According to Canadian actor Ryan Gosling, who portrays Armstrong in the movie, the American flag is omitted from the movie because the moon landing “transcended countries and borders.”
While the moon landing was a major achievement for humanity, it was also an unmistakably American accomplishment. As noted by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), “The American people paid for that mission, on rockets built by Americans, with American technology & carrying American astronauts. It wasn’t a UN mission.”
Rubio is exactly correct, which is why this Hollywood fiction is so insulting. The movie featured a Canadian leading man and a French-Canadian director, so it is clear that there was not a proper appreciation for the fact that the moon landing was strictly an American achievement. In fact, Gosling claimed that Armstrong did not view himself as an “American hero.”
Whether he did or not, there is no mistaking that Neil Armstrong was certainly a major American hero, one of the biggest in our 242-year history as a nation. This was understood by President Barack Obama who called Armstrong, “among the greatest of American heroes.”
Before he died in 2012 at the age of 82, Armstrong elaborated on why the American flag was left on the moon surface. He said, “In the end, it was decided by Congress that this was a United States project. We were not going to make any territorial claim, but we were to let people know that we were here and put up a U.S. flag. My job was to get the flag there.”
Not only did he succeed in that job, but Armstrong and his fellow astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, inspired generations of Americans to join the space program and “shoot for the stars.”
These two courageous astronauts showed what amazing feats can be accomplished by a combination of American ingenuity, grit and perseverance. It a complete disgrace that an American industry, Hollywood, refuses to recognize such an American triumph, but, instead, has sacrificed it at the altar of globalism.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com
