Censoring the American Flag

You have probably heard about it already, but, just in case, the new movie, First Man, a rendering of the story of Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon, has edited out-- that is, censored-- the image of Armstrong planting the American flag on the moon.

If you want to be thankful for small things, you can console yourself with the fact that Hollywood did not entitle the movie First Person. Perhaps because that would have made Armstrong appear to be a pronoun.

The London Telegraph reports, via Jim Treacher:

The film... was unveiled at the Venice Film Festival yesterday, where the absence of the stars and stripes was noted by critics.

Its star, Ryan Gosling, was asked if the film was a deliberately un-American take on the moon landing…

Gosling explained: "I think this was widely regarded in the end as a human achievement [and] that's how we chose to view it. I also think Neil was extremely humble, as were many of these astronauts, and time and time again he deferred the focus from himself to the 400,000 people who made the mission possible..."

"So I don't think that Neil viewed himself as an American hero. From my interviews with his family and people that knew him, it was quite the opposite."

In certain precincts of the radical left, patriotism is no longer stylish. Because it makes citizens of the world and nature cultists feel bad.

Treacher observes:

The moon landing was a uniquely American achievement, as indicated by the fact that no other country on Earth has ever achieved it. Armstrong didn't plant an Earth flag. He planted an American flag. It's still there. That's what happened. How do you make a movie about the greatest thing he ever did, arguably the greatest thing anybody has ever done, and leave that part out?

You do it if you believe that American achievement makes other people feel bad. And we can’t have that.