Since Michael Moore is best known for such films as ?Fahrenheit 9/11? and ?Bowling For Columbine?, he is no stranger to controversy. But the tweet that was sent out yesterday has been received by tremendous backlash by those defending the movie ?American Sniper?.
The movie is based on the autobiography of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. Kyle is also regarded as the deadliest sniper in American history. Tragically, Kyle was killed by a fellow soldier that was suffering from PTSD at a shooting range near Chalk Mountain, Texas in 2013.
One can see by Michael Moore’s tweet, and the timing of it, how many could take offense. Especially if the tweet was aimed at a man that served his country at such a high level. But Moore has been trying to clarify his message since the backlash began.
In a very recent article from MSN, Moore is quoted as saying, ?I didn’t say a word about ?American Sniper? in my tweets.? Also, the article goes on to explain Moore’s thinking at the time of the tweet like this:
?Moore says his sniper tweets, in which he wrote ?snipers aren’t heroes,? was made in reference to Martin Luther King, Jr., a celebrated activist assassinated by a long-distance gun shot from James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968.?
At this point, if you listen carefully, you can hear the pounding of keyboards everywhere typing ?BS? repeatedly. So now we have another reason for social media to go at it. Was Michael Moore talking about Chris Kyle or Martin Luther King, Jr.?
While this drama is sure to continue to play out for weeks to come, Moore did have this to say about the film:
?Awesome performance from Bradley Cooper. One of the best of the year. Great editing. Costumes, hair, makeup superb. Too bad Clint (Eastwood) gets Vietnam and Iraq confused in his storytelling. And that he has his characters calling Iraqis ?savages? throughout the film.?
With the popularity of ?American Sniper? hitting it’s peak, and today being the day we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy, maybe Michael Moore picked a bad time to make such a statement. But to his statement, I do have to end with a few thoughts of my own.
When I stepped off the bus at Ft. Benning for the first time, ?reality? began to change. One truly learned what it meant to fight not for yourself, but for the man to your left and to your right. And if you were to ask, the majority of veterans would not consider themselves heroes. Regardless of where you are sent, the objective is to all come home together.
So you see, Michael Moore is right, snipers aren’t heroes. They are regular men doing an extraordinary job that their government sent them to do. And while the means by which they do their job may not sit well with some, it is their actions that help bring as many of us as possible home alive. Perhaps if the powers that be picked our battles differently, we wouldn’t be having this debate. But then again, no matter the arena, there’s something comforting about an unseen lethal guardian angel watching your six.
With that said, I do not condone the senseless killing that continues to go on and will most certainly bring about more conversations like this. War changes everyone in different ways. I like to think that Chris Kyle was a good person before his first tour. But if we are to go off of his own words, war may have gotten the best of a good man. Killing in any form is not ‘fun’.
