MSNBC commentator Chris Hayes has gotten into some trouble for comments he made yesterday about the use of the word "hero" in reference to US military personnel. The relevant segment begins around 6:30:
In essence, Hayes thinks the word is overused; the overuse makes it too easy to justify wars that have no justification (think all the wars the US has been involved in since WWII). Hayes is right of course, and it was good to see fellow linguist John McWhorter and other panel members agreeing.
The fact that he felt a need to apologize reflects the fetishization of the military and war that permeates US culture. We dare not question the actions of our Dear Leaders without feeling the consequences.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
-
OK, somebody has to say it. 17 years ago close to 3,000 people died largely because the US was unprepared for an attack of that kind, or for...
-
The internet news site Common Dreams carried an article recently about a group of students from Liberty University visiting the Smithsonia...
-
I may write more about this later, but for now just examine the differences. Later... (added on Oct 9, 2010): Essentially, in apes the l...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments and feedback are welcome, as long as they conform to normal standards of civility and decency. I will delete comments that do not meet these standards.