Heroes & Anti-heroes

Good evening survivors and welcome back to the Post Forum Hangover session here at the Max Rowley Media Academy. Yes, a huge night was had by all, myself included, as I, along with many others here tonight, joined the long and star-studded list of esteemed academy award winners. So here we are, two days later, back in the studios to continue our never-ending pursuit of media excellence, a little battle-fatigued, but ready and willing to give it our best once again.

Tonight is my lesson number 34 in TV training, and the subject of this programme is “HEROES AND ANTI HEROES”. Seeing as I won the award for Most Creative talent in 2000, I promise a show tonight brimming with inventiveness, inspiration, and creative genius.

HEROES and ANTI HEROES. Heroes are good. Anti heroes are bad. Some heroes are very good and some anti heroes are very bad. I like heroes. They are nice. I don’t like anti heroes, they are not very nice at all. Do you have any heroes? I do. DO you have any anti-heroes? I Do. I bet you really like your heroes don’t you? I like mine. Heroes are people who do good things. Anti heroes are people who do bad things. Have you ever done any good things? Maybe you’re a hero. Have you ever done any bad things? Maybe you’re an anti-hero. Think about that for a while as we go to a clip of one of my biggest heroes.

CUT – PLAY CLIP – ACTION JACKSON

Yes, Detroit Police Sergeant Jericho Action Jackson. He’s bad, he’s black, he’s on a mission to stamp out crime wherever it hides, and he’s prepared to bend the rules to do it, whilst maintaining a pleasant disposition and always managing to come up with the one-liners to ease the tension of a dangerous situation. Action Jackson is my hero. I want my own Action Jackson to follow me everywhere I go, and keep me out of harms way. Action Jackson. I love you. Thank you for being you.

Another one of my heroes is Bob Geldof. He is someone who came from working class obscurity, rose to the top of the pop business and then single-handedly organised the biggest rock event in history – LIVE AID. He was knighted for his efforts and is an inspiration to me to prove that if you have enough motivation and conviction, you can achieve whatever it is that you set out to do. His autobiography became a best seller, and he is currently in charge of England’s New Year’s Eve Celebrations this year.

This next clip is out of Pink Floyd’s movie, The Wall, and Bob Geldof stars as Pink, the rock star who totally loses it and becomes – an ANTI HERO. So here we have my hero, playing an antihero, in a movie written by another of my heroes, Roger Waters, Pink Floyd’s bass player.

CUT – CLIP – PINK FLOYD

That movie is filled with powerful social commentary, and Roger Waters has taken the rock genre way beyond the catchy 3 minute tune, and into a formidable medium in which to express ideas, and change the way people view our world. That clip, as you could well see, was a send up of Nazi Germany, and I Guess when it comes to anti heroes, Mr A Hitler was certainly one of the biggest. Hitler was right into black magic and he used some very powerful symbolism and even performed rituals to evoke dark forces and as we all know, he did a pretty good job of it. He took the sacred Buddhist symbol and reversed it to create the Swastika, and he even purchased a dagger, said to be the one that was stuck into Jesus’s side at this Crucifixion, and Hitler inverted the dagger in a magic ritual, and called upon evil forces to be his allies in his efforts to take over the world.

CUT – BEN ELTON

Funny Man Ben Elton is a hero of mine, and I actually met him once and was able to tell him so myself. Creating such classic comedies as the Young Ones and Blackadder put him on the world stage, and then he became phenomenally successful doing Stand Up comedy performances. He has a great grasp of the funny aspect to any situation, and his writing has become so polished over the years, so when he performs his own material with such zest and conviction, the results are very good indeed. His comedy always has undertones of social commentary, and he likes to use comedy to get some very serious messages across. He is a prolific writer, and his books, like Stark, and Gridlock, have been best sellers, delivering strong environmental messages whilst taking the mickey out of humanity at the same time.

Another hero of mine is self-appointed guru, and god-appointed earthly channeller of the spiritual entity he calls the “Mystical Traveller Consciousness” the leader of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness – John Roger. Here he is giving one of his hundreds of seminars – all available on Video for $39.95.

CUT – PLAY VIDEO

I know that some of you are, feeling validated, whilst others are feeling violated by what you just saw. Now the Mystical Traveller Consciousness is working in the upper spiritual realms to bring you back into balance so that you may release that energy and come to a place of peace with me, and with my God, and your God, or whatever it is that you call God, to raise your consciousness to that higher realm where my consciousness resides in that that is not what you saw that that was, but here, now, the manifestation of that which was to bring you a clearing process of that that was not what it was then , but now, or at least then , in now within the realm of what is. Do you get that? That what was, is and will be then what is now, what I’m saying to you tonight. OK. Good

I admire people like John Roger for their sheer gall to appoint themselves as spiritual leaders. The funny thing is that he actually does say a lot of really good stuff in his books and tapes, but most of it he is currently being sued for, for copying from some other guru’s books. That and the fiddling with little boys, but overall, he has a good heart and means well.

Now I see heroes and Anti heroes as being very important in our lives. The heroes we love possess qualities that we have inside ourselves and they show by example that it is possible to use those qualities and achieve great things. It is dangerous to think that we can BE our heroes, because their lives are totally different from our own. Even if we develop and utilize the same qualities as our heroes, the course our lives take will be immeasurably different. I like to see my heroes as people who show me what is good about myself, and the very fact that they are my heroes is proof that somehow I am aware of those qualities within me. Similarly, anyone I would consider anti heroes possess qualities that are opposite to my own traits. Heroes and anti heroes are really embodiments of a whole bunch of dos and don’ts for us to recognise, learn from, and take on board in our own lives.

If you never knew me, and I listed all my heroes and antiheroes, I think you would probably get a pretty clear idea of the kind of person I am. I hope I have managed to give you at least an inkling about that tonight.

Here are a few more of my heroes, to help paint the Stefan Sojka picture. - David Bowie, David Suzuki, Peter Garrett, Herbert W Armstrong, John Howard, The Queen, Benny Hinn, Benny Hill, The Wiggles, Humphrey B Bear, Kerry Packer, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Mother Theresa, Margaret Thatcher –

Michael Hutchence, Jim Morrisson, Jimi Hendrix, Bon Scott, Kurt Cobain, Mamma Cass, Paula Yates,

George Bush, Saddam Hussein,

Bogart Torelli, Kken Willis, Jim, from Jim’s Mowing Franchise, Nudge from Hey Dad, Niles, the Butler on The Nanny, Hugh Hefner, Larry Flint, The guy that signs all the Australian bank notes, The lady who does the Telstra message bank instructions, The Architect who designed that big square block of flats at MacMahons Point, so many people who have left their mark in this world and inspired millions with their courageous actions and their unyielding commitment. Each and every one a landmark, a beacon in my own journey through this mortal life I lead.

You may be feeling down sometimes,

And then a hero comes along With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth That a hero lies in you.

Goodnight and thanks for watching. I love you.