he was an arsehole apparently so to play the devils advocate......
'American Sniper': Lies and Propaganda to Divide a Nation
Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
The recent release of the film American Sniper has, if nothing else, furthered widened the divide between many Americans. While those who view Chris Kyle as the reincarnation of George Washington are singing the praises of Kyle and the movie, others have come to the opposite conclusion.
Of course, the American oligarchy via its mouthpiece mainstream media has firmly attempted to draw the battle lines – If you like Chris Kyle and American Sniper then you are firmly in the camp that supports the troops, loves your country, and opposes terrorism. If you do not view Kyle as a hero, then you are clearly in the camp made up of pinko-commies, socialists, and terrorist sympathizers.
And, of course, if you don’t think Chris Kyle was a hero, then you hate the troops.
But the truth is that Chris Kyle was not a hero. Chris Kyle was a murderer. He was also a war profiteer and a liar.
One need only look to Kyle’s past history and his own words to see the proof of that statement. In his book, American Sniper, Kyle repeatedly referred to the people whose land he invaded and whose families he helped kill as “savages,” regretting only that he was unable to kill more of them.
Kyle wrote,
People ask me all the time, “How many people have you killed?” My standard response is “Does the answer make me less, or more, of a man?”
The number is not important to me. I only wish I had killed more. Not for bragging rights, but because I believe the world is a better place without savages out there taking American lives. Everyone I shot in Iraq was trying to harm Americans or Iraqis loyal to the new government.
I had a job to do as a SEAL. I killed the enemy – an enemy I saw day in and day out plotting to kill my fellow Americans. I’m haunted by the enemy’s successes. They were few, but even a single American life is one too many lost.
Kyle was proud of the “savages” he killed. Not only did he not regret it, he loved it. He wrote,
There’s another question people ask a lot: “Did it bother you killing so many people in Iraq?”
I tell them ‘No.”
And I mean it. The first time you shoot someone, you get a little nervous. You think, can I really shoot this guy? Is this really ok? But after you kill your enemy, you see it’s okay. You say, Great.
You do it again. And again. You do it so the enemy won’t kill you or your countrymen. You do it until there’s no one left for you to kill.
That’s what war is.
I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different – if my family didn’t need me – I’d be back in a heartbeat. I’m not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun. I had the time of my life being a SEAL.
Kyle seemed to enjoy his torture of the Iraqi people boasting about his number of kills and having a great time chasing them with remote controlled hummers as they screamed, presumably thinking it was some kind of weapon being aimed at them.
Kyle also boasted of his ability to punch cattle so hard back home that he twice broke his hand. It should be noted that, abusing animals, of course, is one indicator of a psychopath.
After his stint in the US military, Kyle moved on to more lucrative pastures – the private sphere of war profiteering. Becoming the president of Craft International, a military tactical firm working with both the US military and law enforcement, Kyle continued to benefit off the wholesale slaughter of innocent people overseas and the increased police state here at home.
War profiteering was not enough, however, as Kyle was then turned loose as propagandist by erroneously claiming that he had once been in a bar fight with Jesse Ventura, whom Kyle claimed had insinuated he was happy about the death of Navy SEALs. Kyle claimed that he became angry with Ventura and punched him in the face. Ventura had been a vocal critic of the war in Iraq and painting him as a heartless criminal that rejoiced in the death of American soldiers served to denigrate both Ventura and other critics of the war. Ventura subsequently sued Kyle, but Kyle was killed before the court case was resolved. Ventura was then painted as a heartless troop-hater that sued a poor soldier’s widow. It cannot be overlooked that Ventura won the case and was awarded $1.8 million by a federal jury.
Now, with the release of American Sniper, Kyle is being portrayed as not only a victim of Ventura, but a genuine hero who exuded honor in his actions that were allegedly solely designed to protect Americans and the lives of his “brothers.”
But Kyle’s representation in the media is not only inaccurate, it is disgraceful.
Kyle was bloodthirsty. He was a murderer. And he was proud of his actions.
But Kyle has now become a symbol of “supporting the troops.” With the use of liberal blowhards like Michael Moore as the opposition, the die has been cast – you either love the troops and are a conservative or you hate them and are a liberal. In the mainstream media and, thus, in the minds of the vast majority of the American public, there is no in between and there is certainly no independent thought.
To see such a murderer glorified by the mass media is nothing new. What is truly disgusting, however, is the reaction given to those who dare criticize the new Christ of killing. The complete rejection and borderline violent reaction to anything that resembles a hesitation to rush to war in this country is both frightening and extremely dangerous.
Much of this reaction has come from blowhard reactionaries and entertainment-based commentators. Yet, many average Americans have fallen prey to the culture of militarism and pro-war propaganda to the point that American Sniper has now become akin to what the Passion of the Christ was for Christians. Americans, so overcome with their worship of militarism and so devoid of the ability to tell fact from fiction are now reportedly standing up and giving ovations when the fictional Kyle kills the “bad guy” of the movie.
It is this grouping of individuals who have been the most vocal in their support for a war based on proven lies and virtually every armed conflict that bankers, corporate interests, and the US government have been involved in as well as those in which it may become involved in in the future.
To nearly half of the population, war is the answer. The question doesn’t matter. As Paul Craig Roberts wrote, “In the United States patriotism and militarism have become synonyms.”
The fact that their religion tells them killing is wrong is no matter. Their religion supposedly gives a pass for the orders of politicians and generals.
Torture is fine too. In fact, in the eyes of the Hollywood generation, the ability to torture is the hallmark of a true man. Any suggestion to the contrary is nothing other than sympathizing with terrorists and hating the troops.
