Here is the thing.
There is no doubt that Chris Kyle did a lot for this country, but there is also no doubt that his book were filled with some hyperbole and flat out lies. Furthermore the movie American Sniper is just that a movie, based off real life events, meaning that it isn’t entirely accurate.
Now, I can see both sides of this. If you are a muslim the movie doesn’t paint that culture in the best light and frankly it stereotypes and sensationalizes killing. On the flip side the movie does show that war is real, people do get killed fighting for their country and there are some very bad people out there who happened to be muslim. The movie was set to be shown on the Michigan campus, but protest shut it down.
According to a report in The Michigan Daily, the movie was supposed to be shown at the school’s “UMix Late Night” program, which promotes social events to the student body.
A Google document circulated to the student body stated “the movie American Sniper not only tolerates but promotes anti-Muslim … rhetoric and sympathizes with a mass killer.” The petition garnered about 200 signatures.
It continues: “Chris Kyle was a racist who took a disturbing stance on murdering Iraqi civilians. Middle Eastern characters in the film are not lent an ounce of humanity and watching this movie is provocative and unsafe to MENA and Muslim students…”
The Center for Campus Involvement issued a statement on its Facebook page describing why it canceled the showing.
“We deeply regret causing harm to members of our community, and appreciate the thoughtful feedback provided to us by students,” the statement read in part.
My issue with Jim Harbaugh isn’t that he will show to Michigan football team, but it appears he will force them to watch it if they want to or not.
Michigan Football will watch "American Sniper"! Proud of Chris Kyle & Proud to be an American & if that offends anybody then so be it!
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) April 9, 2015
The second part about him not caring says a lot, the fact he adds an exclamation mark says even more. It shows that he couldn’t care less about why the muslims on campus would be offended. Did he even take the time out to think why they would. Even if you disagree with it, to dismiss it is short sighted and ignorant in my opinion.
If you don’t agree with the themes of American Sniper doesn’t make you any less of an American. This has nothing to do with being a good football player and I hope that if a player doesn’t want to watch he isn’t punished because being an American is also about freedom to form your own opinions.