I couldn’t help but be struck by the two different approaches two of our Newton City Councilor-elects –Alicia Bowman* and Bill Humphrey — took to acknowledging Veterans Day in tweets this morning.
Thank you to all who served including my brothers and dad. #HappyVeteransDay #GoArmy Veteran’s Day Observance today #Post440 295 California St. 10am Donations of gently used cell phones, intl. calling cards, healthy snacks, drink mixes,coffee for troops. Followed by 11am service.
— @aliciafornewton (@aliciafornewton) November 11, 2019
it’s armistice day, which ended the central fighting but splintered off years of further war across the globe. the first world war should never have been fought and the US intervention is one of the greatest tragedies in world history.
— Councilor-elect Bill Humphrey (@BillHumphreyMA) November 11, 2019
*Bowman’s election is pending a recount. Tuesday’s unofficial results had her up 30 votes over Greg Schwartz.
It seems to me like Bill knows his history. I’m proud of the young man.
He does seem to know his history. Or more likely, he seems to like to show off a knowledge of history. Yes, it was called Armistice Day. It was renamed Veterans Day.
Either way, it’s too bad his first thought was to display his “knowledge” rather than to be thankful to our veterans.
Thank you Rena Getz.
More than agree with Bill. And without President Wilson’s US intervention, the Central and Allied powers were on the brink of and would have reached a peace agreement saving countless lives, precluding the rise of Communist-Soviet Russia, the humiliation of Germany and the rise of Hitler.
Veteran’s/Armistice Day is complicated. At taps after the ceremony today, I was thinking of the veterans in my family: father (Korean War), father-in-law (WWII), uncle-in-law (WWII, Pacific), grandfather (WWI), great-great grandfather (Capt. Watson, Civil War).
At some point, I will tell the story of the grandfather to a Story Slam, political or otherwise.
It’s not about whether he knows his history, it’s about having a sense of time and place. The original two minutes of silence on Armistice Day was to remember the WWI dead. Yes, sadly, it was not the war to end all wars, and in the US it became Veterans Day – a day to honor all veterans, combat and non-combat, living and deceased. One would hope that on this day, that would have come first.
That is quite a family history of service, Andreae! If I’d may, I’d like to disagree with your first sentence. I appreciate what you’re saying but I really don’t think it’s that complicated.
Why we got into a certain war in the first place, whether we should have stayed in it longer/shorter, if the cost was worth it… all that is complicated. And very much worth discussing. But the day itself isn’t complicated. It used to be Armistice Day but now it’s Veterans Day and has been since the 1950s. It’s the day we set aside to thank our veterans for their service. If someone wants to discuss whether war X or Y was good or bad, that’s great but as Tricia says there’s a “time and place.” There are 363 other days to discuss that (I’d suggest leaving out Memorial Day too). But today’s not the right day for that.
The rank and file veterans – millions in number still alive today – some volunteers, some draftees – get ONE day per year when the whole country can unite in a show respect and gratitude for their service.
Bill chose to go off on a critique of an elected president’s foreign policy. Total unforced error. How do you screw this up?
To Alicia’s point, it IS a great day to donate to a veterans’ organization. Vets suffer homelessness, unemployment, mental and physical disabilities at rates alarmingly out of proportion with the rest of society. They need recognition and support, not misplaced criticism for the misgivings of our elected leaders.
He’s so edgy. So good with the twitter. Doesn’t matter how you feel about foreign policy. Our vets and our soldiers deserve our unwavering support for making the ultimate sacrifice despite of who is in command. You can quibble with the politics, and I certainly do, but you never, ever, offer disrespect to anyone who wears a uniform in support of our freedom. Give them their day.
Hey Bill it’s actually called Veterans Day so get your facts straight
I talk about Armistice Day online literally every single November 11 –you can look back years and years now– usually accompanied by some detailed ruminations on a particular angle of World War One history, which is a topic I know a fair amount about. Another attempt to stir up drama where there isn’t any to be found, sorry to disappoint.
And for the people who think it was “renamed” to Veterans Day or something so that I’m not supposed to talk about the Armistice or World War One, most of the entire rest of the world still marks it as Armistice or Remembrance Day, with significant annual media coverage. Bewildering attempt to manufacture scandals out of banal things.
@Councilor-elect Humphrey: Honoring those who’ve served is not banal.
Bill. Thanks for clarifying and graciously reiterating your gratitude to those people, who unlike us, risked their lives for our freedom.
