At one time, the American war hero was best epitomized by clean cut, fresh faced Audie Murphy. Now, if recent media reaction is anything to go by, the American war hero is best exemplified by Chris Kyle, someone not too far removed from the kind of man that Murphy spent two years of WWII fighting.

Best remembered today for his acting career, Murphy was one of the most decorated soldiers of World War Two. Barely into his adulthood, Murphy went overseas and risked his life to help stop a madman taking over the world. The people he killed were soldiers serving the imperialist power of the time – Nazi Germany. In one famous incident, Murphy stood on a burning tank destroyer and used its machine gun to mow down German soldiers swarming at him from three sides. During a firefight lasting over an hour, Murphy killed so many members of the German infantry that the German tanks were forced to back off for lack of infantry support. Then he went back to his men and organized a counter attack that forced the invaders to go into a full retreat. But that was long ago and far away.

Today’s epitome of the American war hero is Chris Kyle, a shark-eyed predator who preferred fighting on behalf of an imperialist power to fighting against it. A cold blooded killer, Kyle took great pride in slaughtering Iraqis who were trying to defend their homeland from the modern equivalent of Nazi Germany – the American Empire. Unlike Murphy, Kyle wasn’t killing the villains of the piece, and he wasn’t even killing people who were trying to do the same to him. No, like the serial killers whose body counts pale beside his, Kyle hid in the shadows and struck without warning. Instead of standing in harm’s way and firing back at someone trying to kill him, Kyle hid 100s of meters away and killed civillians without giving them even the smallest chance of fighting back. And while Murphy was modest about his undeniably heroic actions and respectful towards those he killed, Kyle used his fame to not only brag of his exploits but to describe his victims as “savages,” “non-humans,” and “twisted souls.”

Is there a more striking illustration of how far from grace America has fallen than the difference between these two men? One, a brave and selfless hero who served a righteous cause. The other, a mass murderer who avoided a lethal injection by putting his violence to work in a way that is rewarded instead of punished – in the service of empire building. Looking at these two men, these two polar opposites, the old model and the new model, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that America has truly – and perhaps irreversibly – lost its way, its moral compass, and, indeed, even its very sense of decency.

Chris Kyle, a highly successful paid assassin for the Amerikan Empire, has been shot dead by, appropriately enough, one of his fellow mercenaries.

Apparently Kyle was using what little humanity he possessed to help another soldier with his PTSD when the other bloke shot him dead. In typically disgusting Amerikan fashion, the primary reaction to Kyle’s death is that Amerika has lost a hero. The appropriate reaction is, of course, that the world has been rid of a psychopath who shot dead between 160-250 men and women trying to fight back against the invasion of their country.

This bastard hid 100s of feet away, then blew holes in people who were defending their homeland. He didn’t even have the guts to shoot them face to face! And he had no regrets about having a body count to rival that of famed mob assassin Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski. Even in his late thirties he showed no sign that he might have realized, now that the fury of youth was over, that maybe killing Iraqis fighting their country’s invaders was akin to shooting the French Resistance for standing up to the German forces.

No, Chris Kyle was proud of his murderous record and chose instead to distract us by focusing not on the Arab lives he took but the Amerikan lives he saved – but then, isn’t that what most snipers for any invading force say? For the Fatherland and the boys on the ground, said the Germans across Europe. For Mother Russia and her brave soldiers, said the Russians in Afghanistan. Butchers always have their excuses and Kyle was no different. His true attitude towards the people he slaughtered was reflected in the way he described one woman whom he killed as having “a twisted soul.” He’s the invader, he’s the aggressor, yet the one with a defective humanity is the victim trying to liberate her country.

For anyone too dense to understand the situation, here’s a civilian example. Kyle and his buddies burst into your house. While his buds steal everything you own and kill your family, Kyle stands watch with a gun in his hand – you make one wrong move and he shoots you dead. This is a hero? No. This is a thug, a psychopath, a murderer, or, as Fox News has put it, this is an Amerikan hero.

Fuck Kyle, fuck all his kind, and good riddance to bad rubbish.

PS

I would like to apologize for comparing Chris Kyle to Richard Kuklinski. Kuklinski killed mostly criminals whereas Kyle killed mostly civilians, a crucial difference which should have led me to spare Mr. Kuklinski such an odious comparison.