There Must Be A Pony In Here Somewhere
- Motorized Chair Formerly Known as La-Z-Boy Sells for $11,000
- CEOs Are Hilarious!
- We’ve Found the Green Shoots—in an Old Bank?
- Rock Band Weezer Uses Snuggie to Promote New Album
- 'DWI Chair' Up for Auction on eBay After La-Z-Boy Protests
- Bidding for Motorized La-Z-Boy Tops $40,000
- Apple Fan Alert: The iPhone Costume—And It Works
- It Pays to Be a Rat in Chicago
- Naughty or Nice? I'd Go Nice—This Year, Anyway
- PETA Blasts Elephant Car Wash
MOST SHARED
- AIG CEO Ready to Quit over Pay Constraints: Report
- Herbalife Vs. Hedge Funds
- Apple Surpasses Nokia as Top Cellphone Maker by Profits
- China Factory Output Leaps to 19-Month Highs
- American Airlines, TPG May Invest in Struggling JAL
- Brazil's Largest Cities Hit by Blackout
- Bring on Tougher Regulation: S&P Owner
- Cramer Jeers J&J, Applauds Abbott
- Three Things the US Can Do To Stop the Dollar's Decline
- Beware of 'Trampling Effect' When Market Tops: Manager
- Gold Heading to $1150: Art Hogan
- Starbucks Brews Up Growth
- Farr: An Extended Period—No Fat Lady in Sight
- More Upside if S&P Passes This Number: Market Pro
- Murdoch Lashes Out At Google
- Fighting The Flu Vaccine Critics
- Nov. 10: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Shadow Inventory Dwarfs Loan Mods
- Geithner 'Deeply' Believes in Need for Strong Dollar
- US Cannot Be Complacent About Dollar: World Bank
- US Recovery to be Weak, Erratic: Top Fed Officials
- AIG CEO Ready to Quit over Pay Constraints: Report
- Just 1 in 20 Plan to Buy a Home Next Year: Survey
- Bring on Tougher Regulation: S&P Owner
- Retail Earnings in Focus Ahead of Shopping Season
- Ponzi Proceeds: Bidding on Madoff's Toys
- Investments in Global Oil Projects to Fall Next Year: Shell
RSS FEED
Text Size 
Writer
Apparently Tina Turner was right: We don't need another hero.
 |
Hey, hey. Put it away, buddy. You heard what the lady said—we don't need another hero. |
That may sound like a great deal to you and me, but compare it with Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who got $3 million for his story about landing a plane safely on the Hudson River, and it's chump change. [LCC
Loading...
()
]
Phillips' bounty was expected to be higher, according to the article, but was probably hampered by "depressed book sales and possibly hero fatigue."
That's right. A guy gets held within inches of his life — BY PIRATES — and we're all like "Eh, whatever. We're over the whole hero thing."
When news of a movie deal on the pirate affair came out at the end of May, one commenter on Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Let's see, the pirates overwhelmed the boat in about 30 minutes; the captain was imprisoned for about 5 days ... and nothing happened during that time, except a lot of communication between the Navy and the pirates. Yep, that should make for a really exciting movie." [TWX
Loading...
()
]
Ouch. What's a hero have to do to get some respect around here?
One blogger said it's just part of American human nature to build up heroes and then tear them down.
"The tear down is almost unavoidable when we get tired of our worship of these talented people. After all, who do they think they are being some famous hero when we still have to go to work and pay our bills?" writes C. Rich in the "America Speaks Ink" blog.
"America’s Hero Fatigue Syndrome knows no mercy," Rich explains.
Not to mention, we were far more desperate for a hero in February when Capt. Sullenberger landed that plane in the Hudson than we were in April, when the economy and market seemed to be coming back, and Phillips evaded death by pirates.
"Publishing books is all about timing," said Beth Parker, an associate director of publicity for Gotham and Avery Books. [PSO
Loading...
()
]
Still, she said, don't make too much of the numbers — sometimes multimillion-dollar deals are inflated for publicity purposes.
The most important thing, says Parker, is to get the book out within a few months of the incident. "If someone has a good story to tell, people will want to read about it."
And pop-culture guru Perez Hilton said it was just luck.
"It has nothing to do with the economy and everything to do with luck. Sully lucked out! The other captain didn't."
So, to all you would-be heroes out there: If you're going evade death by pirates or conduct a heroic rescue that saves hundreds of lives, try to schedule it when it's convenient for the rest of us.
And when you're 15 minutes are up, buh-bye.
After all, this is America — land of the free and home of the ... NEXT!
More From CNBC.com:
- Jobs: Will He or Won't He?
- Get Drunk, Twitter—Make $10,000 a Month
- Four Things You Should Be Doing to Break Out
- Cocaine Flap Could Give Red Bull Sales 'Wings'
- How Hard Are the Working Working?
- Meet Your Neighbor, the Survivalist
Questions? Comments? Write to .
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes