) An article which I authored, entitled The Real American Sniper: Why Chris Kyle Wasn’t A Hero, was published by this website yesterday. The reader’s response was not only overwhelming but also damning. A selection of the 2,000 plus comments that were in response to the article The Real American Sniper: Why Chris Kyle Wasnt A Hero. A selection of the 2,000 plus comments that were in response to the article The Real American Sniper: Why Chris Kyle Wasn’t A Hero. As I sift through the 2,000+ comments and messages we received in reply to the column, which you can read for yourself here, I notice a common thread among those disputing its content. Propaganda works. My words were met by a multitude of enraged Americans spewing verbal venom and vitriol in my direction, but the collective outrage never actually addresses or disputes the facts within the text. The public’s hysterical response has only proven that American Sniper is a piece of propaganda which is being used by the state to incite mass and blind patriotism. Ironically, it’s the very people who refuse to believe that the ghost of Chris Kyle is being used as a tool of propaganda, who are the very ones that have, although unintentionally, confirmed the opposite. Propaganda is meant to cloud logic in order to get a large group of people to follow an idea. Chris Kyle has been turned into an idea, not by me but by publishers, Hollywood producers, and Washington. They have attached his likeness to an internal belief system that has been engrained into all Americans since they were born. This in turn causes the public to perceive a criticism of him as a personal attack on their own values. It causes people to ignore facts and resort to emotion. It causes the critique of one to be viewed as slander to all. Although the rhetorical opinions solicited by some do suggest otherwise, nowhere did I state in the previously mentioned article a negative word, much less an assault, towards the military. I never called Kyle a coward. Is everyone you know a hero? If not, does that in turn make everyone you know who isn’t a hero a coward? Life isn’t black and white and Chris Kyle isn’t a deity. While my words were perceived as an attack on Kyle as a person, they were meant as an attack on those who bought this current swill of propaganda being promoted in his name. Kyle described killing as “fun”, stated that he “wished” he had killed more, said that killing was “no big deal” and that he “loved it”. Those are not my words, they are his. The average American may consider those phrases heroic, but I consider them barbaric. Not subscribing to his callous view of death is not a condemnation of any other person who serves in the military. I view all men and women as individuals and critique them accordingly of their own personal standing and merit. I refuse to endorse the notion that “all of this group is this or that”. Multiple people have sent me messages stating that “anyone in a uniform is a hero.” Really? Was David Berkowitz (AKA Son Of Sam) a hero just because he served in the military? Should we disregard the 6 people he murdered and call him a hero just because he became an expert marksman while in the US Army? In fact, if you would like an extensive list of United States veterans who became murderers click here. None of those people’s actions should reflect on any other service member though, just like Kyle’s actions shouldn’t reflect on the entire military or the conduct of each individual soldier. View a man for who he is, not for the clothes he wears. Among the plethora of threats, curses, names, and blanketing opinions that I have recently had the good fortune to receive, not one of those messages has refuted the stories that Kyle told which painted him to be a liar. Jesse Ventura was in fact awarded $1.8 million dollars over one of Kyle’s claims. You may not like Ventura, nor do you have to, but don’t hide from fact because it isn’t what you want to hear. Chris Kyle did also say that he killed two men in Texas without repercussion. There is zero evidence to support that this event took place. The former Navy SEAL did repeat that he sat on top of the Superdome and killed 30 Americans dead in the streets of New Orleans. Do you actually believe he killed multiple Americans on American soil? If so, do those actions make him a hero? You can be in love with the idea of Chris Kyle, but do not mistake that idea as anything more than a story meant to make you feel a certain way. Calling an individual narrative a work of propaganda is not an attack on freedom, your beliefs, a way of life, your husband who served overseas or you. It’s an attack on propaganda and lies. Be aware that you are the target of the propaganda, but you don’t have to allow yourself to become a victim of it. If you would like to have you opinion heard on this matter and address the author personally, you can listen to ANTI-MEDIA Radio tonight at 11pm est. (8pm pst.) Listen online at ucy.tv/tamr
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:43:35 +0000