Neil Armstrong film accused of being unpatriotic

I find it very odd that someone could call an exploration of the life of a man who chose to serve his country by strapping in to the top of a 350 ft. rocket and lighting a candle on ~600,000 gallons of fuel right beneath his butt and going where no human has ever gone, somehow unpatriotic because it doesn't have a flag.

Are people who join in with Rubio's criticism partially illiterate? They can read the words on the page, but without the capacity for anything other than the most superficial comprehension of a text? Are they incapable of recognizing patriotism in a person's actions, only seeing it in the symbols a person might dress up in?

Always someone who will be unhappy about something.  Internet mock outrage is just a fact of life these days.

Among those who have criticized the film is failed presidential candidate and Republican senator Marco Rubio.

And the crackpots at Breitbart. What a team that is, a Trump-lite object of contempt and some internet fascists! Everyone else seems to think it's an superb film featuring a great performance by Gosling. I'm really looking forward to seeing this.

katsu78Today 07:37 am JSTI find it very odd that someone could call an exploration of the life of a man who chose to serve his country by strapping in to the top of a 350 ft. rocket and lighting a candle on ~600,000 gallons of fuel right beneath his butt and going where no human has ever gone, somehow unpatriotic because it doesn't have a flag.

Here's something else to consider - when the upper half of the Lunar Module blasted off to get back to the orbiting Command Module so Neil and Buzz can get back home, the force of the blast KNOCKED the flag down. So it's on the lunar surface - LAYING DOWN ON THE GROUND! Would you want the movie to show THAT? There'd be a big stink made about that one, believe me!

The right wing political correctness police strike again.

If you check most of the scientist's and engineers were German and Canadian that were working on the the moon landing.

Well, it was American money behind it, but the work was really international, as Starpunk points out and Neil Armstrong said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

It was for ALL MANKIND, not just one out of 200 or so countries on the planet.

Among those who have criticized the film is failed presidential candidate and Republican senator Marco Rubio.

I wonder why the writer chose to refer to Marco Rubio as “failed presidential candidate”? It really isn’t relevant to the article.

I'm looking forward to seeing this movie. As someone born after the landing, I haven't seen any human feat as daring. Probably never will, but here's hoping...

What is the deal here? The first manned moon landing had its precedents before that historic moment. First, a Soviet probe crash-landed on the moon to see how solid the surface is. US and USSR probes did that. Then there were robot landers on the moon to verify this and make sure there wasn't 6 feet of sand on the surface! Then both nations sent probes to orbit the moon, carrying animals (like turtles) to see if the regions around the moon were safe. The Apollo 1 disaster (3 astronauts dead) showed that more work needed to be done so we could do it right the first time. Then there were manned test missions with no landings. OK. A Soviet robot lander scooped up some rocks and came home. Then - Apollo 11.

It was a lengthy process that took a lot of painstaking work from BOTH countries. It truly was a GIANT LEAP FOR ALL MANKIND. If Neil's sons don't have a problem with this movie then why should you? Space exploration then - and now, is an eternal quest for ALL people on planet Earth. Know about the planetary robot missions, the Pioneer + Voyager probes now in interstellar space, the orbiting ISS?

Oh for god's sake... un-American because it doesn't show the flag being planted? What utter tosh!

I am a huge admirer of Neil Armstrong and the other men that pioneered the American space program. He was a veteran of the Korean War and deeply patriotic. He lived an amazing life and was humble about his incredible individual achievement always giving praise to others. These qualities are so rare as to being nearly unheard of today. It was beyond me why Obama did not give him a state funeral- I can only guess that he or his family did not want it.

This controversy is contrived unless they have completely wiped out any mention of his patriotic character or scrubbed away all images of the flag. Let’s remember that Kennedy’s entire rationale and the method he used to rally the country to go to the moon in the first place was entirely based upon nationalism and patriotism. Unlike today’s Democrats, Kennedy knew that American nationalism is a force for good.

"Today we have with us, a group of students, among America's best.

To you we say...We've only completed the beginning. We leave you much that is undone. There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available, to those who can remove one of thruths protective layers."

Neil Armstrong

Was the Apollo program really worth the enormous expense and lives lost? Wouldn’t the technological benefits derived from the program have been got through other terrestrial projects?

Nope, the terrestrial projects would have never given the technological break throughs and benefits, you may want to lookup all the different experiments they did on the moon and the technology that was invented to reach into space and than the moon. What do you think was/is the purpose of shuttle missions and space stations like Space Lab, MIR, Tiangong, ISS...science experiments day in and out.

The Apollo program was every bit worth, and had it continued at the same level, some of the JT readers would have been commenting on this article from colonies on Moon and Mars..

