Notes from the Cellar

Heroes are hard to find

by Jeff Cox, PCC Wine and Beer Merchandiser

José Bové is off to jail, again. A French court has sentenced the activist farmer to four months in prison for destroying a field of genetically modified (GM) maize, the latest in a series of acts protesting the impact of globalization on farmers.

These protests have included razing GM fields and dismantling a McDonald’s restaurant. Bové reacted stoically to the sentence, calling for a boycott of Monsanto, one of the world’s largest producers of GM technology, while supporters responded angrily to the sentence and hailed Bové as a hero.

At a time when political and religious leaders of all stripes label anyone who’ll go along with their particular religion or cultural ideology as a “hero,” the word has lost its impact as it gets passed out like gold stars to well-behaved first-graders.

In fact, not going along fits far better the definition of heroism, at least as I understand it. The heroes in my books all stepped out of line, putting their anonymity, freedom and even their lives on the table. Rosa Parks, Thomas Paine, the Boston Tea Party, Galileo and Joan of Arc come to mind. The American Revolution began as an insurgency of gentleman farmers, regarded as terrorists by the Crown.

It’s laudable to be a person of conviction and to stand firm in one’s beliefs — it’s just not especially “heroic.” In fact, it’s what we all ought to do. I’ve always been of the mind that merely being a decent human shouldn’t merit a shower of praises. Being able to face yourself in the mirror is reward enough.

Beware those who want to give you a gold star for just doing your job as a human. They’ve usually got an agenda and they’re smart enough to know that one seldom bites the hand that pats one’s head.

Is Bové a hero? Some say yes, while you can bet that Monsanto and McDonald’s would suggest a different choice of nouns.

Who’s a hero? An ordinary farmer who saw the real farming being destroyed by the greed of the agro-industry — and did something about it? Heroic or not, Monsieur Bové is doing what more of us ought to do.

We need to step up, ask questions and accept responsibility for our own well-being and have the courage to bite the hands that get rich while fouling the earth and trying to feed us poison.