David Beckham

I think the difference between Ken Loach and David Beckham is that one is more famous than the other - I am not sure what the right term would be for either but imo it wouldn't be 'hero', although sports people are termed 'Sporting Heroes'.

They are both people that others look up to in their different fields

Any ideas? Icon has too religious connotations.

Thanks Elegran you have said it very succinctly.
Ken Loach Anniebach because he makes films with a social conscience and hasn't abandoned his principles for the money he could no doubt command if he wished. There is no doubt that 'Cathy Come Home' made us tackle the issue of homelessness and 'I Daniel Blake' has shown the current issues. I would have thought you would have realised how influential he has been.
Sport is sport and footballers who do well should be applauded but they do it for money and their whole lives are managed by financiers, to make them great heroes, and then condemn them because they actually carry the principles that have always been there, i.e making money, to its obvious conclusion shows just how twisted our society is.

Where did you get all that "bitter and twisted" accusation from, SAAK ? It seems to me you were reading into trisher's comment what you wanted to read, not what was there.

I read it as "ordinary guy makes good, and well done, but that doesn't make him a God to be worshipped as though he has no faults".

well i might be wearing a different dress to you Jalima but the dead bit will be the same

when you find out let me know

we all come in the same way and go out just the same too. no one is any better than anyone else. if you find an avenue to make a few quid then I'm all for it.

A film maker isn't a hero!!
Nor is an actor/singer who stands on a stage pontificating about the world.
And footballers who dribble a ball past opponents and shoot a goal do not display 'courage'.

The White Helmets are heroes.

Let's put it in perspective.

not seen many taking drugs due to David Beckham, he is and does great things for the kids of today so to stop this is ridiculous, mean spirited and just down right jealous.

I think there has long been sporting heroes , youngsters need sporting Heroes, I admit I have had a few

Very few are "hero's" trisher. In fact I don't have any, neither do i get all bitter and twisted about people who have bettered themselves no matter how. It's fine with me. Im not sorry for him either, that again is you being rather twisted.

Ken Loach a hero along with the white helmets ? No way Tricia, he makes good films just as many before him have done, I think David Lean was a great director but a hero?

Delighted to leave them alone stillaliveandkicking in fact if you read my post that is what I think should happen to them. I believe heroes should be people who do good or achieve great things, like the scientists who discovered DNA or the film maker Ken Loach or the fantastic 'white helmets'. No matter how much effort they put in a football player is just that. I'm not 'jealous' I simply think that heroism is devalued when you use it to describe someone like Beckham. I'm actually quite sorry for him.

Trisher, is there not a difference between sending an abusive email and an email to a friend with swear words in it?

is.. god sake! bloody apple!

them.... them... predictive it at it again!

Given the.... of course! predictive is shite!

hang on a minute there trisher. it is a hard world out there for kids to become footballers on a national level. it takes hours and hours of dedication, same as for any other sport.

You're post just goes to show that there are a lot of very jealous people out there. I say good luck to him and his wife. Give then same opportunities no matter where they come from, everyone else would do the same.

So, he had a moan about something on a private email. It made me laugh and i sort of got where he came from too.

Leave him alone.

If you make your heroes from ordinary people who happen to be able to kick a ball, pay them an extraordinary amount of money for doing it, and generally treat them as if they are some sort of super hero, is it really their fault when it emerges that they are just as self-serving and bad tempered as most of the population? I really don't care about the Beckhams and have never bothered to keep up with their antics but really I can't condemn someone for fiddling their taxes and sending abusive e-mails. Yes it's wrong but it isn't the crime of the century. But then I never thought of him as anything but a kid who could play football, married to a manufactured pop singer, a couple who just happened to make it big. So what has happened doesn't surprise me and actually isn't that big a deal.

Serious objection! what evidence do you have that Andy or Km Murray and Judy Murray are "foul mouthed"? Flipping 'eck, where are you coming from?
Judy Murray does a massive amount for tennis coaching and for young people but we are NOT talking about her. Nor about Kim.
Overdosing on nasty pills today?

And while Philip Green keeps his what sort of standards are there?

I don't see why DB shouldn't have been given a knighthood when unpleasant, foul-mouthed Andy Murray with a foul-mouthed wife and a foul-mouthed mother was given one with a lot less achievement. And yes, I am a tennis fan.

I have always heard that Victoria doesn't smile because she hates her teeth, which sounds quite reasonable to me.

Surely every one of us has, at some time, said or written something which we wouldn't want to be made public.

Some think this family are immune from mockery and insults because they have money Iam

Thanks elegran, as ever your calm comments hit the spot.

As for sneering - some of the comments on here about VB would fit that description, I recall one poster referred to her as his lollipop wife, others to her facial expression. The lollipop description is usually used to describe young women who are very thin, some to the point of having an eating disorder. Some gransnet members will have struggled with an eating disorder, some will have children or grandchikdren who do. The on line bullying, reports in the media on faceboook and so on, are known to have contributed to the development of all kinds of unhelpful responses by those on the receiving end. VB has received a good deal of that kind of thing. I'd have hoped women who gave as much life experience as people old enough to join gransnet would be less likely to have a go at VB

That is it Elegran.