http://www.mideastoutpost.com/archives/the-brave-and-the-blow-hards-rita-kramer.html
What does it mean to be brave? In what does courage consist? These are questions that come to mind thinking about men and women who have stood up against tyranny, put their freedom and even their lives at risk by taking a stand and comparing them with activists and protestors in our country today. Movie stars, film makers, and other celebrities famous for being famous preen and pose and pretend that they are standing up against powerful forces when they make political statements in public. The only real threat they face is exposing their ignorance of complicated issues.
The left-leading media loves them and headlines the names and faces and pronouncements of such as Michael Moore and Oliver Stone, Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda, Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon, Matt Damon and Harry Belafonte–directors, actors, entertainers all drawn from the world of Hollywood where fantasy substitutes for knowledge and the uneducated pass as gurus, hailed for their presumed willingness to stand up against threatening conspiratorial powers.
How little these Hollywood celebrities risk, how little they stand to lose becomes glaringly clear when they are compared with men and women of undeniable courage whose words–and actions–put them at real risk of losing their freedom and finally their lives. From time to time we are reminded of such figures and of what it means to take a stand against real tyranny, to enter the fight against undeniable evil.
A recent book tells the story of one such man, a Capuchin priest who repeatedly risked his life to help rescue thousands of Jews in France and Italy during the dark days of Nazi occupation. His story is told by Susan Zuccotti in Pere Marie-Benoit and Jewish Rescue. Zuccotti is the author of earlier books on France and Italy during the Holocaust and brings impressive background knowledge and practiced research skills to this latest account.