Here we go again. Hollywood once again is omitting historical facts – not for the good of the plot, but for the good of their own personal biases and narratives. And this time, it is American astronaut and hero Neil Armstrong who is getting rewritten in a movie that’s supposed to be a biopic about him.

Ryan Gosling, who is portraying Armstrong in the movie, revealed in an interview that the historically documented moment when Armstrong planted an American flag on the moon was intentionally cut from the new movie.

Neil Armstrong movie 'First Man' omits the American flag being planted on the moon, and star Ryan Gosling defended the decision: 'I don't think that Neil viewed himself as an American hero' https://t.co/zGXR5z19OA

— Business Insider (@businessinsider) August 30, 2018

You know, that moment that was filmed and went across the entire world, showing that America had won the race to the moon.

Remember the space race, kids? Hollywood apparently forgot that.

Going out of your way to omit the planting of the American flag on the moon in a movie about Apollo 11 is quite something.

It was the middle of the Cold War! Fulfillment of a goal set by JFK in 1961! A massive blow to the Soviets! I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS

— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) August 31, 2018

But but but human achievement, or something.

Ryan Gosling, who plays Armstrong in “First Man,” Hollywood’s rendition of the moon landing, told the Telegraph the magic moment the American flag was posted was intentionally omitted from the big screen because Armstrong’s achievement “transcended countries and borders.”

— Joe Biggs (@Rambobiggs) August 31, 2018

“Transcended countries and borders” with American brains, American ingenuity, and American dollars.

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

Neil is the man who took the giant leap for mankind, but he was put there by thousands upon thousands of American scientists, engineers, mathmeticians, factory workers, and tax payers. The flag represents more than the men on the ship. It represents America doing the impossible. https://t.co/RnyGEpTTOR

— Jenna (@jennaep7) August 31, 2018

Hey if the rest of the world could pay us back billions of dollars for the Apollo program, that'd be great. Because it was a human achievement, you know?

— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 31, 2018

Check out the human flag patch on Neil Armstrong's shoulder pic.twitter.com/9SbmvqGQWe

— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) August 31, 2018

If Hollywood could be honest for just a moment…

Why can't they just honestly admit that the bulk of the money comes from overseas, so they have to tone down the Americanism? Why put words in a dead man's mouth? https://t.co/eipbAufAPX

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 31, 2018

I personally do not mind that, for instance, the financing of the Mission Impossible movies means the plot always revolves around rogue actors rather than, say, China. It's still fun!

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 31, 2018

What is it with wrapping everything in some sort of abstract principle, and denying the profit motive?

It is kind of like hotels nagging me about the environment in an effort to get me to reuse towels. I KNOW YOU JUST DON'T WANT TO DO EXTRA LAUNDRY. JUST ADMIT IT!

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) August 31, 2018

OMG this movie’s Oscar chances just went WAY UP https://t.co/xzKuoNEoOK

— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) August 31, 2018

Ben Shapiro put it as only he can:

Now, the real reason that the film won’t include the planting of the American flag is that the distributors obviously fear that Chinese censors will be angry, and that foreign audiences will scorn the film. But it’s telling that the Left seems to attribute every universal sin to America, and every specific victory to humanity as a whole. Slavery: uniquely American. Racism: uniquely American. Sexism: uniquely American. Homophobia: uniquely American. Putting a man on the moon: an achievement of humanity.

All of this is in keeping with a general perspective that sees America as a nefarious force in the world. This is Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States view: that America’s birth represented the creation of a terrible totalitarian regime, but that Maoist China is the “closest thing, in the long history of that ancient country, to a people’s government, independent of outside control”; that Castro’s Cuba had “no bloody record of suppression,” but that the U.S. responded to the “horrors perpetrated by the terrorists against innocent people in New York by killing other innocent people in Afghanistan.”

In reality, however, America remains the single greatest force for human freedom and progress in the history of the world. And landing a man on the moon was part of that uniquely American legacy.

Shapiro also references Kennedy’s speech about going to the moon.

For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world’s leading space-faring nation. 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.

It was a different world back then, and one that demanded that the United States win the Cold War. For Hollywood to chicken out and pretend otherwise for the sake of the Chinese censors and its own fear of appearing “too nationalistic” or too “pro-American” is stupid and cowardly.

I choose to defer to General Chuck Yeager.

That's not the Neil Armstrong I knew

— Chuck Yeager (@GenChuckYeager) August 31, 2018

Maybe Universal Pictures (@UniversalPics) should hear from Americans about this foolish and pernicious falsification of history? I imagine it's not too late to add a scene to the movie. Otherwise, we can all stay home and re-watch Apollo 13 on TV. https://t.co/Z4qQvn3vAg

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 31, 2018

Or The Right Stuff. I wonder what @GenChuckYeager would say about leaving the planting of the American flag out of #FirstMan ?

— rps (@bob_savas) August 31, 2018

More Hollywood make-believe

— Chuck Yeager (@GenChuckYeager) August 31, 2018

And that ends that discussion . . . https://t.co/XVTjuaIBwq

— Jim Lebenthal (@jlebenthal) August 31, 2018

But if it doesn’t, just read Armstrong’s own words.

"The exciting part for me, as a pilot, was the landing on the moon. That was the time that we had achieved the national goal of putting *Americans* on the moon." — Neil Armstrong

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) August 31, 2018

Given today’s Twitterstorm over the movie of “First Man” and the American flag, I was surprised nobody has gone back to the source, James Hansen’s book (full disclosure, Hansen was my history prof in college). 1/2

— Will Collier (@willcollier) August 31, 2018

When asked about putting the flag on the moon, Armstrong’s response was emblematic of his quiet greatness of spirit. I hope the movie captures that, as well as his very real patriotism, faith and heroics. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/KXSfc9PKhu

— Will Collier (@willcollier) August 31, 2018

“Some people thought a United Nations flag should be there,” Armstrong explains today, “and some people thought there should be flags of a lot of nations. 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 ought to let people know that we were here and put up a U.S. flag. My job was to get the flag there. I was less concerned about whether that was the right artifact to place. I let other, wiser minds than mine make those kinds of decisions.”

This could still be a good movie. But stripping the fact that America won the race to the moon out of it is just pathetic, and no amount of Hollywood spinning it or defending the omission will change that.