Senator and bona fide snowflake Marco Rubio is really good at shooting off his mouth without understanding the target. He’s really good at making a fool of himself. He’s really good at getting angry about nothing, while doing nothing about things that should make everyone angry. He’s good at tweeting random Bible quotes, but really bad at standing up for this country, standing up to Donald Trump, helping to set America back on the right course towards peace, unity, and democracy. But worse and more embarrassing than all of those things, Little Marco doesn’t know his history.
After setting his own hair on fire and blundering into his latest knee-jerk reaction, Rubio revealed how little he actually knows about the 1969 Moon landing. He warps what John F. Kennedy said about the space mission, and ignores what Neil Armstrong himself told Richard Nixon during their (in)famous phone call. Here’s Little Marco spouting off half-cocked:
This is total lunacy. And a disservice at a time when our people need reminders of what we can achieve when we work together. The American people paid for that mission,on rockets built by Americans,with American technology & carrying American astronauts. It wasn’t a UN mission. https://t.co/eGwBq7hj8C
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 31, 2018
Little Marco is totally one of those people who reacts to clickbait headlines without reading the story, considering the context, or bothering to look at the history. He’s also someone who clearly knows nothing about film or art. To him, Leni Riefenstahl’s sledgehammer is preferable to Fritz Lang’s nuance. And yet, here he is offering an uninformed opinion about a movie he demonstrably knows nothing about, about a milestone for mankind that he probably couldn’t comprehend even way back before he lodged himself firmly up the dark hole of nationalism and right-wing extremism. And since he, like his cowardly Republican brethren, have chosen to abdicate any allegiance to American democracy against its greatest threat — the current President of the United States — it’s hard to swallow this flaccid virtue signaling about patriotism.
Now, Fox News has dragged 88-year-old Buzz Aldrin into the mix (probably at the behest of someone like Steve Bannon or Karl Rove — “Hey, Buzz, did you hear that ‘First Man’ is anti-American?”)
#proudtobeanAmerican #freedom #honor #onenation #Apollo11 #July1969 #roadtoApollo50 pic.twitter.com/gApIwLzaJw
— Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) September 3, 2018
It’s a shame to see this brouhaha get gnawed on by media hyenas who haven’t even seen “First Man.” A year ago, Buzz Aldrin made a series of hilarious baffled faces as Space Cadet Trump blathered incoherently about NASA’s plans for the future. (“We know what this is, space. That’s all it has to say: space. There’s a lot of room out there, right?… It could be infinity. We don’t really don’t know. But it could be. It has to be something – but it could be infinity, right?”)
Will this bogus controversy about the flag now saturate social media so thoroughly that Aldrin will pressured to turn against “First Man”? Will they drag this living legend around on Fox News and let fake patriots try to corner him into denouncing a movie that celebrates in spectacular fashion the greatest achievement of his life? Yes, probably. Get ready. They have their one little tiny moment where they can say “See, Hollywood is anti-American” and they’ll play that scratchy tune for all its worth.
There is just one little problem with all of this: “First Man” very much highlights the importance of the American flag on the Moon, displaying it in many shots. It also highlights the Cold War atmosphere in which the space race took place, and what it meant for America to get there first. Any real American, any true patriot does not need Damien Chazelle to make sure that one shot of the flag being planted in the Moon’s soil gets included. No, only those who are insecure about their love for this country, insecure about our recently diminished position in the world would need that moment bluntly emphasized to remind them of who they are.
Those of us who really are patriots, who really do love this country and are proud that America got their first don’t need see a brief scene recreated that we’ve seen a thousand times. We don’t need to watch astronauts retroactively sell American exceptionalism back to us like regurgitated ego fodder.
And you know, there was another important idea that Kennedy and NASA heroes had in mind when they first conceived going to the moon — not because it was easy but because it was hard. Clearly, Little Marco has never so much as cracked open a history book to read the first thing about the Apollo mission’s lofty intent or glorious aftereffects, otherwise he wouldn’t splooge out his stupidity for all the world to see. Although who are we kidding — Republican zombies don’t care about the truth. They don’t even care about history. None of that matters to them.
Here is what Kennedy said about the mission:
We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.
So here comes Little Marco and the rest of the zombie army daring to call themselves patriots doing exactly the opposite: They want the Apollo mission to be about nothing other than planting that flag — to journey half a million miles roundtrip for no other reason than to piss on a fire hydrant and mark our territory. As if to say, “This giant rock is ours now.” As if that could ever be true.
Kennedy specifically and clearly believed that it was worth using tax dollars to fly to the moon for a higher purpose than just a big, fat American hard-on to squeal “First!” To him, that America got their first was important but only insofar as it would establish us as the nation that would help lead the world towards peace, not division, not war.
