http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39150
The Boys of Point du Hoc by Susan Dale <http://www.humanevents.com/search.php?author_name=Susan+Dale> 09/28/2010 Since when did alpha males lose their seat on the politically correct bus? And why? Since when do little boys showing any sign of masculinity have it immediately drugged out of them by our 'educators?' And why? Since when is a love of hunting, at different times a necessity and a sport, by a man, considered to be a demonstration of his depravity? And why? Since when is a man disallowed from speaking up for what he believes in, even his right to believe in it, because he's a man? And why? Since the left put themselves in charge of our popular culture, that's when. And because the ultimate threat to the power of the left, the ultimate threat to all our enemies, is the alpha male; better to do away with them. That's why. America cannot exist without its alpha males, not just in our military and not just among us, but leading us. We need to figure out how to get them back, and fast. For this, we need the get the left out of power, not only from their hold on our popular culture, but out of power in Washington, D.C., as well. One of the more distinguishing character traits of these magnificent men is that they are consummate believers in common sense, and not in an ideology (an alpha male's only ideology is the United States of America) to determine his actions. A uniform return to common sense is about the only way we can recapture the culture, so let's start with the aspect of the culture which was instrumental in stigmatizing and demonizing manly men: Hollywood. Hollywood didn't used to be this way, in its heyday, it was very effective in churning out beautifully done patriotic films featuring the greatest stars at the time depicting marvelous acts of heroism. These films were meant to accurately reflect the American fighting man of the time, and in fact did so, often quite brilliantly. This, for example, is a roster for pre, post and wartime films that Hollywood produced: Robert Mitchum in “The Enemy Below,” Errol Flynn in “Objective Burma,” Gary Cooper in “Sergeant York,” Gregory Peck in “12 O'Clock High,” Clark Gable in “Command Decision,” Charleton Heston in “Midway” and Cary Grant in “Destination Tokyo.” They all made other films of the genre, as well, and there were other top Hollywood stars who made equally memorable films, primary among them the one and only John Wayne. Considered to be the most patriotic man in Hollywood during his long career, he starred not only in “Flying Tigers,” “The Sands of Iwo Jima,” “Operation Pacific” and “They Were Expendable,” but also many other such productions. Most of the films made by Hollywood and its biggest stars at that time were excellent products, loved by the movie going public and featured actors who very much wanted to perform in them. Can we even imagine a similar star filled roster performing in patriotic films in today's Hollywood? Quite the opposite, actually; so-called major film stars of 21st Century Hollywood flock to perform in America and American military-hating films, interestingly, which have all – each and every one – been unwatchable and miserable flops. Hmmm...what about this formula haven't the masters in Hollywood figured out yet? America wants its heroes back. America will no longer pay to see treasonous acts performed on screen by overpaid movie stars, no matter how talented. That is not to say that Hollywood just made films that were solely patriotic, it also used to deal magnificently with complicated, even nuanced, subjects. One example is “Casablanca,” considered by some to be the greatest film of all time. In part a tragic love story, and in part a story of the second world war, the movie starred Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in roles that no one will ever forget. Another such example is “From Here to Eternity,” which though another tale of tangled human affairs, is also a brilliant portrayal of Pearl Harbor on the eve of the Japanese attack, with remarkable performances by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and uber alpha male, for many different reasons, Francis Albert Sinatra. While we're giving credit to Hollywood before it totally capitulated to the scowling, accusatory, humorless left, several other films depicting real men as they really are were made, and were truly great movies. Perhaps the best example is “The Dirty Dozen,” a film made by alpha males for alpha males, which had an extraordinary cast, including Lee Marvin, Jim Brown. Telly Savales and Charles Bronson. Other examples are “The Great Escape,” which starred Steve McQueen with others of the ilk, Charles Bronson and James Coburn, and “Where Eagles Dare” with quintessential real man Clint Eastwood, and wild man Richard Burton. A stunning performance by George C. Scott in “Patton,” adds this film to the list, and gifted director and actor Mel Gibson (as I have said, no one ever claimed that alpha males were nice) made and starred in two magnificent such films; “Braveheart,” a story of Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace, and “Patriot,” a story of a widowed father and his family in the Revolutionary War. More recently, Hollywood has magnificently portrayed this kind of man featuring