Michael Moore proving once again...

rgambs

http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/killing_ragheads_for_jesus_20150125
Chris Hedges' take on the film/book. He doesn't mince words.

""American Sniper” lionizes the most despicable aspects of U.S. society—the gun culture, the blind adoration of the military, the belief that we have an innate right as a “Christian” nation to exterminate the “lesser breeds” of the earth, a grotesque hypermasculinity that banishes compassion and pity, a denial of inconvenient facts and historical truth, and a belittling of critical thinking and artistic expression. Many Americans, especially white Americans trapped in a stagnant economy and a dysfunctional political system, yearn for the supposed moral renewal and rigid, militarized control the movie venerates. These passions, if realized, will extinguish what is left of our now-anemic open society."

""The movie never asks the seminal question as to why the people of Iraq are fighting back against us in the very first place,” said Mikey Weinstein, whom I reached by phone in New Mexico. Weinstein, who worked in the Reagan White House and is a former Air Force officer, is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which challenges the growing Christian fundamentalism within the U.S. military. “It made me physically ill with its twisted, totally one-sided distortions of wartime combat ethics and justice woven into the fabric of Chris Kyle’s personal and primal justification mantra of ‘God-Country-Family.’ It is nothing less than an odious homage, indeed a literal horrific hagiography to wholesale slaughter.”"

My favorite part: "The culture of war banishes the capacity for pity. It glorifies self-sacrifice and death. It sees pain, ritual humiliation and violence as part of an initiation into manhood. Brutal hazing, as Kyle noted in his book, was an integral part of becoming a Navy SEAL. New SEALs would be held down and choked by senior members of the platoon until they passed out. The culture of war idealizes only the warrior. It belittles those who do not exhibit the warrior’s “manly” virtues. It places a premium on obedience and loyalty. It punishes those who engage in independent thought and demands total conformity. It elevates cruelty and killing to a virtue. This culture, once it infects wider society, destroys all that makes the heights of human civilization and democracy possible. The capacity for empathy, the cultivation of wisdom and understanding, the tolerance and respect for difference and even love are ruthlessly crushed. The innate barbarity that war and violence breed is justified by a saccharine sentimentality about the nation, the flag and a perverted Christianity that blesses its armed crusaders."

badbrains

RGambs, you talking about me as the idiot that takes personal jabs? I'm confused to. Don't want to be a confused idiot as well. I just woke up so I mite be reading these posts wrong.

rgambs

Hahaha no, sorry, I WAS talking about PJfan, I was just trying to be crytic and sarcastic as he/she has been of late...apparently I succeeded...or failed.. Not sure lol

badbrains

All good RGambs, just didn't want to be the idiot u we're talking about hahaha, was gonna say u hurt my feelings but all good now.

mikepegg44

gimmesometruth27 wrote: »

Last-12-Exit wrote: »

Brian, you do not feel we were fighting for our freedoms when we went into Afghanistan?

no we were not "fighting for our freedoms" in afghanistan.

contrary to what the neocons will tell you, our freedoms were never, ever under attack.

to be quite honest, we gave away our freedoms when we allowed congress to pass and reimplement the patriot act.

no foreign invader can take my freedom. or yours for that matter. but my own government can.

and them hating us for our freedom was not the reason we were attacked on 9/11.

That is the sad truth Gimme...our "freedoms" are under attack from the people and the government of our own country every day much more so than any islamic fundamentalist group could ever do...The moral majority, the pc police...People need a foreign enemy and unfortunately they fail to see that the real war on our freedoms is being fought by two parties. Democrats and Republicans in the federal government don't give a shit about your freedoms, they only care about their own freedom to do whatever it is they want and fuck the rest...both parties should be renamed to one big party...the pick and choose party

rgambs

BB you bring the heat and I like it, gotta have friction to start a fire lol. I don't think anybody that posts here is an idiot! We are a smart batch of cookies, and we may disagree...alot sometimes...but we engage in something beyond reality TV and top 40 so I automatically prefer a 10clubber to most people lol

badbrains

I like that post RGambs, I agree, place has some smart people in here to go with the "idiots", kind of balances it's self out.

rgambs

Assholes aplenty *this guy* but no idiotas )

Last-12-Exit

Assholes a plenty. That funny.

mickeyrat

Freedom of thought, speech and expression indeed.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

With no opposing point of view, there can be no discussion. As such, perhaps more respect could be given to one's opponent for affording them the opportunity to exercise their brain.