I wrote:

I wonder why the writer chose to refer to Marco Rubio as “failed presidential candidate”? It really isn’t relevant to the article.

The article said:

Among those who have criticized the film is failed presidential candidate and Republican senator Marco Rubio.

Alfie Noakes posted after quoting the article above:

And the crackpots at Breitbart. What a team that is, a Trump-lite object of contempt and some internet fascists! Everyone else seems to think it's an superb film featuring a great performance by Gosling. I'm really looking forward to seeing this.

I see, Alf. Rubio is one of the crackpots.

There's too much flag waving/planting already.

A flag isn't what makes one patriotic. Love of one's country and representing that country in an extraordinary achievement, like Armstrong and the US did, is what makes for a rise in patriotism.

You don't need show someone slam-dunking a flag onto the moon.

From what I've read, the flag is featured many times in the movie. It's just the flag-planting event that is omitted. It's a film about Armstrong, not about the USA and not a documentary of the moon landing. I wonder what reaction we would have got if they had depicted the flag planting, and we got to hear Armstrong's inner thoughts about planting a flag in a place with no atmosphere.

The right wing political correctness police strike again.

Political correctness runs deep on left and right.

Yes, but there was a reason why he took the American flag up there. Essentially, it was the US that took that leap

Well, if you want to get all technical it was on top of a rocket designed by Germans.

now if liberals want to play the PC Card they can do it.

Its not the liberals getting all bent out of shape about being politically correct here, it is conservatives.

Anyway, people know the truth, that can’t be erased

Yup, so why get all bent out of shape? And nobody has erased anything.

it’ll be another lib forgotten DVD white washed movie.

You haven't even seen it yet and know nothing about the movie.

Complete BS... human's went to the moon for all mankind.

I hate the way the word hero is used so casually today. (I don’t even want to touch on “super-h...”.)

I have always been wary of its use because it has so, so often been exploited by people pushing an agenda that was far from heroic.

A hero to me is someone who willingly, even if hesitantly, puts himself in harm’s way for the sake of others in a worthy endeavor without the expectation of reward. (Cynics would call such a person a sucker.)

There is NO question that Neil Armstrong and the other astronauts and cosmonauts had courage and that is laudable. The only problem I have was the endeavor. Was the Apollo program really worth the enormous expense and lives lost? Wouldn’t the technological benefits derived from the program have been got through other terrestrial projects?

As for patriotism, wasn’t it really just an administration-run propaganda effort to “prove” the superiority of “the American way” (Older posters may recognize this from the old George Reeves “Superman” opening.) over the Soviets’? Tribal drum beating?

Perhaps I’m wrong.

Maybe my own education as a patriot never developed beyond the events on Lexington Green: protect your family’s lives and property - as well as your neighbors’ - then go home.

Absolutely. At the very least the film should have depicted all the astronauts on the moon jumping up and down shouting "USA! USA! USA!". I expect the film makers are communists.

Maybe they need to have red helmets with "Make America Great Again" painted above the visor?

"But Armstrong went to the trouble of taking a flag on the trip to the moon and planting it.  

It was a big deal at the time and quite symbolic. So why not show it in the film?"

That would be politically incorrect, lol.

All 12 astronauts who went to the moon were Americans.  The last manned mission was over 46 years ago.

No one else has gone there since.

Vernon Watts, Excactly.

Left, right, it doesn’t matter, just attack it. The media somehow will cover it. True news, false news, he media treats it all equally else they’ll go after you. Far too much garbage. Armstrong didn’t plant a flag, forgot to plant the flag, planted it but it wasn’t well photographed, it’s history 50 years ago. He’s a national hero & possibly even world hero. Thank you for going and returning, Neil.

" Right wing political correctness" ? The leftist Orwellian newspeak/doublethink surges on.

I'm not speaking from the left or right. This particular instance of political correctness policing doesn't seem to be emanating from the "left" so I just infer that it is coming from the "right" based on the fact that this seems like a made up controversy which pushes their buttons.

I mean, this is a stupid controversy (as are many generated the left). This is literally a movie about an American hero, portraying his accomplishment as heroic (so far as I can tell from the article). The movie hasn't even been released yet so I am guessing nobody who is heaping criticism on it has seen it or has any idea what it contains other than the fact that it doesn't have a flag planting scene, from which I infer that including flag planting scenes in movies about the Apollo missions is now deemed mandatory by the right wing political correctness police (or whatever you want to call them).

Its just stupid.

But Armstrong went to the trouble of taking a flag on the trip to the moon and planting it.

