American Sniper

Here’s another opinion you might not like- American Sniper is a great movie and Chris Kyle is a hero.

Now I would leave it at that but my blog posts have to be 400+ words to count so here you go. (Caution, I’m probably going to fucking swear in this post)

American Sniper was nominated for a shit ton of Oscars and won like, one. And it was a shitty Oscar that no one cares about. That’s the first injustice I see. The film is amazing. I don’t care about all the other stuff going on, you have to admit that the acting, directing, everything, was amazing. To deny it an Oscar for the subject matter is an atrocity to the producers, director, actors, and everyone involved in the making of the movie.

There is something you should probably know… movies aren’t all sunshine and rainbows. Some films take on tough subject matter. So judge the film on itself and not what it’s based around. American Sniper is racist. So is Chris Kyle. That’s really not a big shocker. Read the fuckin book and you’ll see just how much Kyle hated Islam. But to punish the movie for being centered on the actions of a man with prejudices is just stupid. By that logic we should burn the movie “Shindler’s List’ and “12 Years a Slave” and “Roots”.

History isn’t pretty but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t tell the story. Judge it by its relevance. I’d say the “American Sniper” story is pretty relevant.

Now on to real life, the man and the actions themselves. Should we remember Chris Kyle as a hero? Let me just pull apart some of your shitty arguments against him.

1.       He was a sniper, snipers are cowards.

This argument isn’t very common but it still comes up. It was more common back in the day. Traditional American culture wants our heroes to be the lone cowboy that stands in the middle of the street at high noon. A snipers tactics are the exact opposite of that. But snipers have been used in literally every single American war so if you still think they aren’t the American way, you should read a history book.

2.       He fought in the Iraq war

Iraq was bad, I agree. Most people think we shouldn’t have been there. And it’s okay to have that stance. But applying that stance to men who were following orders to defend their country isn’t. Oppose the war, not the troops.

3.       He was racist

This is the big one, and I’ll give it to you. Chris Kyle was racist. I already said that. He help prejudices against any Islamic person. If you read his book it’s very clear. He thought the Iraq War was a holy war. Literally, he went out and got a crusader’s cross tattooed on his arm. But there is one thing you have to remember. He never killed a person based on their religion. He didn’t like the religion of the people he killed, but he didn’t kill because of it. The reason he killed 160+ people is to save the lives of his brothers. That’s it. That’s why they called him “The Legend” and that’s why he should be a hero. Oh, and by the way, if you want to eliminate racists as heroes in American culture you are going to have to get rid of most of the founding fathers, Babe Ruth, Walt Disney, John Wayne, every single confederate soldier, Dr. Seuss, Henry Ford, and many others.

So he’s racist, and I disagree with him on that. But if you think for a minute that I wouldn’t have dropped to my knees to thank that man for all the lives he’s saved, you’re wrong. Because of him, countless mothers and wives and sisters and brothers get to see their loved one again. If we can overlook Babe Ruth being racist for some home runs, we can certainly get past Chris Kyle for saving our boys lives.