He says he is your greatest fan.

And I'm thinking a Trekker, you know. And I turn, and before I could get up, I looked across the way and there was the face of Dr. Martin Luther King smiling at me and walking toward me. And he started laughing. By the time he reached me, he said, yes, Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan. I am that Trekkie.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. NICHOLS: And I was speechless. He complimented me on the manner in which I'd created the character. I thanked him, and I think I said something like, Dr. King, I wish I could be out there marching with you. He said, no, no, no. No, you don't understand. We don't need you on the - to march. You are marching. You are reflecting what we are fighting for. So, I said to him, thank you so much. And I'm going to miss my co-stars.

And his face got very, very serious. And he said, what are you talking about? And I said, well, I told Gene just yesterday that I'm going to leave the show after the first year because I've been offered - and he stopped me and said: You cannot do that. And I was stunned. He said, don't you understand what this man has achieved? For the first time, we are being seen the world over as we should be seen. He says, do you understand that this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch. I was speechless.

Ms. NICHOLS: Well, it's interesting that you said, you know, you would run through the house and look. I met Whoopi Goldberg when Gene was doing The Next Generation and she had told me when Star Trek came on she was nine years old and she said she turned the TV on and saw me and ran through the house screaming: Come quick, come quick. Theres a black lady on TV and she ain't no maid.

And that did something to my heart, so I knew that I had made the right decision, because as Dr. King said, you have been chosen.

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942461/Star-Treks-Uhura-Reflects-On-MLK-Encounter

She's just such an incredibly lovely soul. She's one of the people I would really like to meet. So welcoming, kind, understanding, wholesome and beautiful.

She's 84; I really hope I get to meet her some day...

Bowie, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelly, so many great people have passed before I've got to see them or even before I was old enough to know them.

Mm that's one thing about having a taste for stories and icons from the past. Plenty of people I admire today passed before I was even born.

Geez life is such a fleeting thing

 

[Creeping Death]

I never give anyone that much praise, to consider them my hero. Unless they personally save me from certain death. There be, however, people I admire.

James Randi, Alexander Shulgin, Niccolo Machiavelli, Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez-Orejuela.

 

[QuickTwist]

I don't really have any heros, never really had "heros" in my life.