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

**Ryan Ruck** · May 27th, 2012, 16:15

For your Memorial Day reading/viewing pleasure...

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

May 27, 2012

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 after the jump.

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.

I'm uncomfortable with him running his cock holster this way on Memorial Day weekend.

Fuck him.

**vector7** · May 27th, 2012, 18:04

Communists.

**American Patriot** · May 28th, 2012, 18:04

I'm uncomfortable calling any Liberal "an American" any more.

They are nothing but slimy cocksuckers

OMG did I just say that out loud?

**Malsua** · May 29th, 2012, 11:30

After thoroughly stepping on his dick, he recants.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/m...TxCmdegdZVjylK

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MSNBC host Hayes apologizes for saying he is 'uncomfortable' calling fallen soldiers heroes
MSNBC host Chris Hayes apologized Monday evening after outraging veterans by saying it makes him "uncomfortable" to describe all fallen soldiers as heroes.

The TV presenter made the controversial comment on the eve of Memorial Day, while kicking off a panel discussion on his show "Up With Chris Hayes" -- noting that it is "very difficult to talk about the war dead and the fallen without invoking valor, without invoking the words 'heroes.'"

Explaining why that makes him uneasy, he added, "I feel ... uncomfortable about the word hero because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war."

Former service members' group Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), in addition to conservative bloggers and organizations, slammed Hayes for being so conflicted about the term, FOX News reported.

VFW called Monday for an "immediate and unequivocal apology," branding his remarks "reprehensible and disgusting."

Hayes -- who during his Sunday show admitted his concerns might not be justified, while acknowledging there are definite individual examples of heroism -- released a statement later Monday saying he is "deeply sorry" for the gaffe.

"As many have rightly pointed out, it's very easy for me, a TV host, to opine about the people who fight our wars, having never dodged a bullet or guarded a post or walked a mile in their boots. Of course, that is true of the overwhelming majority of our nation's citizens as a whole," he said.

"One of the points made during Sunday's show was just how removed most Americans are from the wars we fight, how small a percentage of our population is asked to shoulder the entire burden and how easy it becomes to never read the names of those who are wounded and fight and die, to not ask questions about the direction of our strategy in Afghanistan, and to assuage our own collective guilt about this disconnect with a pro-forma ritual that we observe briefly before returning to our barbecues.

"But in seeking to discuss the civilian-military divide and the social distance between those who fight and those who don't, I ended up reinforcing it, conforming to a stereotype of a removed pundit whose views are not anchored in the very real and very wrenching experience of this long decade of war. And for that I am truly sorry."