If you are like me you probably get a fair amount of emails forwarded to you from mom, or grandma, or your coworker, or whoever. They are always full of stories that if you bother to look up on the internet are almost always half lies, or all lies. I recently got this from my mother, which had been forwarded from my grandmother…

One of the “Band of Brothers” soldiers died on June 17, 2009. We’re hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial services for such “luminaries” as Wacko Jacko… I want a nationwide memorial service for Darrell “Shifty” Powers.

Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry. If you’ve seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them. I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn’t know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and noticed the “Screaming Eagle”, the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat. Making conversation, I asked him if he’d been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served, and how many jumps he made. Quietly and humbly, he said “Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, and was in unti l sometime in 1945 . . . ” at which point my heart skipped. At that point, again, very humbly, he said “I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . . do you know where Normandy is?” At this point my heart stopped. I told him yes, I know exactly where Normandy was, and I know what D-Day was. At that point he said “I also made a second jump into Holland, into Arnhem.” I was standing with a genuine war hero . . . . and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day. I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France, and he said “Yes. And it’s real sad because these days so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can’t make the trip.” My heart was in my throat and I didn’t know what to say. I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in Coach, while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I’d take his in coach. He said “No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and still care is enou gh to make an old man very happy.” His eyes were filling up as he said it. And mine are brimming up now as I write this. Shifty died on June 17 after fighting cancer. There was no parade. No big event in Staples Center. No wall to wall back to back 24/7 news coverage on MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS or ABC No weeping fans on television. And that’s not right. Let’s give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own quiet way. Please forward this email to everyone you know. Especially to the veterans. Rest in peace, Shifty.

Here is my response.

Hi Mom, and others

I think that the media coverage of people like jackson and the rest is shameful, and I think that war heros are to be honored, but the tone of this email “us vs them” is not about either. It is about culture war. It is about driving a wedge between people. These kind of emails only seek to re-enforce that there is some giant evil “liberal” media giant that is trying to destroy american values with it’s decadence and lies. When the real truth is that there is no liberal anything, its about business and making money. CNN FOX MSNBC and all the rest are all owned by people who want to make lots of money. FOX thinks it can corner the right wing market, MSNBC thinks it can corner the left wing market, CNN tries to shoot the middle, but honestly if enough studies were done showing that say the left was getting huge FOX would hire a bunch of liberal talking heads to capture market share.

None of them care a wit about “shifty” or “wacko jacko” all they care about is George Washington, Lincoln, and any other president on the back of MONEY.

Mother, you send me mountains of this stuff, and I wonder if you ever stop to realize that all of them are subtle re-enforcements of a world view that has little to do with reality? These sorts of whisper mills, where emails are sent over the internet (you seem to be tapped into the conservative one, I assure you there is a similar one for progressive issues), do little to aid in the dialog, do little to illuminate reality (as most of them, left and right, are full of lies and deception), and mostly serve to drive us apart. This one is particularly insidious as it wraps the wedge in the guise of patriotism, and nationalism. War heros did not serve in WW2 so that they could get parades, and weeping fans on TV when they died. They served in WW2 because they were called upon by their country to defeat other countries bent on taking over europe and asia. WW2 was not all about freedom, and good vs evil, like any war it was about resources, about world view, and about US vs THEM. These emails and all the other crap that gets sent around the internet is only trying to increase the feelings of US vs THEM, which is only going to lead to more death and violence (either small violence, like negative thoughts, or big violence like WW2).

I would urdge you with all my heart and mind to stop reading this crap, and tell whoever is sending it to you to kindly stop sending them your way, or at the very least just hit the delete key instead of passing it on. If people really wanted to honor our soldiers they would not send emails around, not put those idiotic magnets on their hummers, they would instead do everything in their power to make a world in which young men and women did not have to lay down their lives for this country. War is the enemey, and war is only possible when understand breaks down, and US vs THEM rules.

Evaluate each of these emails with a critical eye, and with your bullshit detectors on full power.

Love
Your Son