January 25, 2015

Michael Moore & American Sniper

Used without permission from http://mackaycartoons.net
Image courtesy of http://mackaycartoons.net
Carolyn took me to go see American Sniper yesterday and as much as I would like to talk about it, I cannot.

Great film, for the most part felt "right" to me, based on my experiences.  Now I'm no sniper and I'm definitely no SEAL, but I have served and have had to point a loaded gun at another human being knowing full well I might have to take that other person's life.

It isn't something to relish or brag about, just something that had to be done and I was the one who had to do it.

American Sniper hit me far harder than I had expected, which is why I won't divulge anymore about the film. I think people should experience it in their own way, unless that way is to chatter during, or even after, the film. Those people can go fuck themselves. Nothing like being pulled out of the moment by a couple of jackasses.

Speaking of jackasses that can go fuck themselves. A couple of "celebrities" have tried to get their name spoken by normal people by saying truly fucked up things. No doubt you've heard of Michael Moore's calling snipers, in general, "cowards". I'm sure that he simply wasn't man enough to say he thought Chris Kyle was a coward directly.

First of all, and this is 110% MY OPINION, Michael Moore is dead wrong. For anyone with any amount of education and compassion for their fellow man, absent a mental defect, taking another person's life is extremely difficult. Normally the enemy needs to be demonized and the soldier conditioned to be able to pull the trigger. We shoot at vaguely man-sized & shaped targets for a reason....at a distance, like common engagements, there isn't as much of a difference.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure the physical act of taking another's life can be easy. Trigger pull on any firearm isn't a difficult obstacle to overcome. The adrenaline in the heat of the moment is a boon for this act. The real difficulty, and one I thank God I haven't had to deal with personally, is what happens afterwards. That is when the true measure of courage occurs.

I think American Sniper showed this aspect well.

There are two things that deeply disturb me about Michael Moore's "cowardly" tweet and both are huge "WTFO" moments for me. First off, if anyone would know what a cowards is I would expect it to be Michael Moore. Here is a man who obviously thinks that no-one should have a gun, but employees armed bodyguards. I'll just leave it at that.

Secondly, we know that Michael Moore is so far in left field his middle name should simply be "7". I wouldn't expect such a level of "racism", for the lack of a better word, from that end of the spectrum. Racist? Yes...well, something-ist. The whole basis for Michael Moore's cowardly statement is information handed down to him by his father concerning an uncle that was killed a decade before he was born. Now I don't know what theater of operations this occurred in, but let's look at his original statement:

My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse

wow....so his uncle was killed by a sniper on American soil? Wasn't his uncle an invader? Ok, done with that aside...let's make a substitution:

My uncle killed by german in WW2. We were taught germans were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Germans aren't heroes. And invaders r worse

that sounds racist to me.....not enough?

My uncle killed by nip in WW2. We were taught nips were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Nips aren't heroes. And invaders r worse

Now THAT sounds racist as fuck. Yes, the emphasis was mine and I didn't like doing that, but I think it was important to make a point, largely with being that Michael Moore is a bigot of some type. Honestly, I'm not even sure he saw the film. Has he not ever heard of a ROE, or does he honestly think that our military, specifically our snipers, shoot people indiscriminately as a matter of course?

Does he not realize that his uncle, in a very real sense, represent the exact people he's calling a coward? 


No comments: