Post by Athans on Jan 30, 2015 11:14:56 GMT -6
There has certainly been a lot of controversy about the movie “American Sniper.” I am going to give a view that is coming from both an 11 year military veteran and a liberal. The points I want to address are Bill Maher, Michael Moore, and Jesse Ventura. Here are their points in short…
Bill Maher-People that like this movie are psychopath patriots
Michael Moore-Snipers are cowards
Jesse Ventura-Chris Kyle is a liar
This is a complex topic with many right and wrong answers, but those are the ones I like to tackle. I am first going to respond as a liberal, and someone thinking critically. I am then going to respond as a military member, so please, read the entire blog.
The first point I wanted to address is Michael Moore’s. I believe he has the most valid point. Here is one of his quotes…
"My uncle killed by sniper in WW2," Moore tweeted. "We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse."
Let me ask you this…what is heroic, manly, or bad-ass about shooting someone in the back from a mile away? When I think bad-ass and manly I think of Spartan king Leonidas, who, with 300 men, ran head first into one of the greatest armies the world has ever seen. I think of people like Alexander the Great who conquered almost all of the known world. I think of Napoleon who took over Europe, twice. To a lesser extent I think of the leaders of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. When I think shooting people, that do not know you are there, from ¾ of a mile away, on a rooftop where no one can hear or see you…hero, manly, and bad-ass do not come to mind. Think if your hero was killed in that fashion, how would you feel about that? The only people that find this bad-ass are gun nuts that would rather shoot someone than defeat themselves in hand to hand combat, or a person that thinks shooting a deer with a high powered rifle with a scope, from a stand up in a tree, is hunting. If you want to be a real hunter, go kill that deer with a spear! THAT is bad-ass. BUT to call this sniper a coward is unfair, I will explain later.
On Bill Maher’s point about these “psychopath patriots...” This is probably the hardest point. I find the fans of this movie to be the “’Merica, fuck yeah!” type. But we certainly want passionate Americans that are soldiers and support the troops. If America was being invaded by a deadly force, I would certainly want these people. The problem is this movie is about the Iraq War. The Iraq War was unjust and illegitimate on every level. This was a manufactured war that had nothing to do with defense or terrorism and had nothing to do with 9/11. That is a simple fact. In my opinion a real patriot would call out the US government and admit the mistakes and/or atrocities. If this movie were about the Revolutionary war, or an alien invasion, there would be no problem. The problem is the Iraqi people did NOTHING to America. They were unjustly attacked, they were victims. To suggest that these people deserve this, or are evil, is highly ignorant. They did not have WMDs, they were not harboring terrorists. BUT once again, to call this sniper a psychopath is unfair.
The person with the worst point is Jesse Ventura. Honestly I do not know why I am even wasting my time with him, but since he is my former Governor, I will. So Ventura’s biggest problem is that Chris Kyle is a liar. Apparently he allegedly fabricated a story in which he knocked out Ventura at a bar. First, Ventura was a Navy SEAL, pro wrestler, movie star, TV star, and a Governor and he cares about some story some guy made up about hitting him in a bar, so much that he sued him over it!? Mr. Governor, get the fuck over yourself. But I have a bigger problem with Ventura’s attitude and actions, let me explain.
We have a lot of stuff on TV that is presented at being true or factual, but is actually fiction. This ranges from “reality” TV to ancient aliens to that fake mermaid mockumentary. For those that are unfamiliar with these things, I will explain. The one that caused the most controversy aired an Animal Planet, it was called Mermaids: The Body Found. You can read about it here…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids:_The_Body_Found
In short, it was presented as a documentary but was completely fabricated. The “experts,” “scientists,” and “doctors” in this show were all actors. People watched it thinking it was true and when they found out it was made up, they were outraged. Personally I believe doing things like this are dishonest and create more misinformation and lies to go with the ones people already believe. But hey, who am I to criticize a network for making a few bucks off of deceiving people? This is America, right? And we worship the all-mighty profit. Anyways, Ventura was involved in a show like this. It was called Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_Theory_with_Jesse_Ventura
This show had some serious controversy…let me just quote it from Wikipedia…
Shortly after the season two episode "Police State" aired, U.S. Representative Steve Cohen from Tennessee, who was interviewed in the episode, called for the removal of this program from truTV's lineup. He called the episode "outrageous distortion and an outright lie," as well as "dangerous and irresponsible." He stated "when the media purposely distort the facts to create confusion and mislead people, they must be held accountable. Unless we actively debunk false and misleading reports, we risk leaving the public with a dangerously skewed vision of this country." Cohen said he was "shocked and appalled" that Time Warner would air a program "so full of inaccuracies and irresponsible distortions."
Even though the network and Ventura claim that this is entirely entertainment and is not to be taken as factual, many people do take it as factual. Many people cannot tell the difference, these are the same people that believe stations like Fox News are legitimate news sources and reality shows show us what the lives of celebrities are actually like. What bothers me the most is that Ventura uses his credentials as a Navy SEAL and former Minnesota Governor to gain him credibility. Obviously I do not believe he is stupid enough to actually believe this stuff. He is lying and being dishonest for the sake of entertainment (and making a buck), though I would call it outright being deceptive.