As much as some tactics could be a little better, I'm shocked at the digression of last three (or four) pages of this thread.

TalonTedd

rr165892 wrote: »

For the record Canada would mop up the Cubans.Those dudes can't skate.The are selfish with the puck,back check for shit,and don't understand dump and chase.also the goalies sweater smells like strong coffee and cigar smoke...............................

)

oftenreading

PJfanwillneverleave1 wrote: »

brianlux wrote: »

PJfanwillneverleave1 wrote: »

brianlux wrote: »

PJfanwillneverleave1 wrote: »

brianlux wrote: »

backseatLover12 wrote: »

brianlux wrote: »

Here's the quote again:

I'd say that I spent 21 and a half years in the military, and that there's many men and women serving right now serving on the tip of the spear to allow him [Moore] to say that.


In saying that, Couglan is basically say our troops are fighting for our freedom. This is simply not true. I haven't read Couglan's book so, no, I'm not arguing about his perspective. I'm arguing against the notion that post-WWII we have fought various wars as a way to protect our freedom. I am arguing that that post-WWII we have not once fought to protect our freedom. We may have fought for other reasons (justifiable or not), but our freedom has never been in jeopardy from the outside.

This is the way I take it. That soldiers defend what they do by taking the propaganda talk of our gov't as a way to justify being on other lands and simply, defending their stance that what they do (kill) is justified and that "...we're fighting for you, man, we're fighting for you!"

That mentality. Like we owe them something because they voluntarily join the military.

That's how I see it too, bsL.

And worse, not all these young guys really know what they are getting into until it is too late and they come back with missing body parts and permanently screwed psyches.

All these young guys? Getting into what Brian? I must say though it would be nice to own a used book store without a care in the world other than having to deal with rude customers.

Oh for God's sake, PJFan, Christ, what a stupid fucking thing to say. What the fuck do you know about me that way? Fuck off man.

So is this the angry Blux or the riddled lux speaking?

Read my PM. You and I need to put each other on "ignore" before we both get permabanned. I'm done here.

Sorry, everyone else. Carry on.

What I am trying to say is that we should not ignore global warming and that as a sustainment to our belief we should limit population growth, recycle and whatever.

So that's what this enmity is about? You think brian is insufficiently concerned about global warming, population growth and "whatever"? Feel free to put your own thoughts and solutions out there for debate rather than needling away at one person for how they express theirs.

lolobugg

wow. shit is getting personal in here.

dignin

lolobugg wrote: »

wow. shit is getting personal in here.

I will say it then, as off topic as it is.

PJFan is trolling brian and making this personal. No need for that on these boards.

dignin

mikepegg44 wrote: »

gimmesometruth27 wrote: »

Last-12-Exit wrote: »

Brian, you do not feel we were fighting for our freedoms when we went into Afghanistan?

no we were not "fighting for our freedoms" in afghanistan.

contrary to what the neocons will tell you, our freedoms were never, ever under attack.

to be quite honest, we gave away our freedoms when we allowed congress to pass and reimplement the patriot act.

no foreign invader can take my freedom. or yours for that matter. but my own government can.

and them hating us for our freedom was not the reason we were attacked on 9/11.

That is the sad truth Gimme...our "freedoms" are under attack from the people and the government of our own country every day much more so than any islamic fundamentalist group could ever do...The moral majority, the pc police...People need a foreign enemy and unfortunately they fail to see that the real war on our freedoms is being fought by two parties. Democrats and Republicans in the federal government don't give a shit about your freedoms, they only care about their own freedom to do whatever it is they want and fuck the rest...both parties should be renamed to one big party...the pick and choose party

You both nail it here.

hedonist

lolobugg wrote: »

wow. shit is getting personal in here.

Morning! I think it was too, but D-Lux took the high road.

Once again, I curse Michael Moore for this

badbrains

Why anyone would try to attack brian personally baffles me. The guys as genuine as it gets.

Edit-now Scott, he's fair game.

Last-12-Exit

Dignin nailed it, trolling. We've got a few of em here.

callen

Like fired up Lux.