MSNBC host Ed Schultz told his audience Monday night that he was “disturbed” by the film “American Sniper” and to him, the film represented “a harsh reminder that soldiers were sent to war over under false pretense.”
“The Ed Show” host began his opening monologue about “American Sniper” by noting that the film “serves to highlight some of the most disturbing consequences of this war.”
Here is Schultz’s show monologue about “American Sniper”:
“It humanized the struggle of soldiers returning from combat with post-traumatic stress disorder. It also serves as a harsh reminder that soldiers were sent to war under false pretense — at least, that’s how I took it.
The movie’s success might suggest that Americans are hungry for a hero in the never-ending fighting in the Middle East.
However the real Chris Kyle was far more complicated than the hero portrayed in Eastwood’s movie.
In his autobiography, Kyle described the enemy as ‘savages and despicably evil.’
Kyle said his ‘only regret is that he didn’t kill more.’ Kyle even described killing as ‘fun’ and something he ‘loved’ to do. Simply put: Kyle’s version of the Iraq war was black and white.
There was no room for humanizing Iraqis when he had his finger on the trigger.
To Kyle, if they weren’t Americans, they were the enemy. Unfortunately some of those feelings have spread into our culture.
The public reaction to the movie “American Sniper” also highlights some of the most disturbing consequences of this war: the normalization of Islamophobia and being one of them.
Schultz continued:
“As an American who loves freedom and loves the troops and wants this country to do things right. Understand that we have a role in this world — a real moral role in this world.
I was disturbed by the movie. I sat there in the movie theater with my wife over the weekend and thought this just underscores how many lives we have ruined because of doing something that was terribly reference to this as well about there is some historical possibly doing something wrong.
And there is some historical reference to this as well of possibly doing something wrong.
I kept hearing Senator Robert Byrd’s voice in my head through the rest of the night.
A month before we went into Iraq, Senator Byrd went to the Senate floor and asked this country: ‘Did we understand the consequences of what we were going to do? Did we understand that this could possibly change policy forever and change the world?’
The MSNBC host closed out his monologue:
“We ruined a lot of lives. It’s very sad, and the fight goes on.”