An American Sniper As An American Hero

Clint Eastwood produced a movie that probably "made his day".  The American Sniper has been a been a huge box office hit and it has been nominated for an Academy Award.  This article describes the culture war in the US that has been ignited by the release of the movie and some of the criticisms of the movie.  It also provides some background on the real Chris Kyle that was lionized in the movie.  He claims that he did things that have not been confirmed at home as citizen.  Whether his claims are true or not is not is not really important.  The real issue is that he believed that killing 30 people in New Orleans during the riots following Hurricane Kartina,  along with several other boasts that he made, were heroic.  The extent to which the public regards the real Chris Kyle as a hero says a lot about the cultural divide that exists in this country.