And he sued the estate of Chris Kyle for what? Lying in a book and/or movie which are generally made as a source of entertainment? Rather hypocritical of you Mr. Governor. Did the guy make up the story? Maybe he did, but nearly everyone exaggerates and fabricates small parts of the stories they are telling. To attack this man’s integrity and sue his estate is outrageous. Making up a story about hitting Ventura in a bar does FAR less harm that Ventura’s little conspiracy theory program did. People, like my wife’s uncle, really believe the crap Ventura said on that program and argue that Ventura can be trusted because he was a governor. Frankly, I could give a crap about what Ventura has to say.
Here is the big point I want to make that Bill Maher, and especially Michael Moore are missing…You do not criticize individual military members. They signed up to defend their country and fight their country’s wars. If either Maher or Moore actually served in the military (or took a minute to think about it) they would realize that in the military, you do what you are told. I still hate Toby Keith because he is too dumb to realize this. He once made a comment along the lines of that he does not go to those sissy bases, he only goes to the ones in war zones, the ones that have the real men. When I was active duty my unit was sent to two different places. Half of us went to the UAE (one of those sissy bases) and the other half went to Iraq. I went to the UAE, so according to Toby Keith, I am not a real man. Toby Keith does not love the troops, he is just a big asshole. Besides pointing out that they could man up and actually serve their country themselves, I will point out that we do not sit down with the commanders and discuss things like a democracy. We do what we are told and if you are told to sit on a rooftop and shoot people, you do it. I already gave my opinion on snipers but the reality is that we have them and someone needs to do the job and that job takes a certain type of person. Does anyone want to get plucked off by a sniper? Of course not, but snipers do an important job that saves a lot of lives for the side the sniper is on. They are a fact of warfare and people need to get over that.
Here is the thing…If you want to criticize the US government, be my guest. I think one should be critical of their government and their country. America is not everything that is kind, great, and perfect. I believe the Iraqi war to be unjust and wrong and happened due a number of fabricated lies. That being said, I deployed twice in support of it. Am I thrilled to have served under Bush? Not particularly, just as I am sure many military members are not thrilled to serve under Obama. That being said I would never speak about Bush the way most Conservatives speak about Obama. To talk about the leader of one’s country like that AND call themselves patriots is laughable. But I am getting off topic. The point is military members signed up to serve their country, to do a job, one they might not always be thrilled about.
You can criticize our military or country as a whole, but the one thing you never do, is criticize individual military members for doing their job. If you do, do not sit around and talk like you support the troops or criticize people for not supporting the troops.
Bill Maher-People that like this movie are psychopath patriots
Michael Moore-Snipers are cowards
Jesse Ventura-Chris Kyle is a liar
This is a complex topic with many right and wrong answers, but those are the ones I like to tackle. I am first going to respond as a liberal, and someone thinking critically. I am then going to respond as a military member, so please, read the entire blog.
The first point I wanted to address is Michael Moore’s. I believe he has the most valid point. Here is one of his quotes…
"My uncle killed by sniper in WW2," Moore tweeted. "We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse."
Let me ask you this…what is heroic, manly, or bad-ass about shooting someone in the back from a mile away? When I think bad-ass and manly I think of Spartan king Leonidas, who, with 300 men, ran head first into one of the greatest armies the world has ever seen. I think of people like Alexander the Great who conquered almost all of the known world. I think of Napoleon who took over Europe, twice. To a lesser extent I think of the leaders of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. When I think shooting people, that do not know you are there, from ¾ of a mile away, on a rooftop where no one can hear or see you…hero, manly, and bad-ass do not come to mind. Think if your hero was killed in that fashion, how would you feel about that? The only people that find this bad-ass are gun nuts that would rather shoot someone than defeat themselves in hand to hand combat, or a person that thinks shooting a deer with a high powered rifle with a scope, from a stand up in a tree, is hunting. If you want to be a real hunter, go kill that deer with a spear! THAT is bad-ass. BUT to call this sniper a coward is unfair, I will explain later.
On Bill Maher’s point about these “psychopath patriots...” This is probably the hardest point. I find the fans of this movie to be the “’Merica, fuck yeah!” type. But we certainly want passionate Americans that are soldiers and support the troops. If America was being invaded by a deadly force, I would certainly want these people. The problem is this movie is about the Iraq War. The Iraq War was unjust and illegitimate on every level. This was a manufactured war that had nothing to do with defense or terrorism and had nothing to do with 9/11. That is a simple fact. In my opinion a real patriot would call out the US government and admit the mistakes and/or atrocities. If this movie were about the Revolutionary war, or an alien invasion, there would be no problem. The problem is the Iraqi people did NOTHING to America. They were unjustly attacked, they were victims. To suggest that these people deserve this, or are evil, is highly ignorant. They did not have WMDs, they were not harboring terrorists. BUT once again, to call this sniper a psychopath is unfair.
