Help with e-mail.

[silverweb]

I received this from an old friend yesterday and know it's often futile to reply to these e-mails. However, I can't let this one go. It is so historically inaccurate, so simplistic, so piously nationalistic and glurgilistically (new word!) naive that it demands a response.

Simply Put

Cindy Sheehan asked President Bush,
"Why did my son have to die in Iraq?"

Another mother asked President Kennedy,
"Why did my son have to die in VietNam?"

Another mother asked President Truman,
"Why did my son have to die in Korea?

Another mother asked President F.D. Roosevelt,
"Why did my son have to die at Iwo Jima?"

Another mother asked President W. Wilson,
"Why did my son have to die on the battlefield of France?"

Yet another mother asked President Lincoln,
"Why did my son have to die at Gettysburg?"

And yet another mother asked President G.Washington,
"Why did my son have to die near Valley Forge?"

Then long, long ago, a mother asked,
"Heavenly Father, why did my Son have to die on a cross outside of Jerusalem?"

The answers to all these are similar --
That others may have life and dwell in peace, happiness, and freedom.

No, I didn't write this one... it was e-mailed to me with no author; and I thought the magnitude and the simplicity were awesome.

My problem? Today's a busy one and probably tomorrow, too, so I don't have time to dig into this the way I'd like to, showing that most of our wars had absolutely nothing to do with the stated purpose from the e-mail, "...that others may have life and dwell in peace, happiness, and freedom."

So... who wants to pull together the facts for me that will make a good reponse to this e-mail? I'm just itching to hit that reply-to-all button!

Thanks in advance, DUers! I'd have long since been a basket case without you guys. :loveya:

Gotta run for now....

[meganmonkey]

1. Just hit reply and type

glurgle, glurgle, glurgle

:shrug:

It's beyond help, that one.

[Joanne98]

2. Tell her "fake" wars for oil don't count. Good try though!

[MadMaddie]

4. I like your answer!!!

[helderheid]

13. perfect

[uppityperson]

3. Is Casey Sheehan the Second Coming of Christ?

other than that, delete the glurg.

Besides that, wouldn't she be asking LBJ or Nixon about Viet Nam?

[MrModerate]

5. Agree with poster above. Don't bother.

Facts have nothing to do with these fatuous exercises in specious comparison. The writer has replaced cognition with cadence and snared the weak-minded: "Because it's cute it must be true."

feh. Just let 'em go.

[northzax]

6. I love it.

and no mother asked President Kennedy this, since it wasn't really an issue in 1963 when Kennedy was killed. But someone no doubt would have. and there might not have been a good answer, but in 1963 there was.

All the others have good answers.

[stellanoir]

7. Answer to all the above queries

to empower war mongers, profiteers, and imperilists, maintain control of the populous in repressive fear and incite further conflict. The idiots in charge have thrived on conflict for eons.

War is so-o-o last millennium as are empires. That will become evident before too long.

Though I wish the suffering would stop ASAP.

[shaniqua6392]

8. The only necessary death out of all of those

is that of Jesus Christ. That was the only one that should have happened and had to happen. The other deaths were caused in one way or another by the sins of mankind. Just my Christian perspective. Wars can be avoided. When you pick them apart you find, for the most part, that diplomacy was not used. When someone does something I don't like I don't pull out a gun and kill them. Wars go against the principles of Christ-like behavior. This email was obviously sent by someone who claims to be a Christian. How dare they compare war deaths to that of the savior. They act like they can justify those deaths. Cindy can find no justification for the loss of her son. This is what she seeks and I pray she finds peace someday. She is always in my prayers as are all of the other family members of the fallen.

[Danieljay]

9. That my friends, is called spiritual malpractice and its total BS.

Then long, long ago, a mother asked,
"Heavenly Father, why did my Son have to die on a cross outside of Jerusalem?"

Then an answer came from the heavens
"My son died so that others may have life and dwell in peace, happiness, and freedom, and as a result, YOU don't or won't ever have to. Unfortunately, most in the world will never understand, Mother Mary".

[MADem]

10. If you MUST hit reply all, delete the original subject line, and replace

it with something inocuous, like TROOPS or MILITARY and send them this link, without comment: http://icasualties.org/oif/

But you can't argue with idiots who would equate a uniformed soldier with a religious prophet who preached peace and love. They're just TFS...too fucking stupid!!!!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Ask how many of them wanted to die for their country.

The military and the politicians rely on the fact that most soldiers never think that they are going to die when they sign up. The idiotic statement that they "sacrificed" their lives for some noble cause is the smelliest kind of BS.

They didn't sacrifice their lives. Their lives were sacrificed by the politicians and generals.

"Military glory--that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood--that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy..." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[roguevalley]

12. tell them because men are cowards and money talks.

as for korea through viet nam: put that one on Eisenhower. He's the fucker that signed the Southeast Asia treaty that sucked us all in.

Tell her that war is FAILURE and she should read the Beatitudes. As her how many wars Jesus was involved with. Then tell her to FUCK OFF.

It usually works for me. (Ask her if she's got a dog in this fight and if she is ready for him/her to die so "that others may have life and dwell in peace, happiness, and freedom."

The cow.

[cynatnite]

14. Who would Jesus bomb?

Using gawd to justify war is sickening. What kind of christian does that?

[silverweb]

15. Thanks, everyone!

As always, you inform and inspire.

I originally started out with the idea that I was going to refute the nonsense that our wars have had anything to do with "peace, happiness, and freedom" by pointing out what each war really was about. In the end, I decided you're right and the effort would be wasted.

Here's the reply I wound up sending:

Simplistic and naively nationalistic. I could get into this one, but I don't have time right now.

Suffice it to say that I agree with Ben Franklin: "There never was a good war or a bad peace."

Thanks again for all your input!