the truly great actor Russell Crowe, not only in the remarkable “Gladiator,” but also in “3:10 to Yuma,” among many other such stellar performances. There was also a time when Hollywood made very effective films about a different kind of alpha male, one who was as smooth and sophisticated as he was courageous and strong. The perfect example of this would be Sean Connery in each one of his James Bond films. This uber male extravaganza came to a sad end after the original Bond's departure, when Timothy Dalton, ostensibly the new James Bond, portrayed the imperturbable Ian Fleming hero as a politically correct emotional mess, presenting to the film-going world for the first time the image of James Bond weeping in distress. He had lost a girl friend or some such, and in the cinematic world ruled by the left, alpha males must bare their true feelings at these times, don't you know? Nevertheless, action films then became popular with the movie going public, in which over the top alpha males were routinely featured. Veritable Supermen such as Bruce Willis, Steven Seagal, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, (who lost such status upon his entry into politics), became world famous and basically made the same, though enjoyable, film over and over again. These films were also quite profitable, which is the only reason Hollywood continued to make these films based on characters who were basically repugnant to them. Hollywood wasn't very subtle when it adjusted its collective decision to demonize and stigmatize alpha males in the products it presented, and presents, to American society, actually to the world audience. Now, one can be certain of seeing, with the tiresome predictability of current Hollywood, that in a film, any film, if a man is big, white, smokes, hunts, is heterosexual, speaks with a British accent and/or refuses to discuss his feminine side, that he is the villain of the piece; a German accent makes him a really bad guy. And the newer action stars/alpha males? Not so much, as Hollywood continues to wield its influence over our popular culture. For example, who in all of history deserves ultimate male accolades more than the extraordinary Alexander the Great? Very few men throughout time can even come close to his elevated such status; sadly, this was not worthy of consideration by those in the Hollywood of today. The entertainment elites felt that more sensitivity needed to be applied to the character of Alexander, so the greatest of warriors was, instead of being pictured as having been the first to conquer the world, rather portrayed as prostrate in grief over the fatal fever of his homosexual lover. Hollywood also came up with the equally brilliant idea of making a movie based on the vicious and brutal murders of the entire group of Olympians from Israel at the Olympic Games in Germany in 1972 by cowardly Islamic terrorists. This film was not a commercial success, in large part due to the Hollywood elites’ decision to portray the terrorists, i.e., the murderers, as the sympathetic characters. The most extraordinary alpha males I have ever seen on screen were portrayed in a short documentary film which I saw in a small village called Point du Hoc on the coast of Normandy, in the West of France. This was a film in part about the quintessential such behavior of a group of U.S. Army Rangers who came to that coast on a memorable day in June of 1944, and did the impossible. The other part of the film depicted a day in later years in memoriam of these brave and doomed young men by President Ronald Reagan, on a June day in 1984. The film, as the memoriam, is known as “The Boys of the Point du Hoc.” The speech that Reagan gave that day, with the backdrop of the sheer, steep cliff falling into a raging Atlantic Ocean, is considered by many to be the best Presidential speech ever given. I was once told by a friend who is a Democratic operative that the “Boys of the Point du Hoc” speech is what they (the Democrats) use to show to potential speech writers, publicists and like operatives as the ideal in creating a desired emotion, as one cannot watch this speech and not weep. One watches this speech not just in wonder at Reagan's gift, but also in awe at what those alpha males did in 1944. 225 American soldiers who were part of the U.S. Army's elite Ranger division jumped out of their amphibious vehicles into a wild Atlantic surf on June 6, 1944, and started climbing the cliff. At the top of the 100-foot rise, there were myriad Nazi soldiers calmly standing there throwing hand grenades directly down on the heads of the soldiers as they made their ascent. 225 made the climb and only 99 Rangers survived. Though tragically depleted, these remarkable men reached the top, and took the area for the Allies. Today, this site in the picturesque little Norman village still exists, with the German bunkers still there, amidst the holes in the ground pockmarked with bomb craters. To reach the edge of this plot of land, stand at the top and look down the terrifying cliffs of the Point du Hoc is to see American alpha males defined: They truly did do the impossible. And they will continue to do so for America, given back, or perhaps better said, taking back the responsibility that was always theirs. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
