Moore's the pity

It appears that Michael Moore got a bit tweety, likely referring to Chris Kyle and the film "American Sniper" when he posted:

"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." 

His tweet also coincided with the birthday of Martin Luther King, the release of the film, "Selma" and the fact that MLK was murdered by a sniper as well. You have to consider that, whether it's a family member or a civil rights icon, it's horrific to lose a loved one via an assassin's bullet. Certainly you can add a few Iraqi citizens to that sadness.

In war, snipers are an effective weapon used by every army in the world. A sniper can absolutely terrify an opposing force in a combat zone as each soldier is forced to consider that he can be killed at any moment by an unseen enemy. That fear is a real game changer for morale. Arguably though, a good sniper saves lives by taking out threats to troops not seen by the men in the field. In Vietnam there was a legendary Marine sniper, Carlos Hathcock, who recalled that the only face that haunted him after 93 confirmed kills was the one that got away. He missed one Viet Cong and was fearful until his own death as to how many of his fellow Marines that man had gone on to kill. The uncertain fog of war.

I've read that because of that fear, regular troops haven't always held their own snipers in esteem. Many troops saw them as murderers just like the enemy snipers were cold, perhaps cowardly, killers. When you consider what can happen to you at any second because of the uniform you wear, it might cause you to consider the man on the other side, the guy just like you, probably with a wife and kids back home...a mother...

It's really only been since after Vietnam that our military has had dedicated sniper training. They began to see these soldiers and Marines more as effective fighting tools than just guys who were better shots than most and willing to show it, and they began to train and equip them in a very serious manner. The world changed and warfare became more advanced, at least for us.

As I wrote the other day, our conservative teapublicans are taking to much delight in the American Sniper film's attendance versus the the film about MLK and the Civil Rights movement. Kinda telling there. Hooray for war and fuck non-violence. Now, with Moore's tweets along with Seth Rogen comparing the film to the Nazi film portrayed in "Inglorious Basterds", the conservatives once again despise Hollywood- the same Hollywood that made the film they love so much. How's that for a turnaround?

Moore is very anti-war. Probably anti all wars, I bet. He certainly was against the second Iraq war. Everyone should have been. Packer fan's are probably miffed at Seattle for besting them this past weekend but they don't hate the Seattle Mariners of baseball because they play a sport too. Those of us in the intelligence community (that is, people in the community who have intelligence) know now as then that Iraq had NO involvement in 9/11. No WMD's either. There was NO good reason to invade Iraq and more than 100,000 lives were needlessly lost. The thing is, we knew it then. Many conservatives still don't know that. American Sniper probably clouds things further for them or reinforces their long-held beliefs that the war was just and that it was a war on terror. You fight them over there so you don't have to fight them here! That kinda shit.

Part of life, if you do it right, is taking a metaphorical walk in the shoes of another man. I think that is what Moore meant about "invaders". How would you respond to America being invaded by invaders? Even well-meaning ones who want to rid you of a dictator, install democracy into your system and maybe poke around a little for powerful weapons they don't think you should have? My guess is you wouldn't greet them as liberators. The average Iraqi must have felt like he was out of the frying pan and into the fire. You would feel the same if it were to happen here. Hell, many of our assholes feel Barack Obama is an evil dictator depriving this country of freedom. And we certainly have weapons of mass destruction! Would they welcome an invasion of Russian liberators?

Rhetorical questions and answers aside, aren't Moore and Rogen as entitled to their reviews of films as Ferrerman or Roeper are? Aren't we all? I'm sure that there's more than vitriol for them from our conservative element. I'd bet on death threats being issued all around the internet and tea party gatherings. That's the way they role. Yeah, I spelled that right. Life is getting very Hollywood out there, with redneck noisemakers straight out of Central Casting. Predictable and boring. Seen it all before.