Why did Chris Hayes apologize for his "heroes" comment?

[kentuck]

In my opinion, it was more the timing than what he actually said. The network did not think the Memorial Day weekend was appropriate time for such comments. I think they asked him to make a public apology.

What he said was a perfectly legitimate topic for journalists to debate. The word "hero" should not be used casually. It should be used for special events of heroism, courage, and valor. Otherwise, it tends to justify every military operation as right, including military decisions such as the invasion of Iraq.

Chris Hayes was absolutely right. His timing may have been wrong, as it appears his network thought? Then again, it may have been the perfect time to discuss such a topic?

[6000eliot]

1. Because people are stupid and can't understand nuance.

[sendero]

3. The country seems to get stupider..

... every month. Yep, this was an intelligent and thoughtful commentary but 90% of the yokels in this country couldn't understand it or didn't even try to.

It's no wonder we can't even talk about our problems as a country, much less fix them.

[NC_Nurse]

14. Yep. He's thinking and a lot of people don't like that.

[monmouth]

2. I was also sorry he apologized. Chris made an excellent point n/t

[secondwind]

4. He spoke so beautifully and without undue respect, we are becoming a country that

allows a hater like Rush to call women 'sluts' , while we question the over-use of the word hero, which BTW, I have been saying we do all along also..... Those young men and women who die in Iraq and Afghanistan do not fall into the "hero" category all the time, they were doing their job, a job they volunteered to do, which should be honored and respected, but calling everyone who dies over there a 'hero' diminishes the word.

[Hissyspit]

5. He apologized? Not this shit again.

Bill Maher was right and Chris Hayes was right and Ashleigh Banfield was right and Phil Donahue was right.

God forbid Americans be shown the truth about things. Bow down before the warmongers and the chickenhawks.

[marble falls]

6. He apologized because the average yokel can't tolerate truth with ....

his patriotic pablum on a Memorial day most of them spent watching auto racing and drinking beer at the lake.

[lunatica]

7. What he said was right in my opinion

Glorifying war is idiotic. Period. Soldiers are dead because war is glorified and glamorized and propagandized as something honorable. I can see it as something that is necessary only if we are attacked and must fight in response. But even then there's nothing glorious about it.

[DallasNE]

8. I Thought His Comment Was Muddled

And needed some fixing to give it clarity.

[zeemike]

9. To surrender to the notion that the troops are sacred

And that war is glory in the cult of heroes....the media loves it because repentance for sinners is instructive for everyone else...perhaps soon no one will dare speak up and we will be in a permanent state of Reverence for the troops...
It's long past 1984 folks.

[ellenfl]

23. i was thinking the 1930s, myself. eom

[ejbr]

10. He made the mistake of giving the general public more intelligence

than it has. As a rule, it seems, Americans conflate bravery and heroism. We don't appreciate that a soldier can be brave, but not a hero. For as most cogent people acknowledge, heroism requires the purpose of one's bravery to be unassailable.

[pscot]

11. Good post

and an excellent comment thread.

[gratuitous]

12. Because he spoke heresy against the High Church of Redemptive Violence

And worse, on one of its high holy days, when all is glory, laud and honor to the men, women, weapons, and expenditures of sacred violence. This was one of the days we carefully instruct our children and newcomers to the country what we love, cherish and preserve in this country: Might not only makes right, it is right.

[galadrium]

13. The act of dying, or being in the military doesn't make you a "hero."

This has been driving me crazy for years, especially when right wingers get all faux patriotic over the military. It denigrates the actions of real military heroes by calling everyone in the military, especially those killed while serving heroes.

You're a hero when you do something heroic.

[urgk]

15. B/c we live in a country with two nat'l holidays to honor the military...

...and zero to remember teachers, Peace Corps volunteers, SNCC members, civil rights lawyers and others who have workedin non-violent ways to make the world a better place.

Make a split-second decision to put your life on the line, and you're a "hero," go into the classroom, yet one more time, after 40 years teaching public school English and you're just some greedy jerk, who wants too much pension and a real health plan.

[ellenfl]

24. but we also honor secretaries and administrative assistants (thank you greeting card industry). eom

[The Wizard]

16. In a crowded restaurant last night

wearing a hat indicating Vietnam Veteran. Someone suggested a round of applause. When they got done I said I'm no hero. I just got lucky, and I'm grateful to see the green side of the grass. Everything else is bullshit.
We have deified the soldier and legitimized permanent war for profit. And that's why we're following the path of the Romans and all other republics that have failed at empire.
The Military Industry Complex has usurped the media and use it as a tool to brainwash the masses into buying war as a solution to cure all ills.

[Whisp]

18. +1

[LibGranny]

19. Spot on Kentuck!

Couldn't have said it better and thank you for doing so!

[southernyankeebelle]

17. I didn't see the show but I have seen all the outrage about it so I went and looked at

it. He was perfectly right in what he said. As a wife and daughter of a Vet I want to thank him. The media has been an enabler of the military complex. We need to stop this maddness.

[SoCalDem]

20. Because commercial/big-shot "news" ownership classes demand compliance

with their general group-think...even when they knowingly hire people who are touted as "free-thinkers"

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. Because people on the Left always have to apologize for questioning conventional wisdom,

which is rarely wise.

[bigtree]

22. It's just a fricking word.

Quite a lot of words are used to justify war, and I'm not sure stopping folks from characterizing our military members who serve in active conflict and battle as 'heroes' is going to end the justifications for war. I'm not even sure that calling them 'heroes' makes a case for war. Our soldiers can serve 'heroically' in a wrongheaded conflict.

The ones who probably shouldn't be categorized as 'heroes' are the ones who put our troops in harms way without reasonable or correct justification. What the fuck does it hurt to give props to our military volunteers? I'm proud of and grateful for almost all of their service (we can and do make obvious exceptions for some errant individuals). Most words for that gratitude and pride in these (mostly) young folks will never suffice.

[Bluenorthwest]

25. For money.

The end.

[ellenfl]

26. does he read du? perhaps someone who follows him on twitter or fb can direct him here?

i think he should see these threads as an offset to the rw comments he got regarding his apology.

tia

ellen fl

[Tommy_Carcetti]

27. Because the right loves to rail against "political correctness" but are every bit as guilty...

...of such apparent super-sensitive behavior.

And if they believe anything said offends their own sense of what they believe to be right, they will rail and rail against such percieved slight. Even if it isn't actually a real slight, as is the case with Hayes.