It was a big deal at the time and quite symbolic. So why not show it in the film?

I wish all astronauts well . . . esp. the first who landed on the moon.

Why hasn't there been any moon landings since then with today's technology? Im no conspiracy theorist, just asking a logical question

There's nothing there, it's just a giant cratered rock circling our planet. There's no logical reason to spend billions to go there again.

They've found water ice... reason enough to go back. Also the Chinese have sent a robot there.

The American people paid for that mission,

And Neil ended doing it for all mankind ? Trump is gonna ask a repayment with interests from all other countries, and all apatrids.

THE SCIENCE WAS THE RESULT OF UNITED NATIONS MINDS

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They helped america because america promised to protect the world and not just their buts. This science is the result of many science centuries coming from many countries. This is not just "america" because america was paying with money acquired from selling the world goods and borrowing their money too.

The mind able to go to the moon is not nationalist. Nationalism tend to make people too dumb for this kind of space science.

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NCM

That's on Mars...

Also water (ice) on the moon:

https://www.space.com/41554-water-ice-moon-surface-confirmed.html

It's a strange omission for sure, since planting the American flag on the moon is such an iconic moment. I can't say how I feel about it one way or the other until I see the film for myself, but with the current climate of people finding the US flag offensive, I don't think its too much of a stretch to see a little bit of PC influence. I hope that's not the case though.

@starpunk

I had no idea that the first flag was knocked over! Thanks for sharing that.

"This is total lunacy," he tweeted in reference to the absence of the flag planting

Absolutely. At the very least the film should have depicted all the astronauts on the moon jumping up and down shouting "USA! USA! USA!". I expect the film makers are communists.

You don’t know that. Don’t presume you know me. You know absolutely nothing about me what have or have not seen.

As stated in the article, the movie hasn't been released yet. Apologies for presuming you hadn't seen it.

But the Astronauts left from US soil, therefore thst makes it as American as Apple Pie.

@bass - you do realize that apple pie is British, don't you?

"This is total lunacy," he tweeted in reference to the absence of the flag planting.

I hope Marco Rubio's pun was intentional.

At the time sticking a flag pole into the Moon was not nearly as impressive to people as just the thought of going there. People used to sit outside and look in retrospection at the Moon and wonder. Especial for those born before TV, many who thought TV was still something quite magical, and going to the Moon even more so.

Im no conspiracy theorist, just asking a logical question

It seems a reasonable question. I'm sure my kids have a doubtful look about them when I talk about the moon landings. (Yeah, sure dad.)

There's no logical reason to spend billions to go there again.

If we're serious about sending people to Mars or further afield, it seems like it would make for good practice.

Well, if you want to get all technical it was on top of a rocket designed by Germans.

Sure Germans vonBraun and Arthur Rudolph were the lead rocker designers for the Apollo project but there were many, likely hundreds, of rocket scientists involved in the project. Most were Americans working for contracting companies such as Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. Of course it was all paid for by American taxpayers.

Rudolph’s story is interesting. He became a US citizen but his past caught up with him and he ended up back in Germany.

As for the movie, we should all probably withhold judgment until it comes out. It is not uncommon for people to seek to influence movies before they are released in order to shape the story. Let’s face it, movies shape our understanding of history and culture. Hollywood is known to be very politicized so it shouldn’t be any surprise that it’s spin on such an emotionally infused event such as the first moon landing would invite criticism. Armstrong was a proud America. I doubt his family would allow him to be portrayed as anything but the American hero that he was.

NadègeSep. 4 11:49 pm JSTTHE SCIENCE WAS THE RESULT OF UNITED NATIONS MINDS

°

They helped america because america promised to protect the world and not just their buts. This science is the result of many science centuries coming from many countries. This is not just "america" because america was paying with money acquired from selling the world goods and borrowing their money too.

The mind able to go to the moon is not nationalist. Nationalism tend to make people too dumb for this kind of space science.

It's like what I said in a previous post. The first landing on the moon, done by Americans is the results of a process done by the USA and USSR  as well as German rocket science, and adventurous aspirations, innovations and inventions and dreams that go back to the ancient Greeks, Imperial Chinese, and even before that.

Well, if you want to get all technical it was on top of a rocket designed by Germans.

But the Astronauts left from US soil, therefore thst makes it as American as Apple Pie.

Its not the liberals getting all bent out of shape about being politically correct here, it is conservatives.

Yes, you’re right, it’s liberals that want to rewrite history form an apologetic point of view and downplay American exceptionalism.

Yup, so why get all bent out of shape? And nobody has erased anything.

