Thread: Chris Hayes: I'm 'Uncomfortable' Calling Fallen Military 'Heroes

Another MSNBC Star.

Chris Hayes: I'm 'Uncomfortable' Calling Fallen Military 'Heroes'

By Mark Finkelstein | May 27, 2012 | 09:21



Effete: affected, overrefined, and ineffectual; see "Chris Hayes."


OK, I appended the name of the MSNBC host to the dictionary definition. But if ever you wanted to see the human embodiment of the adjective in action, have a look at the video from his MSNBC show this morning of the too-refined-by-half Hayes explaining why he is "uncomfortable" in calling America's fallen military members "heroes."

Hayes is worried that doing so is "rhetorically proximate" to justifications for more war. Oh, the rhetorical proximity!

View the video.
Chris Hayes: I'm 'Uncomfortable' Calling Fallen Military 'Heroes' | MRCTV

In fairness, Hayes and the other panel members distinguished between their respect for the valor of the individual military members who had given their lives with the worthiness of the various causes in which they fought. Even so, what does it say about the liberal chattering class, which Hayes epitomizes, that it chokes on calling America's fallen what they rightly and surely are: heroes? Watch the hesitant Hayes in what almost seems a parody of the conflicted intellectual.


CHRIS HAYES: Thinking today and observing Memorial Day, that'll be happening tomorrow. Just talked with Lt. Col. Steve Burke [sic, actually Beck], who was a casualty officer with the Marines and had to tell people [inaudible]. Um, I, I, ah, back sorry, um, I think it's interesting because I think it is very difficult to talk about the war dead and the fallen without invoking valor, without invoking the words "heroes." Um, and, ah, ah, why do I feel so comfortable [sic] about the word "hero"? I feel comfortable, ah, uncomfortable, about the word because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war. Um, and, I don't want to obviously desecrate or disrespect memory of anyone that's fallen, and obviously there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism: hail of gunfire, rescuing fellow soldiers and things like that. But it seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic. But maybe I'm wrong about that.

Read more: Chris Hayes: I'm 'Uncomfortable' Calling Fallen Military 'Heroes' | NewsBusters.org

I'm uncomfortable calling MSNBC a "news" channel.

W

I'm uncomfortable calling MSNBC a "news" channel.

Excellent point. The difference, William, is that you are uncomfortable based on first hand experience and knowledge. Chris Hayes is uncomfortable because he is ignorant. Unfortunately, too many Americans are ignorant with regard to military service, what it entails, and the sacrifices our military men and women make in the service of their country. Also, unfortunately, they are unlikely to become better informed via the mainstream media( such as MSNBC), public schools, colleges & universities, or our political leaders. Anyway, there is no substitute for first hand experience. That is why I favor dumping the "all volunteer force" and re-instating the draft.

VFW slams MSNBC host who said he was ‘uncomfortable’ calling dead soldiers ‘heroes’


05/28/2012
By Alex Pappas

BUSHNELL, FL - Walter Miller waits for the next service at the Florida National Cemetery November, 10, 2008 in Bushnell, Florida. Miller has been a volunteer with the Veterans of Foreign Wars at the cemetery since 1992. More than three million Americans, including veterans of every war and conflict from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War are honored through burial in a VA National Cemetery. (Photo by Stephen Morton/Getty Images)


A spokesman for a leading veterans organization criticized MSNBC’s Chris Hayes for arguing on his television show that that he’s “uncomfortable” describing American soldiers who died in battles as heroes.

“If Mr. Hayes feels uncomfortable, I suggest he enlist, go to war, then come home to what he expects is a grateful nation but encounters the opposite. It’s far too easy to cast stones from inexperience,” Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis told The Daily Caller on Sunday.

Hayes, a liberal writer who hosts the weekend show “Up with Chris Hayes,” said he is “uncomfortable about the word [hero] because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war.”

“I don’t want to obviously desecrate or disrespect memory of anyone that’s fallen, he said, “and obviously there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism — hail of gunfire, rescuing fellow soldiers and things like that. But it seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic.”

Read more: VFW slams MSNBC host who said he was ‘uncomfortable’ calling dead soldiers ‘heroes’ | The Daily Caller