Honor, Courage & Integrity
I cannot wait to see this movie! I’ve almost forgotten who we are. The 24/7 assault on our senses by a media complex that seems to have morphed news, entertainment and tabloid sleaze into one slithering mass of noxious slime…de-humanizing everything in its path is more than I can bear. I need to detox! I have to say; reading about American heroes like Chris Kyle, Rob O’Neill and Louie Zamperini are like an exhilarating vitamin B12 shot straight to the heart! And then, speaking of slithering, along comes Edelstein…
Interesting really…I’m not aware of what Edelstein had to say about Jolie’s “Unbroken”, if anything at all. I’d wager he was much kinder to her portrayal of Zamperini than he was to Eastwood’s take on Kyle. Could it be he found being tortured by savages less offensive than killing them? Or maybe, as the young Eagle Scout who’s Eagle project consisted of interviewing living veterans from every war since WWII discovered, Americans have simply lost their appetites and/or any sense of appreciation for the idea of war over the years…certainly the Edelstein Left has. Not gratuitous “Pulp-Fiction” violence mind you…just war…and I think I know why. Real heroes make them uncomfortable. Real bravery makes them small. True selflessness makes them smaller still…
Even more interesting, and perhaps Eastwood’s greater service to us; he has flushed out something extremely important here. By drawing fire from David Edelstein over a movie he criticized without seeing (he was too uncomfortable I’m telling you…I wonder if that’s a first? ), he’s forced them to reveal themselves and their own despicable nature. Here is what we see…
The distilled essence of Zamperini, Kyle, O’Neill and many of their brothers and sisters in uniform is Honor, Courage and Integrity. Their souls spring forth from the deepest well of Valor. When the Edelstein Left peers down into this same well they can only see the reflection of all they are not…and they cannot handle that. Who could? This is why our children aren’t being fed Thomas Paine and Rudyard Kipling in school anymore. Ask them! Ask them to recite from Paine’s “The Crisis” ~ I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death…or Kipling’s “If” ~ “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you…” They can’t because they haven’t. But I would bet the farm that Zamperini, Kyle and O’Neill have. Any takers?
The Edelstein Left loves to claim the moral high ground of humanitarian compassion, but what did they do when the Twin Towers fell? Kyle and O’Neill enlisted. O’Neill said that he was “prepared to give his life for the single mother who went to work one morning and had to jump 100 stories to escape the flames.” And I especially LOVE the heroic humanity of the Louie Zamperini who forgave fellow survivor Mac for eating the only food in the life raft after he had panicked during their 1st of 47 days lost at sea! Who does that? Honor, Courage and Integrity…that’s who!
Here’s a final shocking piece of proof for you to chew on as the final (and disturbing) conclusive evidence of my theorem. Have you noticed that as the Edelstein Left’s appetite for war has diminished, their appetites for corrupt scoundrels (and sex slaves) have grown exponentially…almost to the point of insatiability? Do you realize two of the most powerful men in America employ a man as their confidant who “shakes down corporations”? Could the name Sharpton have ever been uttered in the same sentence with honorable figures like FDR and JFK? From one generation to the next…yesterday’s “Liberal Poet” Mario Cuomo begets today’s “Progressive Crook” disgrace Andrew “Moreland Commission” Cuomo!
92 million Americans out of the labor force. 65% of America’s children on welfare…and David Edelstein sets his sights on Chris Kyle! If yesterday was the times that tried men’s souls then today is the time we are desperately in search of them!!! Kudos to Eastwood for showing America what she is made of…and exposing those who are not!
Standupnsing 
Dishonor attacks Honor as a matter of its own survival! http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/04/retired-cop-sues-new-york-for-confiscating-guns-after-hospital-visit-for/
I am not and don’t have to praise war to be thankful for American patriot warriors such as Kyle.
The more I try to understand the liberal/leftist/atheist mindset the less I do.
They seem to not believe there is evil and there is good. That some are so given over to evil and cannot be reasoned with, only destroyed. Ie: Those so poisoned by Islamic or Muhammadan fundamentalism that they can rape girls, decapitate civilians and blow up innocent people.
It makes you wonder what someone like Edelstein would do if his mother, daughter, wife or girlfriend was confronted with such evil. Would he beg for their lives? Would his God given,better nature reveal itself in a bold moment of defiance? I would hope the latter.
Violence will always be with us. Gratuitous violence for entertainment or selfish gain is always wrong. But violence to stop evil is necessary. Perhaps well meaning but misguided folks have attempted to emasculate young men by calling all violence wrong. This is simplistic and simply untrue. I hope and pray that better sense will once again be common in our schools, culture and society. I do not hate pacifists, Buddhists, or even Edelstein. If that be their choice, may God bless them. But I thank God for Police Officers, Soldiers, and others willing to risk their lives to protect us from those given over to evil.
I just saw, “Unbroken” last night. I cried throughout the entire movie! Your column expresses my feelings exactly when you state, ” I’ve almost forgotten who we are.” Television, the movies or most newsprint so little represents my thoughts or feelings that when I do see a movie like, “Unbroken,” it is an occasion for weeping! Seeing such a movie makes me keep hope alive. I must say when I saw the movie at Alamo Drafthouse, they showed the preview for “American Sniper.” My husband wanted to see it, and my response was it will probably be an anti-American diatribe. I just assume that Americans will be portrayed as bad, and whatever cause that they are fighting for as wrong. So, I was pleasantly surprised when my friend put your column in my inbox this morning and I found out that I was wrong! I could get use to this. I also loved the movie,” God’s not dead.” Hated, Christian Bale’s unbiblical take on the Book of Exodus. Still Chip are we making headway? Also, why would Angelina Jolie do the Louis Zamperini story? It does not seem to represent what I thought were her beliefs? Any info?
Great input as usual Erick! And an even greater question re: Ms. Jolie D!! Here’s a shot…I believe there is a naïve left and a more diabolical informed Left. I don’t know Jolie other than to know she’s somewhere between her Conservative father and her whacko Leftist husband. I think movies like Saving Private Ryan (we know Spielberg’s and Hanks’ politics) were more strategic attempts to stake the moral high ground by winning the hearts of the “Greatest Generation”, than anything else.
I think conservative leaning movies irk the Left for a number of reasons. I think first and foremost for the Hollywood crowd is how much money a conservative film makes. Conservative movies or music not only don’t get promoted fairly via the usual news sources but in fact get skewered as you show in the above column! So, after the Left tries to tell the American public what to think as regards music or movies and properly illuminates things to us it makes them furious that I might choose a Christian ringtone for my phone or go to see “the Passion of the Christ.”
I pray all the time for artists to have the strength to keep moving forward and not give up making those movies or singing those songs. The songs, the poetry, the images have the power to transform this nation.
And never lose sight of the most irresistible quality in all of this…the Kyles, O’Neills and the Zamperinis don’t do what they do for the accolades, or Ocars…or even the transformation. They do what they do because it is “the right thing to do”!