Why Does the Left Despise Valor

By Kevin McCullough
Sunday, February 26, 2012

There is a pretty reliable predictor in America today. If someone says something nice about our military, the need to support them, or show demonstrative appreciation for them outright--that person is likely a person of the political and theological right.

I'm not sure why that's the case, but it is so dog gone accurate in the circles of punditry, media, and entertainment, I have to think it's not much different in other places where hard core partisan ranks exist.

This weekend is the perfect example.

One of the most important films to be made in such a long time--honoring our military--reinforces the love of family, the honor of sacrifice, the love of country, and most importantly deep appreciation for men who do things most of us would shrink from. Yet almost universally in media, punditry, and entertainment circles it is being panned as pro-war-mongering-propaganda-responsible-for-all-that-is-wrong. They base these arguments on everything from video games, to perceived war crimes.

They lay these charges at the feet of Act Of Valor, an independently produced film debuting this weekend.

But what I want to know more specifically is why?

Why were there repeated articles on GAWKER and HUFFINGTON POST this week--prior to the film’s release and in a couple of instances complete admission by the person writing the critique that admitted they hadn't seen more than the trailer--that included denouncements of danger, lies, and propaganda that this film contained?

Everybody knows that the left hates war. To a fault. I've debated leftists who believed freeing slaves, stopping the Holocaust, or liberating fifty million people from the suffocation of tyranny is somehow an abuse.

What the media will never tell you is that the right doesn't like war either.

But the difference between the two mindsets is simple: sometimes stopping a known evil is worth the sacrifice of the price paid.

The overarching problem for the left is that increasingly evil is indistinguishable, unrecognizable, and in some cases ignored. Pious platitudes about negotiating, compromising, or blaming America for her wrongs, somehow become a relevant response from the left when staring into the eyes of a tyrant who would kill us if he had the power to do so.

Which brings us back to the heart of Act Of Valor...

In a completely apolitical way Navy SEALs penetrate boundaries, carry out missions, and sometimes take lives of those who are committing the most heinous of crimes. The toll it takes on them as they carry out their mission is never seen--it's not really allowed to be, and the media seems little to care.

This film and every amazing frame of its mind-blowing photography, authentication, action, and yes story is an overt thank you to the SEALs--and by extension the Soldiers, Marines, and others--who put their life on the line, with only the backing of one another to cause them to believe they will make it home.

It's easy for the writers at Rolling Stone, CNN, Gawker, the Huffington Post, and even Mr. Moviefone to mock, deride, and seek to undo the tribute this movie paints.

But it does not make it less than the ugly gesture that it is for these leftist populated outlets to spill their bile upon.

Maybe I'm angry, because I have loved ones in harms way today as I pen these words. Not low-life drop outs that Charlie Rangel would have you believe all military service personnel are, but academically high-achieving, physical specimens that take their knowledge, their strength, their character, and their valor into the line of fire, to keep us from harm tonight.

I don't know what total box office proceeds will be when the final chapter of Act Of Valor's narrative is written, but I know that it is a great piece of filmmaking; it has action that succeeds better than anything Matt Damon ever made. And while the suave smoothness of the well-turned phrase isn't perfect, knowing that we owe our lives to the men who had the courage to reveal their identities even in making this film, gives me greater appreciation for its well-produced message.

Friends, don't buy the tripe. Act Of Valor is a demonstration of courage in that it even exists.

It is difficult to put into words how GOOD this film is.

It is even harder to put into words how important this film is.

And how much we owe... to "the damn few!"