Volunteer emergency and rescue services such as fire brigades, the Red Cross, the German Life Saving Association (Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft, DLRG) or mountain rescue services exist mainly in civil democratic societies in which a commitment to others and to the common good is considered a virtue in itself.

Even though the personal risk to life and limb is usually limited, their permanent readiness comes at the minimum cost of time and convenience. Volunteers are heroised for their commitment by a public that does not perform this voluntary work itself, but benefits from it.

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Martyrdom, suffering, and dying for religious convictions may be perceived as a form of heroic deed and reinterpret weakness, vulnerability, or defeat as moral superiority. This asymmetry shows that it is easier for an audience to relate to the heroisation of a hero figure if that person is coming from a position of inferiority as opposed to a position of strength or hegemony.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the story of the Battle of Karbala serves as the heroisation of active self-sacrifice for the benefit of the community. It is the foundation of the paradigmatic canon of values and norms of believers, as well as of the shape of collective heroism.

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Soldiers must be prepared to kill when ordered, while putting their own lives on the line. In order to encourage and maintain the readiness to render military service, the state heroically charges military obedience and soldierly sacrifice. Conversely, deserters, conscientious objectors and those who avoid military service are defamed as cowards or “men without a fatherland”. Sticking to the ethos of refusing to kill or prioritising one’s own survival over the state’s raison d’état means a radical negation of the heroic.

From the point of view of those who fundamentally reject wars, desertion or the refusal to render military service can become an exemplary heroic deed – even if the individual perceives themselves as entirely unheroic.

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Parents are, in evolutionary terms, born heroes, even if this heroisation is often put into perspective in later years. However, as caregivers and supporters, they remain subject to heroisation throughout their lives to the degree that their dedication to their children is perceived as unconditional and reliable.

A survey conducted by members of the Freiburg Collaborative Research Centre points out the increasing importance of time as a resource: children recognise that their parents only have limited time for them and heroise their willingness to always be there in unstable times.

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