A Major Political Hoax is Making the Rounds

 For today's post, I am straying from my usual format of writing fully from my own thoughts, and instead have copied and pasted here an e-mail I received.  I am not posting this e-mail to advocate its content, rather the opposite.  I am posting it as a warning of a hoax that is currently making the rounds, and in which I got caught up myself.  Please forward the link to this blog instead of the e-mail you may recieve!

When my senses returned, I re-e-mailed everyone to whom I had forwarded this bit of mischief, and apologized.  I implore you, if you receive this e-mail, ignore it, delete it, do not forward it around!  It is a hoax, and political mischief.

Below follows the full text of this e-mail, which has undergone variations over the years, the salient points of by whom the purported honoree is to be honored, change to fit the times.
 (I have not included the last line, which is the supposed signature of a military man who supposedly wrote the thing and who was there.  He did not write the piece, and has already suffered much from having his name so mis-used.)

I suspect this current round is intended to discredit President Obama with a clear ulterior political motive.  While I am not a great fan of "the pres," I am nonetheless repulsed by this sort of underhanded dirty pool.  It is a prime example of propaganda in use, and how it spreads.

The full truth can be found at this link: 

http://www.snopes.com/military/fonda.asp


The e-mail text in full:

"Never Forgive A Traitor


"For those of you too young to remember, Hanoi Jane is a bad person and did some terrible things during the Vietnam war. Things that can not be forgiven!!!!. .
"and now OBAMA wants to honor her......!!!!
"In Memory of LT. C.Thomsen Wieland who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton


"IF YOU NEVER FORWARDED ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE FORWARD THIS SO THAT EVERYONE WILL KNOW!!!!!!"She really is a traitor.
"A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE HONORED - KEEP THIS MOVING ACROSS AMERICA .
"This is for all the kids born in the 70's and after who do not remember, and didn't have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear..
"Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the '100 Women of the Century.'
"BARBRA WALTERS WRITES:
Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam .
"The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat.
"In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison the ' Hanoi Hilton.'
"Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American 'Peace Activist' the 'lenient and humane treatment' he'd received.
"He spat at Ms.Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward on to the camp Commandant 's feet, which sent that officer berserk.
"In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton.
"From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the 'Hanoi Hilton',,, the first three of which his family only knew he was 'missing in action'.His wife lived on faith that he was still alive.His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a 'peace delegation' visit.
"They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it , in the palm of his hand.
"When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: 'Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?' and 'Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?' Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.
"She took them all without missing a beat.. At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper..
"Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.
"I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam , and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.
"I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia ; and one year in a 'black box' in Hanoi My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Ban me Thuot , South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs)
"We were Jane Fonda's 'war criminals....'
"When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi , I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her..

"I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received... and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as 'humane and lenient.'

"Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weights placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.
"I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.

"These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of '100 Years of Great Women.' Lest we forget....'100 Years of Great Women' should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.
"There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can.. It will eventually end up on her computer and she needs to know that we will never forget."

I implore you, please, do not forward this piece of e-mail trash.  Jane Fonda did, in fact, do many hurtful and hateful things, for which she should indeed suffer the consequences, and in no way should she be honored.  Sadly, however, it is too late for that--the text of the e-mail has twisted that fact, as well.  Rather than decrying the situation, as you will learn in the Snopes.com link, it was actually Barbara Walters who did the honoring!!  It is a 'fait accomplit' of long-standing!

Instead of forwarding the e-mail, please forward the link to this blog!!