The United States is smack in the middle of a conservative “moment,” and Hollywood liberals like Michael Moore can’t stand it. Fresh off the momentum of the 2014 midterm elections where voters came out in force to oppose Obama’s policies, one of the most conservative-minded movies in recent memory is sitting atop the box office for the second week in a row. Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper was perhaps not made to pander to any particular political viewpoint, but it certainly isn’t Hollywood’s typical liberal fare. In refusing to show its hero, Chris Kyle, as an anti-war personality or a racist devil, it has upset the apple cart to an extraordinary degree.
Michael Moore has never made much of an attempt to hide his political persuasion. He is fervently anti-capitalism, anti-war, anti-Republican, and pro-socialism. But it is in his response to American Sniper that he has shown himself to be a cowardly fool as well. His tweets speak for themselves.
“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.”
“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!”
“Sunday School: (2) But What Would Jesus Do if he could be a sniper & save soldiers lives by shooting “savages” in the back? ANSWER…”
“Sunday School: (3) ANSWER: Jesus wouldn’t put any soldiers lives in harm’s way in the first place because he wouldn’t have sent them 2 Iraq”
“Sunday School source: Pope John Paul II ‘The Iraq War, invading Iraq, is not a just war.’ He, and the current Pope, opposed this immoral war.”
In his attack on Kyle and the people who admire him, Moore is so very similar to those who have decided Officer Darren Wilson is the worst thing walking on two legs. Analysts, anchors, and writers with not one second’s worth of experience in police work decided that Wilson could have handled the situation in Ferguson differently. Moore, with not one second’s worth of experience on the battlefield, has decided that Kyle was a coward.
Whether the Iraq War was “just” or not is a matter up for debate. What Moore fails to realize is that you can have a dissenting view on the war while still admiring the courage of a man like Kyle. While still appreciating the bravery and patriotism that informs the troops. While understanding, on a fundamental level, that diplomacy is not always the answer. There are some enemies with whom you cannot reason.
The America that has allowed Moore the market in which he can get rich, the free expression with which he can shout, and the technology he uses to make his movies and write his tweets is an America born from violence. An America born out of revolutionaries willing to shed blood to gain independence. He’s welcome to his point of view, but if he’s looking for a country to embrace his warped idea of cowardice, he’s looking at the wrong one.
