Wanted: nonlethal heroes

From Charlie Reese:

Recently on my favorite television channel, Turner Classic Movies, I saw a couple of old biopics. One was about French chemist Louis Pasteur, and the other was about Paul Ehrlich, a German scientist.

They reminded me of how poisoned our culture has become. Hollywood's idea of heroes today are soldiers, cops, psychopaths or comic-book fantasy characters - – all essentially killers. Yet Pasteur and Ehrlich did more for the human race and saved more lives than all the generals who have ever been born...

My point is that surely America's massive entertainment industry could find some heroes who are benefiting human beings instead of killing them. Granted, it will require some creative people to make a film exciting without special effects, armies of stuntmen and gallons of fake blood.

Paul Muni, the actor who played Pasteur, said the greatest compliment he received was not the Academy Award but when a mother told him that after seeing the movie, her son asked for a microscope. That's a heck of a lot better than a kid asking for a gun or a sword.

If we listen to a steady siren song of hopeless, nihilistic violence, we shouldn't be surprised to find that world leaping off the silver screen. As mentioned Sunday, you become what you focus on.