"American Sniper" is art. But it is also ammunition-targeting Arabs & Muslims for simply being.

[kpete]

Hollywood shoots Arabs: The movie
'American Sniper' replays the age-old racist roles.

............


Hate speech and threats such as these should not be ignored. Instead, they must serve as a warning sign. Hate speech and rhetoric will only continue to add to the culture of violence, which will lead to more incidents and more attacks. Particularly within an already rife context of anti-Arab hatred and Islamophobia.

Statistics gathered by ADC, as well as by the Southern Poverty Law Center, show that there was a 50 percent increase in the number of reported hate crimes against Arabs, Muslims and those perceived to be Arab or Muslim in the US. The increase is correlated with the start of the "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy, which is surely to intensify with the domestic and global backlash against Arabs and Muslims following the Charlie Hebdo attack.

For as long as the negative imagery and permissible hatred against Arabs and Muslims exists, members of the respective communities will continue to live in a state of constant fear that they may be the next victim of a hate crime. The precedent is there, and history has shown us that as the rhetoric worsens, the culture of collateral indictment and the prospect of violence increase.

"American Sniper" is art. But it is also ammunition. The right of creative expression should be tempered by responsibility. Otherwise, "American Sniper" is only performing what propelled its central figure into the limelight - indiscriminately targeting Arabs and Muslims for simply being.

Which, we hope, isn't the film's aim.



MORE:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/01/american-sniper-hollywood-iraq-201512552746382833.html

[redgreenandblue]

1. Yup. Racism is what the cult surrounding Chris Kyle boils down to.

[yeoman6987]

2. Or maybe it is just a good movie.

[belzabubba333]

5. sure, if killing innocent people is something someone is into then im sure it's a great movie

[EX500rider]

13. Silence of the Lambs was also very popular. I assume the victims were innocent also in that movie.

[Paladin]

17. "Silence of the Lambs" was a work of fiction; no for-real government policy at work. (nt)

[belzabubba333]

18. i see your point - doesnt change my opinion but i get what youre saying

btw s.o.t.l. didnt attempt to glorify killing

[Paladin]

20. I believe you and I are on the same side, about the sniper flick. (nt)

[yeoman6987]

23. Actually the Snipper on the Iraqi side was NOT

Innocent. And neither were any Chris shot in the movie. Snipers rarely have collateral deaths.

[GeorgeGist]

14. Or maybe it's just propaganda.

[LanternWaste]

19. Maybe the Bay City Rollers were just hard-core rockers...

Maybe the Bay City Rollers were just hard-core rockers...

[marym625]

3. Thanks for posting

The anti-Muslim rhetoric disgusts me.

[polly7]

4. The more I hear about this film,

the more sad and frightened for Muslims I get. It comes across, to me, as a green light for hate. Why Eastwood chose to make it is beyond me, he could have done so many more things with the material - like maybe tell the damn truth. But then .... he defends Republicans and talks to chairs.

[Rhinodawg]

6. Yeah...Americans are so hell bent on killing Muslims in the US.

Since the movie there must be 1000's of murders in the US....ALL FROM THISMOVIE.






End of sarcasm.

[polly7]

9. It causes hatred for Muslims worldwide, as well as in the U.S.

Hatred and bigotry doesn't always include actual murder, except of the soul. Fear, discrimination, bigotry, disenfranchisement ... why should innocent people have to live under it, no matter what race or religion just because they're painted as 'savages' and their murders celebrated in a movie that completely ignores their innocence?

[Rhinodawg]

10. I wish the innocent people would take control sometime.

Where are the "moderate" muslims and why dont they take control? I don't understand where they are.

BTW, have you seen the pew poll ?

[polly7]

11. Every single Muslim, Christian and anyone else in Iraq was an innocent.

There are nearly two billion Muslims, I don't doubt that the majority are 'moderate', any more than I doubt the majority of Christians are. What does that have to do with any of this?

[LanternWaste]

16. No doubt, Birth of a Nation was similar in that respect...

No doubt, Birth of a Nation was similar in that respect...

[jtuck004]

7. Art. Much like a cross burning.

[polly7]

8. Maybe he'll make his next movie about the hero that lit that cross. nt.

[Matrosov]

12. "American Sniper" is not art

It's propaganda

[Tom Ripley]

15. Craft, not art

That is the case with all Eastwood movies

[el_bryanto]

22. Unforgiven? nt

[el_bryanto]

21. What is the definition of Art ?

I mean it's a film. Both Citizen Kane and Debbie Does Dallas are films. Are all films by definition art?

I guess there are three ways of looking at it - you can say that all films are art and worthy of protection, you can set some standards by which a movie is art or not, or you can say that Art can't be defined but can be recognized.

Probably there are other ways of looking at it.

American Sniper is expression, and is protected on that grounds, of course.

Bryant