I don’t understand the need people have to make things up. I saw a post on Facebook recently that claimed that Lee Marvin got a Navy Cross as a Marine on Iwo Jima, that he fought alongside Bob Sheehan (Captain Kangaroo), and that Mr. Rogers was a former Navy SEAL who wore sweaters because his arms were covered with tattoos from his time in the service.
The truth? At least according to Snopes.com? Lee Marvin got a Purple Heart, but it wasn’t at Iwo Jima. Bob Sheehan was a Marine, but too late in the war to see action, let alone at Iwo Jima. And Fred Rogers was never in the military, and has no gaps in his biography in which he might have done so. (I did check out the latter myself because it seemed so incongruous, and saw nothing to suggest time in the military either.)
Does it diminish any of these men that they weren’t as “bad” as it’s claimed? Not in the least. So why come up with something like that? They all have reason to be respected on their own merits. They don’t need anyone to make stuff up, no matter how compelling a narrative it might make.
The truth is becoming far too fluid these days. Few people have any compunction against twisting or outright altering the truth to fit whatever narrative they want to advance. Far too few people stop to question. Granted, making Sheehan and Rogers out to be even bigger heroes than they were doesn’t really hurt anything, but truth is truth. Why should we fear it?