The person with the worst point is Jesse Ventura. Honestly I do not know why I am even wasting my time with him, but since he is my former Governor, I will. So Ventura’s biggest problem is that Chris Kyle is a liar. Apparently he allegedly fabricated a story in which he knocked out Ventura at a bar. First, Ventura was a Navy SEAL, pro wrestler, movie star, TV star, and a Governor and he cares about some story some guy made up about hitting him in a bar, so much that he sued him over it!? Mr. Governor, get the fuck over yourself. But I have a bigger problem with Ventura’s attitude and actions, let me explain.
We have a lot of stuff on TV that is presented at being true or factual, but is actually fiction. This ranges from “reality” TV to ancient aliens to that fake mermaid mockumentary. For those that are unfamiliar with these things, I will explain. The one that caused the most controversy aired an Animal Planet, it was called Mermaids: The Body Found. You can read about it here…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids:_The_Body_Found
In short, it was presented as a documentary but was completely fabricated. The “experts,” “scientists,” and “doctors” in this show were all actors. People watched it thinking it was true and when they found out it was made up, they were outraged. Personally I believe doing things like this are dishonest and create more misinformation and lies to go with the ones people already believe. But hey, who am I to criticize a network for making a few bucks off of deceiving people? This is America, right? And we worship the all-mighty profit. Anyways, Ventura was involved in a show like this. It was called Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_Theory_with_Jesse_Ventura
This show had some serious controversy…let me just quote it from Wikipedia…
Shortly after the season two episode "Police State" aired, U.S. Representative Steve Cohen from Tennessee, who was interviewed in the episode, called for the removal of this program from truTV's lineup. He called the episode "outrageous distortion and an outright lie," as well as "dangerous and irresponsible." He stated "when the media purposely distort the facts to create confusion and mislead people, they must be held accountable. Unless we actively debunk false and misleading reports, we risk leaving the public with a dangerously skewed vision of this country." Cohen said he was "shocked and appalled" that Time Warner would air a program "so full of inaccuracies and irresponsible distortions."
Even though the network and Ventura claim that this is entirely entertainment and is not to be taken as factual, many people do take it as factual. Many people cannot tell the difference, these are the same people that believe stations like Fox News are legitimate news sources and reality shows show us what the lives of celebrities are actually like. What bothers me the most is that Ventura uses his credentials as a Navy SEAL and former Minnesota Governor to gain him credibility. Obviously I do not believe he is stupid enough to actually believe this stuff. He is lying and being dishonest for the sake of entertainment (and making a buck), though I would call it outright being deceptive.
And he sued the estate of Chris Kyle for what? Lying in a book and/or movie which are generally made as a source of entertainment? Rather hypocritical of you Mr. Governor. Did the guy make up the story? Maybe he did, but nearly everyone exaggerates and fabricates small parts of the stories they are telling. To attack this man’s integrity and sue his estate is outrageous. Making up a story about hitting Ventura in a bar does FAR less harm that Ventura’s little conspiracy theory program did. People, like my wife’s uncle, really believe the crap Ventura said on that program and argue that Ventura can be trusted because he was a governor. Frankly, I could give a crap about what Ventura has to say.
Here is the big point I want to make that Bill Maher, and especially Michael Moore are missing…You do not criticize individual military members. They signed up to defend their country and fight their country’s wars. If either Maher or Moore actually served in the military (or took a minute to think about it) they would realize that in the military, you do what you are told. I still hate Toby Keith because he is too dumb to realize this. He once made a comment along the lines of that he does not go to those sissy bases, he only goes to the ones in war zones, the ones that have the real men. When I was active duty my unit was sent to two different places. Half of us went to the UAE (one of those sissy bases) and the other half went to Iraq. I went to the UAE, so according to Toby Keith, I am not a real man. Toby Keith does not love the troops, he is just a big asshole. Besides pointing out that they could man up and actually serve their country themselves, I will point out that we do not sit down with the commanders and discuss things like a democracy. We do what we are told and if you are told to sit on a rooftop and shoot people, you do it. I already gave my opinion on snipers but the reality is that we have them and someone needs to do the job and that job takes a certain type of person. Does anyone want to get plucked off by a sniper? Of course not, but snipers do an important job that saves a lot of lives for the side the sniper is on. They are a fact of warfare and people need to get over that.
Here is the thing…If you want to criticize the US government, be my guest. I think one should be critical of their government and their country. America is not everything that is kind, great, and perfect. I believe the Iraqi war to be unjust and wrong and happened due a number of fabricated lies. That being said, I deployed twice in support of it. Am I thrilled to have served under Bush? Not particularly, just as I am sure many military members are not thrilled to serve under Obama. That being said I would never speak about Bush the way most Conservatives speak about Obama. To talk about the leader of one’s country like that AND call themselves patriots is laughable. But I am getting off topic. The point is military members signed up to serve their country, to do a job, one they might not always be thrilled about.
You can criticize our military or country as a whole, but the one thing you never do, is criticize individual military members for doing their job. If you do, do not sit around and talk like you support the troops or criticize people for not supporting the troops.