Real Heroes Make World Safe for Fakes

Thanks, Miles Corwin, for your Veterans Day piece separating the real Hollywood military veterans from the phonies (“ ‘Heroes’ Made Films, Not War,” Nov. 11).

Some of the real guys you list are Clark Gable, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, all of whom, though in their 30s and 40s, enlisted in World War II and saw active duty. Whereas among those macho image guys who did not serve at all, or did their time in safe, cushy spots, were Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone.

But do you think cold facts will change the American public’s perception of these mythic, big-money, mostly right-wing, larger-than-life, super-macho figures?

Hardly. They can safely continue preaching patriotism to those who risked or lost their lives to make it safe for Rambo to keep on raking in the dough.

The sad irony in Corwin’s article--that Ronald Reagan, who “slept at home in his own bed every night,” could in the 1972 presidential campaign successfully depict World War II bomber pilot George McGovern as a wimp--only underscores the Orwellian character of American entertainment/politics today.

Nothing is real unless it’s on film or TV or flogged by the campaign schlockmeisters.

SARA MERIC

Santa Monica