American Sniping

A beautiful thing about our democracy is that you can be a huge hypocrite and still have millions of fans and make millions of dollars.  Far left pontificator, filmmaker Michael Moore, stirred up a controversy last week when he tweeted about the movie, American Sniper and its main character, “My uncle killed by sniper in WW2.  We were taught snipers were cowards.  Will shoot you in the back.  Snipers aren’t heroes.  And invaders are worse.”  Well, a lot of people didn’t appreciate that, and made their voices known.  Not only conservatives, but also liberals.  And many in the military, or those who have had family members in the military, reacted with outrage, disgust and even anguish.

After the criticism, Moore attempted to clarify his words on his Facebook page, telling about his uncle who, as a US Army paratrooper was killed by a Japanese sniper, and by stating what his father once told him, “Snipers are cowards. They don’t believe in a fair fight.  Like someone coming up from behind you and coldcocking you. Just isn’t right.  It’s cowardly to shoot a person in the back.  Only a coward will shoot someone who can’t shoot back.”  And immediately after that, in response to two Hollywood publications that he said claimed he didn’t like the film, Moore said this, “I didn’t say a word about ‘American Sniper’ in my tweets.”

He added in another tweet that he hires veterans and he even allows them to enter his own theater for free.  (Wow, what a humanitarian you are, Michael.)  So poor Michael Moore was misunderstood.  Regarding his tweet about snipers and invaders, about whom was Moore speaking?  By now, most people aware of the film and/or the controversy know that the movie is about a US Navy Seal who is a sniper in Iraq.  Yes, of course there is more to it, but that’s what it is.  So how is Moore’s defense, if that is what it is, a defense?  Of course he was referencing the movie and the main character in his tweets, and you can see that from his subsequent tweeting.

I saw the picture on Friday.  I had not yet seen it when I already had my own verdict about Michael Moore’s malicious comments.  I knew enough about him to know that any criticism of the movie or its characters by him, would be because of his political leanings and not because his uncle had been killed by a sniper.  And by the way, the hero, yes hero, in the movie is not looking to shoot anyone in the back, he is looking to stop those who carry weapons who are trying to kill American soldiers.  It is no secret Moore was against the Iraq War, and his own films and words leave no doubt about his overall beliefs.

And that’s OK.  This is America after all, and Moore is welcome to say whatever he likes about the war, and capitalism, and religion, and lovely comments such as: “How about that McDonald’s two blocks from Ground Zero?  That’s killed more people than the 19 hijackers;” and, “Hey, here’s a way to stop suicide bombings — give the Palestinians a bunch of missile-firing Apache helicopters and let them and the Israelis go at each other head to head.  Four billion dollars a year to Israel — four billion dollars a year to the Palestinians — they can just blow each other up and leave the rest of us the hell alone;”
and just this past Saturday, doubling down on his latest nonsense with this tweet, “Tomorrow’s Sunday School (1) What Would Jesus Do? Oh, I know what he’d do — hide on top of a roof and shoot people in the back!”

When watching American Sniper, some things I liked and some things I didn’t.  And some parts were very disconcerting, no doubt on purpose.  I also think there are enough scenes and references in the film to make all those with an opinion of the Iraq War, either comfortable or extremely uncomfortable.  For those who criticized the movie because they felt it in some way glorified war and killing, well, I guess we saw different movies.  Unlike what critics are espousing, it is not a propaganda picture.

And unlike Moore’s claim, it was obvious that when the main character, Chris Kyle, used the words “enemy” and “savages,” he did not mean all Iraqis, he meant those who were not just trying to kill US soldiers, but also those who were savagely brutal to their own people.  One particularly horrific scene shows Kyle trying to stop a vicious, tortuous execution as he is pinned down by an Iraqi sniper, a deadly assassin Kyle spends a good portion of the movie trying to stop.  But just as many on the left try to paint those who criticize Islamic radicalism as an attack on all Muslims when it is not, Moore and those like him, distort what is right in front of their noses, either because they refuse to see the truth, because it is not their truth, or because they are so biased, they have lost all sense of objectivity and rationality.

Whether one was for or against the Iraq War, Chris Kyle joined the US Armed Forces because he wanted to serve his country.  He did things he hated doing, but did so anyway, because he wished to keep his fellow soldiers alive and he felt he was serving the cause of freedom.  And he and many other brave US troops suffered for it, physically and mentally.  Moore was calling Chris Kyle, a hero who saved many lives, a coward, but it is Moore who has no understanding of what courage means.

Anti-capitalist and multi-millionaire Moore, who likes to think he is the champion of “the little guy,” and the so-called “99 percent,” not  only owned a lot of stock, but did so in companies he vilified, and he joined the Occupy Wall Street movement while at the same time he owned nine residences including a 10,000 square foot mansion.  Now after his disgraceful tweets about American Sniper and Chris Kyle have angered so many veterans and caused them great pain, he claims to be their friend because he lets them into his theater for free.  See the movie and make up your own mind about its message if there even is one, but to me and many others, Michael Moore is no friend of US veterans.  He is a hypocrite and a fraud.