MSNBC host Chris Hayes says he's "uncomfortable" calling America's fallen soldiers 'heroes.'
He thinks the term is "problematic."
Why, you may ask?
it seems that Hayes feels that by honoring those men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country he may be legitimizing the US effort against terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Newsbusters, the conservative website that first noticed Hayes' struggle with heroism, asked "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?"
On Monday, Memorial Day, the Veterans of Foreign Wars demanded an apology from Hayes and MSNBC.
Chris Hayes' recent remarks on MSNBC regarding our fallen service members are reprehensible and disgusting," Richard DeNoyer, a VFW official, told Fox News in a statement.
"His words reflect his obvious disregard for the service and sacrifice of the men and women who have paid the ultimate price while defending our nation. His insipid statement is particularly callous because it comes at a time when our entire nation pauses to reflect and honor the memory of our nations' fallen heroes."
"It is especially devastating to the many broken-hearted children, spouses and parents, left behind to grieve for a loved one," DeNoyer also said. "Such an ignorant and uncaring and blatant disregard for people's deep feelings are indefensible, and that is why the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States demand that Mr. Hayes and MSNBC provides an immediate and unequivocal apology."
Politico reported that the blogosphere was heating up with anger over Hayes' comments.
Politico reported that Kurt Schlichter at Breitbart blasted Hayes for his comment, writing, “memo to Chris: they are heroes, and you don’t get a vote.”
“So, like so many other useless progressive fops who glide from cocktail party to panel discussion, Chris Hayes continues to push his progressive vision of collectivist serfdom from behind the unbreachable wall of American warriors,” Schlichter wrote. “He has not stood with them and, in fact, is unworthy of doing so. He is a parasite taking sustenance from the exertions of better men and women.”
Schlichter also picked apart Hayes’ line, “rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war.” The MSNBC host, Schlichter blogged, “sounds like one of my commie grad students trying to impress credulous freshman girls after a choom session in the quad.”
Finally, a veteran, wrote that he “can’t quite bring myself to be angry about it.”
“I feel sorry for Chris Hayes because sadly, this is his worldview. It’s how he thinks. It’s his value system, and it’s sad," the veteran wrote at The Right Sphere blog. "This is a man who over and over again has spoken with greater reverence about the ‘Occupy Movement’ than he did today about our fallen service members,”
Here's exactly what Hayes said, followed by the video:
"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."
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