Editor’s opinion

Last week, I wrote in this space about television personalities challenging the wages of American military personnel. I prefaced the column: “The following message makes me want to turn off my television set: ‘Get this response out to everyone you know,’ the forwarder of this e-mail wrote. ‘It’s time the Jane Fondas and Sean Penns of this country wise up and support the troops that defend them.

“‘On Nov. 12, Cindy Williams (from the ‘Laverne and Shirley’ TV show) wrote a piece for the Washington Times, denouncing the pay raises coming servicemembers’ way this year – citing that the stated 13 percent wage was more than they deserve.”

An update via e-mail suggested that I was led down the garden path: “No, actress Cindy Williams, who portrayed sweet, lovable Shirley Feeney on the 1970s sitcom ‘Laverne & Shirley’ hasn’t been writing newspaper articles denouncing our ‘overpaid’ servicemen. Back in January 2000, a different Cindy Williams – one who is a senior research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was once assistant director for national security in the Congressional Budget Office – contributed an op-ed piece to the Washington Post (not the Washington Times) in which she criticized a proposed 25 percent pay increase for military personnel (on top of a 4.85 percent raise that had just been enacted). In her article, Ms. Williams maintained that claims that servicemen in the military suffered a 13 percent ‘pay gap’ relative to the private sector were inaccurate, and that military personnel were already well paid compared to the average American. …

“The response quoted was indeed drafted by the airman named, although it was not published in the Washington Post. The misidentification of the original article’s author has caused no end of grief for Cindy Williams the actress:

“‘I’ve done everything to try to squelch it, but nothing seems to work,’ says Miss Williams of ‘Laverne and Shirley’ fame. ‘I have people writing and calling me, even my friends, asking: ‘Are you against a pay raise for the military?’ And I reply, ‘You know me, I’d fight (in the military) if I could, because I am such a patriot.'”

Here’s what I’m wondering. Was the original e-mail message about the TV sitcom actress bashing military pay truly a hoax, as the updated information suggests, or did Cindy Williams the actress spread misinformation via the Internet to cover her tracks? Or did a single person perpetrate the original hoax and the “correction” as well, fictionalizing the entire episode? Or did the military release this confusing attack and response in order to defray criticism of military pay?

Just kidding. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. Most likely the original message was a distortion of the MIT opinion piece, as the update suggests. Lesson: Enjoy the Internet, but enjoy it responsibly. Also, don’t believe everything you read. I’ve learned that lesson. But I still think we should turn off our television sets.

Anyone with comments about “Editor’s Opinion” can contact David Carkhuff by calling 575-0710 or by e-mail at editor@bluemountaineagle.com.