New Orleans       Where have all of the heroes gone?  It’s a great social and cultural question, even for someone like me, who believes in the “folk” or people part of the phrase, but not the “hero” thing.  That’s just me and our work, but I understand why people want there to be heroes, just like they want there to be a heaven.  Both are ways to cope with the unknown, one now, and the other for later.  Maybe in our times of mind-boggling, record-breaking inequality finding real folk heroes is more important to people than usual.

At one level, I’m talking about the guy who killed the UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York City.  If you believe police reports, no one know who he is.  I’ve watched too many police procedural to believe that we’re hearing everything they know. I do believe that we are all still clueless about his motives or politics, which makes it a bit of leap for me to see him riding a white horse against the evil forces of the insurance industry and the rich.

But, I get it.  He has avoided capture for four days and counting.  Where sometimes the internet goes crazy crowd surfing to find clues and identify suspects, this time that’s not really happening.  There’s a lot of internet traffic, but it’s pretty easily categorized as “atta-boy” in its attitude about him, despite the cold-blooded premeditation of the killing.  The fact that so much of the social media commentary is vociferously anti-establishment, anti-corporate, and seemingly class-based is encouraging many, and scaring the bejesus it seems out of the ruling elites.

With this guy we do have the classic one against many, little man against the big guys, and David versus Goliath vibes.  He’s evaded 60,000 cameras, DNA testing, and an army of police in jurisdictions around the country looking for him.  He’s an everyman jumping a bike, grabbing a cab, and riding the bus in and out of the biggest city in America.  Even without knowing his motives, he knew what buttons to push with his bullet etchings to win some support from everyone feeling massive outrage at service, pricing, and protection from insurance companies.  He’s clever and sly.

Looking for folk heroes these days isn’t easy.  Our sports heroes are demi-gods not only in their special physical skills and abilities, but they are also in many cases rich as Croesus.  They have problems, sure, but they aren’t our problems.  Influencers might have a lot of followers and wannabes, but everyone, young and old, know this is just a hustle.  Movie stars and big-time musical acts from Taylor Swift on out have huge fans, and might be idolized by some, but no one is confused about them being heroes.  The #MeToo moment was all too clear about their feet of clay.  Politicians, be they Trump, Biden, Harris or whomever may have fans and some voter support, but heroes, get out of here.

For those folks out there, who are wringing their hands about what it means for our society that a stone-cold killer could be a folk hero, here’s a clue towards understanding this phenomenon.  An anti-hero can still be a folk hero, and, in fact, often anti-heroes be they Bonnie and Clyde, Robin Hood, or so many others can become folk heroes, not because they are ideals or belong on a pedestal, but because they are folks just like us, and we can identify with them.  That’s what needs to scare all of the big whoops and get all of us to look in the mirror.  God knows we wouldn’t pull the trigger, but that doesn’t mean that it’s never crossed a lot of peoples’ minds, and as Chris Rock famously quipped, “we understand.”