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

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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.