Chris Hayes: Referring to fallen soldiers as heroes can be used to justify potentially unjust wars

[Cali_Democrat]

Chris Hayes: I Feel 'Uncomfortable' Using 'Heroes' To Describe Soldiers Killed In Action
By Jack Mirkinson

MSNBC's Chris Hayes sparked controversy and debate on Sunday when he said that he felt "uncomfortable" calling soldiers killed in action "heroes" because the term can be used to justify potentially unjust wars.

Hayes spent a large portion of his Memorial Day-themed show on questions of war and of the people killed on all sides of military conflicts, from American soldiers to Afghan civilians.

After speaking with a former Marine whose job it was to notify families of the death of soldiers, he turned to his panel and, clearly wrestling with what to say, raised the issue of language:

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." Why do I feel so [uncomfortable] about the word "hero"? I feel comfortable -- 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.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/28/chris-hayes-uncomfortable-soldiers-heroes_n_1550643.html

I gotta agree with him on this. I'm just glad somebody in the media is saying what needs to be said. I hope he doesn't back down from this.

[grasswire]

1. in the same way, I was sickened by the memorial concert in Washington

There was no mention of the fact that the way to stop the maiming and killing of our young men and women is to stop sending them to war --- especially wars of choice/imperialism. ESPECIALLY wars built on lies.

[valerief]

2. Thank you, Chris Hayes. There wouldn't be powerful assholes like the BFEE if there

weren't soldiers doing their bidding and protecting them.

[Enrique]

3. predictable furor

Hayes' words caused a predictable furor with some. One Twitter user said that he was "uncomfortable with calling you an American."

[hrmjustin]

4. Seperate the soldier from the policy makers.

Chris Hayes has every right to his opinion, and I know what he was trying to say. I agree the warmongers will use our hero soldiers for more warmongering and that it is disgusting, but Chris Hayes should not have put his opinion in those terms. Our soldiers are our hero's and we should always proclaim that. War is war and we should never go unless we need to, but when we go our soldiers put their lives on the line for us and for that people in this nation look to them as their hero's. Now the conservatives will use this and that is regrettable, but Chris Hayes gave this to them. People should always think before they talk. He could have made the same point without having to bring up the word hero. I lost my cousin in june of 2005 in the city of Tikrit and I will always think of him and his comrades as hero's.

[valerief]

6. Without soldiers, there are no policymakers. nt

[hrmjustin]

7. well in utopia that is possible but not in this world. Maybe...

...in the next my friend.

[valerief]

9. Yes, I know. It's a double-edged sword. nt

[treestar]

5. True the glory of the battle thing

Makes men predisposed to jump at the chance for a war and look for insults and reasons to go to war.

It wouldn't seem that getting killed in a war always meant heroism. It's a lot of chance involved. Someone can do a heroic thing and survive. Someone can get killed for random reasons that had nothing to do with the person's actions at the time.

When these wars start, the proponents of the war want to use the troops and their difficulties to justify the war. At the same time it is a patriotic duty. If you are a young man you are supposed to defend your country - they want that ingrained into masculinity. Notice how hard it is to question that - you have to brave charges of "cowardice" if as a young man you don't think the particular cause is enough to risk your life for.

[valerief]

8. Even before the wars (yes, there are such gaps in history, although infrequent), the troops protect

the interests of the 1% by protecting their land and agents (politicians).

[Aristus]

10. We refer to veterans, living and dead, as heroes, without thought for the meaning of the word.

People call me a 'hero' because of my service in the Gulf in 1991. But I'm not, because I didn't do anything heroic. Simply being there was not an act of heroism. I was there because I obeyed the order to go there. Obeying orders is not, in and of itself, heroic.

I understand his words. But he is going to upset a lot of well-intentioned, not-very-bright people.

[CrazyBob]

11. He is right

This is what Lincoln referred to as "hiding behind the valor of the troops" to justify military action.' Hayes is totally right. And its great to see the draft-dodger crowd get all upset. When did they start loving the troops? A: when they send them off to war, instead of their own kids.

And yet I will guess that within a few days, our courageous leader will come out against these remarks.

[longship]

12. Notice he does one thing Repukes and Faux never, ever do!

I'm not talking about his question, "Why do I feel so (uncomfortable) about the word hero... it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war?"

I'm talking about the question we should all ask ourselves about every important decision in our lives. Hayes ends with this admission, "But maybe I'm wrong about that."

That's the question everybody needs to pose. What if I'm wrong?

It's one that never penetrates the cortex of the authoritarian, Republicans' brains. However, I may be wrong about that.