Sniping Michael Moore

The latest, though probably not by the time this post is published, clash between the "Left" and the patriotically correct culture warriors has involved filmmaker Michael Moore basically standing alone against former military snipers and the entire right wing media attack machine. This particular skirmish, as all of them do, has the poor, put-upon "Real Americans" (TM) against the vicious anti-American Left. Let's get one thing straight before plowing ahead, Michael Moore could say it is a nice day outside and trigger this kind of hatred and attacks on his patriotism from the holier than thou crowd of authoritarians in this country, so the substance of his tweet that caused the uproar is almost immaterial. And by now it should be clear that any criticism or even benign remark about the military from a liberal will be met with the harshest condemnation and character attacks from these same culture warriors and their enablers in the media. So what does all the vitriol say about the state of our nation?

The tweet that kicked things off went as follows: "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.” Moore later noted, correctly but immaterially, that he does not mention Chris Kyle or the film American Sniper in the tweet. But in the court of public opinion, especially when viewed by the patriotically correct culture warrior, the implication is clear, Moore was bashing our service members and most likely crapping in your cornflakes while kicking your dog. A always includes B, soldiers defend our freedoms so how dare you use your freedom to say something we disagree with. The torturers at Abu Ghraib were defending our freedom, the drone that bombed the wedding party in Afghanistan was defending our freedom, even I defended our freedom.

Yes, I am a veteran too. And when people I meet learn this and inevitably spout the obligatory "thank you for your service" I am sure they have internalized this meaningless phrase that soldiers defend our freedom. It is knee-jerk to say thank you to a veteran, no matter what he or she did. I signed up to be a tanker, or 19K Armor Crewman as my MOS stated, but all I got to do was the exhausting and thankless task of maintaining M1A1 Abrams tanks for other people to use. Then "support" these students by having to sit at the range or maneuver area babysitting them while they wrecked our tanks. How exactly did I "defend our freedom?" I did not do any defending, it is a meaningless phrase. The more remote you are from the military and its culture the more you fail to understand this. The civilians around my post "got it", they never thanked us, they only wanted to separate us from our money. The point is just that I have some perspective on this debate, however small.

A big problem in the debate is that Americans are so polarized and divided that any clique claiming that "all" or "everyone" feels a certain way is disingenuous at best, conniving an agenda at worst. Because American culture has no permanent foundations beyond something amorphous like "liberty" or "freedom" the manipulation of public opinion is big business. We do not have a King or Queen that can speak to our tradition and keep public opinion and policy rooted in some semblance of reality. Moore was wrong to argue that "most Americans believe..." because we simply don't. I expect this kind of derp from Sarah Palin, whose word salad on the subject you can look up for yourself, when she blurts on Facebook that: “Hollywood leftists: while caressing shiny plastic trophies you exchange among one another while spitting on the graves of freedom fighters who allow you to do what you do, just realize the rest of America knows you’re not fit to shine Chris Kyle’s combat boots...”

But that is Sarah Palin. What about criticism from an actual service member? A couple of them appeared on that fount of high intellectualism Fox and Friends to discuss what Michael Moore's words meant to them.

"The fact that he [Moore] would say something about America's military, snipers in particular, goes to show his abundant lack of intellectual capability that harnesses any value," retired U.S. Marine Corporal Jacob Schick, who appears in the "American Sniper" film, said during a visit to "Fox and Friends." 

Former Army Ranger and sniper Nick Irving also weighed in during an appearance on "Fox and Friends," saying, "I don't think [Moore] deserves the breath that I'm about to give, but I'll just say Michael Moore wasn't there in Afghanistan and the last time I checked, he's never shot anybody with a scoped rifle."

I do not know exactly why shooting someone with a scoped rifle in Afghanistan is a necessary prerequisite for commenting on American foreign policy and military tactics. Nor do I have a clue what in the world Schick meant. He sounds like someone trying to impress a graduate student with big words. At least these two veterans were trying. Then you have a former drug dealer who goes by the name Kid Rock posting on his website "(Expletive) Michael Moore, you’re a piece of (expletive) and your uncle would be ashamed of you. Seth Rogen, your uncle probably molested you. I hope both of you catch a fist to the face soon."

The culture war is alive and well.