By David Codrea
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “I haven’t yet seen ‘Rogue One,’ but we all know the basics of the story: A band of rebels fighting for freedom against a militaristic, tyrannical empire,” U.S. News Managing Editor Robert Schlesinger asserts. “You know what? The idea that freedom is better than tyranny is profoundly political. If you doubt it, I’d be happy to direct you to a few places on this planet where you can learn the lesson the unpleasant way.”
Only a smug know-it-all who has not even seen what he’s writing about would presume to correct the CEO of Disney, the company that made the film. Robert Iger insists it’s not political. But that’s the least of Schlesinger’s departures from subject matter expertise that begin with his reliance on a fabricated #DumpStarWars “boycott.” Donald Trump supporters are presented as ripe for ridicule and contempt – first for reacting to being attacked, and second, to paint them all as deplorable racists.
That’s the bubble this self-impressed provincial lives in.
I did see the movie, and I thought it was pretty good, one of the better offerings in the franchise, faithful to the canon, exciting, funny in parts, moving in others, visually impressive, and with its share of cameos and nods to previous installments. I’d heard going in that there was supposed to be some outrage from the Trump camp over intentional disses inserted at the last minute, something that hardly seemed plausible. But despite being on the lookout for 11th-hour edits, I left the theater wondering what I was supposed to find that was so partisan and obnoxious.
That would be the parroted talking points Schlesinger wants his readers to buy into, Trump supporters were supposed to be upset because the “Rogue One” protagonists weren’t all white, male and human. Because, as he puts it:
The point here is that the politics of “Star Wars” say far less about Hollywood liberals than the anti-American fringe trying to “dump” the franchise – the racist, white nationalist populist alt-right and its fellow travelers. As I said, they’re raving cranks, so why do we care?
We care because these cranks are suddenly empowered and emboldened, celebrating the imminent ascension of their chosen candidate to the presidency. And not without good reason. Donald Trump was a candidate who embodied the anti-American values the alt-right holds dear. He not only exhibits an affinity and admiration for Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, but has his own scary authoritarian tendencies. He ran a xenophobic campaign, whipping his followers into a frenzy against the other – whether rapist-immigrants or terrorist-Muslims – which made white nationalists swoon. And he was so blatantly racist that even his loyal party leadership called him out on it.
Thanks, Bob. It took reading your “progressive” narrative rant to let me know that I was supposed to be upset because “Star Wars” has aliens. And female leads.
Someone’s “politics” are showing. Yours.
Because Iger is right, the central theme of the “Star Wars” franchise is not “political.” A rebellion exists because politics have failed. There is now nothing left to victims of totalitarianism but to submit to tyranny or to rebel and fight for freedom — or die trying. Kind of like what Schlesinger alluded to, but can’t follow up on without admitting some very inconvenient truths…
Such a rebellion, of course, requires an armed citizenry banding together as a militia, which, as per previous “Star Wars” movies, is exactly what is happening in “Rogue One.” Protagonist Jyn Erso demands and appropriates a weapon, noting her accepted retention of it is a sign that “trust goes both ways.”
Bingo.
For all their self-righteous blather, it’s “progressives” like Schlesinger who hold in contempt the true egalitarian power sharing that is only possible through the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
That’s hardly a theme mainstream propagandists are inclined to acknowledge. Otherwise, they’d have to admit the obvious, that there’d be no films with millions of enthusiastic fans if not for “armed citizens” employing lethal … uh … force to resist a would-be monopoly of violence. And they’d have to admit that gun owner rights advocates significantly went over to Trump because they want to advance that capability, and because Hillary Clinton and the Democrat Party demand crippling it.
So where did Trump supporter resentment being blown out of proportion come from? There are two source points Schlesinger links to that shed some light, one an attack by the film’s screenwriters:
“Please note that the Empire is a white supremacist (human) organization,” wrote [Chris] Weitz. Added fellow Rogue One scribe Gary Whitta, “Opposed by a multicultural group led by brave women.”
The other is pure Alinsky, an ugly Raw Story hit piece employing the site’s trademark M.O. of conflation and smears:
Neo-Nazis call for boycott of Star Wars ‘Rogue One’: ‘A Jew masturbation fantasy of anti-white hatred’
And their go-to sources? A couple of screen name-masked Reddit posters and what appears to be a white supremacist website — but we can’t actually tell because it’s registered through a proxy service. We don’t really know who’s stirring the pot and why.
Based on Raw Story quoting obscure trolls with hidden motives, Schlesinger levels accusations against nothing less than Red State America. His confirmation of Godwin’s Law is obviously intentional. That’s hardly any wonder when you realize U.S. News is owned by Mort Zuckerman, the same gun -hating zealot who runs the New York Daily News, a tabloid that equates the National Rifle Association with jihadists.
Fake news, anyone?
It’s also yet another in a long line of clear examples of “progressive” projection. Despite trying to deny ideological kinship while calling conservatives “Nazis,” scholar and UK Liberal Party supporter George Watson definitively debunked that lie in his landmark “Hitler and the Socialist Dream”:
It is now clear beyond all reasonable doubt that Hitler and his associates believed they were socialists, and that others, including democratic socialists, thought so too.
It’s also clear beyond all reasonable doubt who it is that promotes an unchallengeable state and holds in contempt an armed citizenry. It’s clear who hates men and women retaining their capability to challenge tyrannical abuses when the only other choice would be to surrender to liars bent on crushing them.
Based on what they practice instead of what they preach, Opposite Day “Progressives” clearly side with the Empire.
David Codrea in his natural habitat.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.