It wasn’t just Kennedy, a Democrat, but also Republican Richard Nixon who echoed the sentiment. Here is Armstrong on his phone call to President Nixon: both of them do far more than brag about this being solely an achievement for America — clearly their intent was to bring peace, not war, at a time when so many Americans feared war. Thus, the mission’s intent was a global one:
Nixon: Hello, Neil and Buzz. I’m talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room at the White House. And this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made. I just can’t tell you how proud we all are of what you’ve done. For every American, this has to be the proudest day of our lives. And for people all over the world, I am sure they too join with Americans in recognizing what an immense feat this is. Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man’s world. And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth. For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one: one in their pride in what you have done, and one in our prayers that you will return safely to Earth.
Armstrong: Thank you Mr. President. It’s a great honor and privilege for us to be here, representing not only the United States, but men of peace of all nations, and with interest and curiosity, and men with a vision for the future. It’s an honor for us to be able to participate here today.
Not only do Little Marco and other conservative detractors completely miss the magnificent reasons the Apollo mission was launched in the first place — they simply have no clue what they’re talking about since they haven’t even seen the movie.
Now, maybe Buzz Aldrin does believe the mission was largely about planting the American flag on the surface of the Moon. Maybe he does think that was all that mattered. Seems unlikely, but who know what goes on the heads of even the smartest of men when disreputable influences overwhelm their better judgment. But “First Man” never tries to ascertain one way or another on what Aldrin was thinking at the time. This isn’t an American propaganda movie. It’s a movie about Neil Armstrong’s personal journey — yes, personal. When Little Marco actually sees it, perhaps he will understand that. (Though it’s hard to imagine that he watches any movie that isn’t made by Dinesh D’Souza)
Chazelle could have shown the flag planting just as easily as not, but we’ve seen that a million times. A movie has two hours to tell the story it wants to tell. There’s no time to reenact every historical fact. We’ve seen the broadcast recordings of the Moon landing again and again, and we as Americans are proud of that — proud that we got there first, proud of Armstrong and Aldrin. But we’ve seen that flag. What we haven’t seen, what we couldn’t know and didn’t know what was going on inside the head of introverted Neil Armstrong. That’s what Damien Chazelle and Josh Singer want to show us. And the choices that they made has elevated “First Man” to become one of the finest films of the year.
If right-wing crybabies want a fight, they got one. We will push back at every turn at their inept failure to make a faux controversy happen.
It’s called “First Man” because it’s about Neil Armstrong, his life, his marriage, his grief, his fear, his motivations, his experience, his perspective. It’s a beautiful, moving, thrilling, brilliant film from start to finish. It’s a shame it’s been caught up in the warmed-over Cold War that we’ve been fighting in this partisan country and thrown under the bus for selfish, political reasons. Little Marco needs to see the film, and so should anyone else who has any interest in feeling what it must have been like to be Neil Armstrong on that mission.
I was proud to see the American flag there on the Moon, and I’m proud that such fine artists as Damien Chazelle, Josh Singer, Justin Hurwitz — all Americans — have made me proud to be an American too. We went to the Moon — hot damn, we went to the moon!
But Americans made this movie too. They did America proud with their talents. They made this movie, which is an achievement of the highest order and something every American should be proud to embrace. They did it not because it was easy, but because it was hard. They made the choice to bring something fresh and unique to a story we all already know so well. Don’t shame them for it. Encourage them.
Science matters. Art matters too. Art matters now more than ever because we’re living through extraordinary times. We aren’t told the truth by the habitual liars who’ve proven that they’re determined to sow confusion. Nothing much seems to make sense, and that’s by design. It’s right out of the authoritarian playbook.
Times like these are when we must be vigilant and stand firm in support of of writers and other creative artists. Because they strive above all else to tell a truth, even if it’s an inconvenient one. Damien Chazelle did not make an anti-American movie. He made a movie about universal truth, the truth of mankind as personified by one man that most people have never taken time to learn about.
Here is Damien Chazelle’s statement:
In “First Man” I show the American flag standing on the lunar surface, but the flag being physically planted into the surface is one of several moments of the Apollo 11 lunar EVA that I chose not to focus upon. To address the question of whether this was a political statement, the answer is no. My goal with this movie was to share with audiences the unseen, unknown aspects of America’s mission to the moon — particularly Neil Armstrong’s personal saga and what he may have been thinking and feeling during those famous few hours.
I wanted the primary focus in that scene to be on Neil’s solitary moments on the moon — his point of view as he first exited the LEM, his time spent at Little West Crater, the memories that may have crossed his mind during his lunar EVA. This was a feat beyond imagination; it was truly a giant leap for mankind. This film is about one of the most extraordinary accomplishments not only in American history, but in human history. My hope is that by digging under the surface and humanizing the icon, we can better understand just how difficult, audacious and heroic this moment really was.
