What makes someone a hero?
It seems like it's a simple question, but MSNBC host Chris Hayes caused a firestorm when he said on Memorial Day weekend that he was uncomfortable calling people heroes just because they served in the military.
"Why do I feel so uncomfortable about the word 'hero'? I feel uncomfortable about the word hero because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war," Hayes said Sunday on MSNBC. "I don’t want to obviously desecrate or disrespect the memory of anyone that’s fallen, and obviously there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism, you know, 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."
Hayes' remarks immediately sparked a backlash, with some saying it was inappropriate to say such things about those putting their lives on the line to fight for their country.
Hayes issued an apology Monday, saying he understood why people were angry that someone who had never served or dealt with the cost of wars would make such a statement. His apology reads:
"On Sunday, in discussing the uses of the word 'hero' to describe those members of the armed forces who have given their lives, I don't think I lived up to the standards of rigor, respect and empathy for those affected by the issues we discuss that I've set for myself. I am deeply sorry for that.
"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. 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."
Hayes' remarks beg the question: Who exactly is a hero? We'd like to hear from you. We'd like you to sound off in the comments below or hit the button below to send a video comment to iReport. Do you think Hayes was out of line in his comments? Do you understand what he was saying?
Must you have served in combat to be a hero? Does enlisting alone make you one? Should that word be reserved for the military? Or does it apply to people who put themselves above others?
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
"I dragged three of my buddies out of a burning, downed chopper while under heavy fire." = HERO
"I joined the military so I could get me a gun and shoot me some ragheads." = NOT A HERO
Some join and are heros, some join and are not.
The End.
I think it is interesting that people are approching the question of heroism as if it were a simple black-or-white issue. As if there were only one definition of the word, no shades of grey involved.
To me it's important to recognise that while the idea of "What is a hero?" may fall under the "I know it when I see it." perspective, it's also important to accept that anyone (a military person or not) who dies doing their job could be considered a hero. Whether they die because they were hit by a car while collecting garbage, or because their patrol was ambushed.
My Dad is my hero. He was in the navy, once upon a time, but that was before I was born, and during a relatively peaceful time in history. His job was to shoulder the burden of raising a family. He did it well. He taught my brother and I values I lean on every day. He didn't run through a hail of bullets to pull his wounded son from a fox-hole, but he would have.
Make no mistake, however, Memorial Day isn't about honoring my Dad, or the Capt. "Sully" Sullenberger kinds of Hero. Nor is it ONLY about the Sgt. Jared Monti or Sgt. Robert J. Miller kinds of Hero either. If it is, it shouldn't be.
It should be about honoring the men and women who have choosen to spend even a few years serving their country. It should be about honoring their sacrifices. Because at the end of the day ... All give some, some give all.
There used to be a difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day besides the date it occurs.
...to many readers who replied agreeing about the overuse of the word 'hero'. I was getting a little cynical reading the story, wondering how many mouth-breathing idiots would jump down this guy's throat. There were way less than I imagined.
Good on you, reading American public.
I served in Viietnam, altthough my service in uniform was insignificant. However, if compared to those who chose to draft-dodge in one way or another and many who had little or no respect for those who were serving in Vietnam, I believe I was a better person than they. I would not object to be considered a hero because I serrved in uniform, but not from these bozos or Hayes. So far as I am concerned they do not have a credible opinion about heros unless they first describe themselves as cowards.
Right on! He can use all kinds of pseudo-sophisticated terms like "civilian-military divide and the social distance between those who fight and those who don't", but the fact is the majority of Americans are shirking cowards. Anyone who risks his/her life for that bunch of parasites is a sucker.
I truly respect your service in Vietnam (I never made it to Nam), and indeed you are probably a better person for having served (I'd like to think I am also). However, there were a lot of people who knew much more about what Vietnam was about than I, and they decided to not serve. I now have no ill will towards them, they freely decided what to do and I likewise respect them. I do still have a problem with those who did not honor and respect those who decided to serve. Back to point, what Chris said was correct and did respect those who decide to serve.
I don't understand what the problem is with this guy's comments. He freely admits that there are many examples of genuine heroism, and we reward those actions with decorations. Just because you volunteered to be told what to do by the government in exchange for three squares a day and a pay-check doesn't make you a hero.
The guy that died saving that little girl in Afghanistan is a hero. The guys back at the base fixing humvees aren't heroes.
What possible reason do you have for calling him a dictator? Can you offer one fact or are you simply consumed with blinding hatred based on no particular reason?
Maybe he meant' taster' not tater.
The Stormtroopers on the Death Star were heroes. They signed up to fight for the empire and risked their lives fighting radical terrorists who wanted to revolt against the legal dominion of the Empire.
There were horribly unpatriotic, communist, socialist, etc evil people of the Empire who thought that Stormtroopers were not obviously heroes just because they signed up to serve. Those people were slaughtered or sent to the outter reaches of space.
Obviously.... this is the solution for our situation, just send all people who don't immediately agree that everything the Empire, I mean America, does or her soldiers do to the outter reaches of space.
I'm Han Solo and I approve this message.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill
English economist & philosopher (1806 – 1873)
Just because some guy, long dead, who called himself a philosopher said something a long time ago, doesn't make it true – then or now. To my mind, guys that go around calling themselves philosophers are about as useful as a bag of broken doorknobs.
Going to war, for the right reasons (whatever those are), is ugly. It is simply ugly. We are not fighting wars that HAVE to be fought at present. Ugly is as ugly does!
I'm still trying to figure out if Chris Hayes and Rachael Maddow are identical twins or lesbian lovers.
As a strong man, puppet, I was able to pay my troops well for over 30 years. Then justice came along an repression ended.
My soldiers were traitors in my mind.
Memorial Day is a day to member and honor the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Not those who served in the Armed Forces. Learn your history people!
To suggest that someone who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces is not a hero is absurd.
Veterans Day is a day to “honor” people who have “served” in the United States Armed Forces.
On Memorial Day, we pay respect and honor as heroes those who fought and died on active duty helping to protect our ability to make fools of ourselves, from time to time, as Mr. Hayes did on Sunday.
people who join the military are killers, not heros.
The most basic instinct, laid down by millions of years of, non civilized, human existence is to kill to survive.
It is only in the last 10,000 years that we have assigned a good or bad value to this killing, based on what god or country you kill for.
Semi-fancy trick to give someone three hots and a cot, show them a flag and say
"this is the symbol of your god and tribe. Now go and do what you are restrained only by civilization from doing. When you return, we shall wrap you in this flag."
chris made a very valid point.
he just chose the wrong day to make it.
Chris, remember Mitt Romney called Scott Walker of Wisconsin a "real hero". Now That would have been something to disagree with.
I totally agree with Chris. The "hero" reference is today's politically correct thing to do while pulling all degrees of nasty on our forces, much like wearing lapel flags while denying the civil rights of others. Phony is phony.