Last night, the evening before Memorial Day, Chris Hayes, on his MSNBC show, Up with Chris Hayes, made a statement that totally enraged me. He said,” I feel uncomfortable with the word hero because it seems to me so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war. Um, and, I don’t want to obviously desecrate or disrespect anyone who has fallen, and obviously there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism, you know, hail of fire, rescuing fellow soldiers and things like that. But, it seems to me we marshal this word in a way that is problematic.”
To be honest, I never heard this live and, in fact have never heard of Chris Hayes. I am not a faithful MSNBC follower. I have listened, disgustedly, to the video of the segment. This morning, when I heard it, I went on a rant on Facebook and Twitter and several other sites, but then started thinking again as my blood pressure returned to normal. I began to think about the statement.
What he said is despicable! When he said it is even more so. To begin his show the evening before Memorial Day, with the comment that he feel uncomfortable calling the fallen soldiers heroes is disturbing. Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor those who lost their lives in uniform in the defense of our country. Our freedoms, those that haven’t been trampled by this administration, were bought with the blood of these heroes. I have absolutely NO problem using the word to describe such men and women. The First Amendment gives Chris Hayes the right to express his opinion. Those in uniform all take the oath to defend the Constitution from enemies, both foreign and domestic. Of course, that freedom doesn’t exempt Hayes from the repercussions of what he says.
His show on MSNBC has advertisers. If people agree with what Hayes says, fine, continue to watch the show. If you object or disagree with the viewpoint put forth by Chris Hayes, perhaps you should let his advertisers know how you feel. Personally, if my company had an ad on his show, I would have pulled it on my own by now. If the advertiser agrees with this viewpoint, I wouldn’t want my hard-earned money to go to support them. That’s called capitalism, something the liberals apparently hate.
Now, on to MSNBC. They have had a decline in their viewership in recent years. The fact that they have such people hosting shows may be an indication of why. Again, I’m not even sure where MSNBC is on the satellite programming I have, so, I’m already not a viewer. However, the MSNBC hierarchy may need to decide if they stand by what Hayes espouses. If they do, fine, keep things just the way they are. I can almost guarantee the viewership they now have, they will shortly miss. If the network disagrees, they may have to take serious action. Can they be associated with such anti-American sentiment? We’ll see.
Now, since MSNBC is the mouthpiece of Barack Obama and the DNC and their liberal agenda, the question arises; are these also the views of this administration. In recent news articles, I’ve seen that Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are both vying for the military and veteran vote. If MSNBC agrees with Chris Hayes and speaks for this administration, doesn’t that mean the administration sides with Hayes? If so, how can any self-respecting member of the Armed Forces, whether past, present or future, cast a vote for Obama? A vote for him would be a vote for MSNBC and a vote siding with Chris Hayes. It would be a vote against the very valor of the men and women who have ever worn a uniform.
I’ve already decided where I stand on the issue. I stand with the military. I stand in praise of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our country and our Constitution. Where do you stand?
marjarhead1 