I’m not, I’m just shaking my head and look forward to seeing it on the shelves of the DVD scrap pile. Lol

I'm waiting to see a remake of the taking of Iwo Jima by the US Marines where the iconic moment the flag is raised on Mt. Suribachi; the film maker (probably Michael Moore) only shows the marines and the flagpole and not the stars and stripes since he claims "mankind" won the battle...

@starpunk

True that. I saw it on TV.

They've found water ice... reason enough to go back. 

That's on Mars...

Americans' obsession with the flag is really quite pathetic.

And that's one obsession among many.. :)

Well, if you want to get all technical it was on top of a rocket designed by Germans.

Sure Germans vonBraun and Arthur Rudolph were the lead rocker designers for the Apollo project but there were many, likely hundreds, of rocket scientists involved in the project. Most were Americans working for contracting companies such as Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. Of course it was all paid for by American taxpayers.

The lead and brilliance came from the Germans. Americans are good in teamwork and came with all kind of engineering solutions and financed it. It's like with the Manhattan project, the bombs were made, financed and dropped by Americans but without the German expertise the US wouldn't have the status it has today...

@Kenji There's nothing there, it's just a giant cratered rock circling our planet. There's no logical reason to spend billions to go there again.

BertieWoosterSep. 3 12:55 pm JSTWell, it was American money behind it, but the work was really international, as Starpunk points out and Neil Armstrong said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

It was for ALL MANKIND, not just one out of 200 or so countries on the planet.

It's for the same reason we should all celebrate the achievements of Yuri Gagarin. It doesn't matter that he was from the USSR. It's celebrated around the world - simply because he was the FIRST human being to leave planet Earth AND return alive, on a space mission. He was the FIRST of ALL mankind. Simple as that.

OK, fellas, alright. Here's what really happened - the astronaut lands on the moon and the flag he planted on the lunar surface had the MTV LOGO on it. Now are you guys happy? Let's have no more arguing, OK?   ; )

bass4funkSep. 3 04:24 pm JSTWell, it was American money behind it, but the work was really international, as Starpunk points out and Neil Armstrong said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

It was for ALL MANKIND, not just one out of 200 or so countries on the planet

Yes, but there was a reason why he took the American flag up there. Essentially, it was the US that took that leap, now if liberals want to play the PC Card they can do it. Remember the movie Pearl Harbor? And the two different ending versions they had? Anyway, people know the truth, that can’t be erased and in a few months it’ll be another lib forgotten DVD white washed movie.

This is about a momentous moment in history - man stepping onto another world. Period. It's a moment for all people - the whole human race inhabiting planet Earth.

What's Pearl Harbor got to do with this? That was a dastardly act of war in 1941. Wars have been throughout human history. Pearl Habor is nothing compared to other atrocities committed in history, even now. Stepping out onto a another world and seeing the Big Blue Marble makes all those 'earthly' matters pale. That's the significance of it all.

Kenji FujimoriSep. 3 10:57 pm JSTWhy hasn't there been any moon landings since then with today's technology? Im no conspiracy theorist, just asking a logical question

Space exploration is no gimmick - for any nation. We've had these shuttle missions and space stations to have astronauts of many countries living and working together to see how we can improve our lives. Microwave cooking technology, medicine, astronomy, communications, etc. have all benefitted from our various space programs and they do so now. As for moon landings we've been finding out even more - there's water ice in the lunar south polar region. That could help for future colonization. In the meantime, robot probes have continued exploring other worlds, including the moon. India has sent probes to explore the moon further and JAXA of Japan has sent robots to crash on the lunar surface at various places during this decade to determine further exploration of the moon. JAXA themselves were the first to bring back rock samples from an asteroid. We keep learning. Progress has kept on.

These events of space exploration are transdescent of nationalism and politics and whatever. People of many nationalities and every color and race have been in outer space. It all began with the robot Sputnik 1 in 1958, then the dog Laika went up in Sputnik 2, then the man Yuri Gagarin in 1961 and so it goes. We've come a long way and with this vast universe there's a lot more things for us coming up.

" Right wing political correctness" ? The leftist Orwellian newspeak/doublethink surges on.

Well, it was American money behind it, but the work was really international, as Starpunk points out and Neil Armstrong said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

It was for ALL MANKIND, not just one out of 200 or so countries on the planet

Yes, but there was a reason why he took the American flag up there. Essentially, it was the US that took that leap, now if liberals want to play the PC Card they can do it. Remember the movie Pearl Harbor? And the two different ending versions they had? Anyway, people know the truth, that can’t be erased and in a few months it’ll be another lib forgotten DVD white washed movie.

Hollywood is right. All real events in history that challenge today's trendy PC narrative must be expunged from historical memory.