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“Hurt Locker made $17 million because it was a little ambiguous and thoughtful, and this one was just ‘American hero. He’s a psychopath patriot, and we love him.’ – Bill Maher on American Sniper
American Sniper had a record-breaking debut. It’s the widest release ever for an R-rated movie, the biggest debut ever for a Best Picture Oscar nominee; it’s the highest grossing January movie in history and it’s already the second highest grossing war movie of all-time.
The movie has already gone beyond “blockbuster” all the way up to “cultural phenomenon” in the space of a few weeks’ time. However, ironically, as the movie has become more popular with the public, liberals have gotten more and more upset about it. You’ve already seen the quotes from Michael Moore and Bill Maher, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Just to give you an example of how agitated this film makes liberals, here are article titles that are all currently running or linked on the front of the far left-wing website Alternet.
WATCH: Chomsky Blasts 'American Sniper' and the Media that Glorifies It
7 Big Lies 'American Sniper' Is Telling America
Eastwood's 'American Sniper' Is One Big Historically Dishonest Action Flick
Bill Maher Takes a Shot at ‘American Sniper’ for Glorifying ‘Psychopath Patriot’ Chris Kyle
'American Sniper' Has Incited Death Threats and Racism -- It's Far from 'Apolitical'
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At first glance, this seems to be bizarre because despite that last title, the movie could fairly be called “apolitical,” it doesn’t glamorize war and it doesn’t gloss over the human cost of battle. The film shows Chris Kyle’s friends dying, his marriage suffering and Kyle struggling with the things he has to do. Soldiers are shown on the screen with missing limbs, Kyle is seen at funerals for his friends and it’s made very clear that he has a lot of trouble adjusting to civilian life.
Every liberal may not have a problem with this movie, but why is it that so many do? Is it that Kyle was a sniper? Is it because Clint Eastwood directed the movie? Could liberals just be traumatized from their battles with Duck Dynasty and hate guys with beards? What is their problem with American Sniper?
Simple: their problem is that they don’t like soldiers like Chris Kyle and they detest the movie because it treats them as worthy of praise. Why do liberals feel this way?
1) Soldiers tend to be conservative: Soldiers tend to be almost reflexively conservative; so even the ones who don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh or know who Mike Lee is tend to lean to the Right. Liberals might not have a problem with traitors like Bradley Manning, deserters like Bowe Bergdahl or dirtbags like John Kerry who condemn their fellow soldiers (“randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan”), but they don’t like conservative soldiers any more than they like conservative Tea Partiers. If anything, the soldiers are worse in their eyes because the troops all have guns.
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2) Soldiers tend to be patriotic: When I think of patriotism and soldiers, the first thing that comes to mind are those lines from Toby Keith’s Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue.
My daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard
Until the day that he died
In my experience, most soldiers have a deep and abiding love of country – and Chris Kyle was no different. At one point in the movie, when he’s responding to his future wife, Chris Kyle says,
“Why would you say I’m self-centered? I’d lay down my life for my country.”
The sad truth is that most liberals don’t like America very much. When they think of America, they don’t think of waving flags, a city on a hill and “the land of the free,” they think of a rotten country they want to change before it hurts more people. The idea that there are people out there who are willing to die for this country because they think it’s such a great place is like a thumb in the eye for people who read Noam Chomsky, like Jane Fonda, and wish we could be more like Belgium.
3) Soldiers kill people: Why does Bill Maher think Chris Kyle was a “psychopath?” Kyle was killing bad guys, he didn’t do it for pleasure, he was justified in eliminating his targets and had he not done so, it’s likely a lot of Americans would have died. So, why does Maher call Kyle a “psychopath?” Because Chris Kyle killed people, just like our other soldiers fighting and dying in Iraq. Certainly liberals like Bill Maher would NEVER kill people….because men like Chris Kyle do it for them and the rest of us so we can stay safe. Some of us appreciate that. Liberals don’t – which is why they need to be reminded that George Orwell was right when he said, "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
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4) Liberals are Utopian thinkers: Liberalism is a guy using an Apple and an IPod railing against corporations. It’s a doofus with a sign that says, “Who Needs Oil? I Ride The Bus!” It’s a guy eating a cheeseburger talking about how awful it is that anyone hunts for food. The reason that Jack Nicholson’s famous speech from A Few Good Men resonated with so many people, even though he was a bad guy in the movie, is that what he said is such a perfect response to armchair critics who want the freedom our soldiers insure without doing the dirty, dangerous and messy work they have to do to provide it.
You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know, that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives! You don't want the truth, because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like "honor", "code", "loyalty". We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said "thank you", and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to!Advertisement
5) Liberals view our troops as the moral equivalent of the people they’re fighting: Liberals were very upset that Chris Kyle referred to the people we were fighting in Iraq as “savages.” Of course, if people who deliberately murder civilians, use their children as suicide bombers and inflict power drills and beheading on captives aren’t savages, then the word has no meaning. Unfortunately, liberals have become so reluctant to make moral judgments that they are simply unable to see the differences between our troops and the people they’re fighting.
So, when liberal Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur compared Osama Bin Laden to the “revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown” or Ted Rall says, “Do our government’s poorly paid contract killers deserve our ‘support’ for blindly following orders?” they’re revealing that they’re morally unable to see the difference between our troops and the people they’re fighting. Most of us may have seen American Sniper as a film about a selfless hero saving American lives, but liberals saw two groups of monsters plugging away at each other and thought, “If only they could both lose!”
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