Whoops, I spoke too soon!
Bill-You missed the point. Your timing and message was way off. No one is trying to manufacture scandals, but this was not a good way to begin to your tenure as city council was also way off. Many others in the community – your constituents – view Veteran’s Day as a day to honor the men and women who served our country. They know a lot more about the horror of war than can be learned in books and deserve one day to be honored for their service and sacrifice.
This is pathetic, Greg
Strike “was way off” in second sentence.
@ Greg R said.
“Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, KIA November 4 1918
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!– An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.–
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
So to honor and thank veterans for their service is to glorify war and dying for one’s country?
Councilor Elect Humphrey: You are exhibiting a troublesome tone deafness
I don’t read anyone here disputing your knowledge of history or the origins of Armistice Day/Veterans Day or the horrors of war. And whoopee for you if you’ve been writing about this “literally” every year.
The difference is that this year you are an elected official.
Regardless of the historical origins, Veterans Day has become a day reserved for honoring that one percent of the men and women in the military who have served our nation to protect and defend the rest of us and our way of life, too often at the highest of costs.
As an elected, or soon to be elected, official it would be appropriate for you to honor that, or at minimum acknowledge that.
The fact that you don’t even understand that this is the point multiple participants on this thread are making leads me think this is going to be a very long two years.
“Billennial” Humphrey is tripling down on his choice not to honor veterans.
If generations of soldiers had chosen not to serve, and to just loaf around mom’s house tweeting about sci-fi movies and obscure politics at 2am, where would we be as a nation?
Nowhere. And yet, Bloviating Bill doesn’t feel he owes any debt of gratitude to our soldiers, past or present.
In Billenial’s world,
“Honor, Duty, Country”
is replaced with
“Arrogance, Entitlement, Self”.
It’s going to be a long 2 years, indeed.
I agree totally with Greg on that one!
Yes, it is satisfactory and the thing to do to die for your country (loose translation) or someone else’s country and freedom. As a French person rescued twice by the Americans (even though I was not born), I am grateful to those with enough generosity who came and helped and anybody who puts ideals first.
Please, listen to others or else “it is going to be a very long two years”!
Bill, more than one thing can be true. You can be completely right about the nature of war, the waste of it and the horror of it. But perhaps it is possible to say that AND honor those who have made sacrifices demanded of them by service to their country.
I do think folks are looking for you to mess up, and will highlight any fault, small or otherwise. So prove them wrong.
I’ve talked to a fair amount of folks in your ward over the past week about the election. All of them WANT to give you the benefit of the doubt. All of them. And ALL of them mentioned independently that your tweets were a distraction.
Put down twitter. Focus on your new job. Be the mature and smart person you seem to be. Let your job performance be your selling point.
I often let my posts here rest an hour or two before hitting send. Or I erase posts that don’t need to be made. Sometimes it is best not to fight every battle. Even more so for a public official.
And posting Wilfred Owen’s poem is the type of response that isn’t a response. Again, you can be right on the substance but wrong on the message and the forum. There is a whole group of pacifist poets, from Owen to e.e.cummings. I can read them all, appreciate the message, and still find your response to be inappropriate and insufficient.
Honestly, the proper response is to say, I meant no harm, I honor the sacrifices made, even if I decry the need for such sacrifices, I hear what you folks are saying and I’m going to end the debate and focus on my new job. Sometimes you just have to stop digging the hole and move on.
@Greg….I agree 100%. Hopefully councilor-elect Humphrey gives some thought to what you eloquently wrote and doesn’t post another poem.
How dare Bill Humphrey not honor Veterans Day properly!! I spent Monday fondly remembering my uncle Frank and his heroic stand at My Lai in ‘Nam in 1968. Without his heroism, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my favorite aspects of daily life, like Kid Rock, hamburgers, and Bud Light.
I just want to reiterate that Greg and everyone else in the comments having a meltdown because Bill’s tweet was insufficiently honoring veterans or something is enormously pathetic.
However, Greg’s extended commentary in the comments is a refreshing change of pace from his “I’m not saying anything but hmm look at this tweet” blog posts. Drop the thinly veiled condescension, Greg! Mask off, baby! Tell us you don’t like Bill because he’s young and progressive and uppity!
Declining to honor the men and women who’ve served is not a progressive value.
C’mon now. Bill should tweet less. I view myself as progressive, but that’s not a shield for lacking common sense.
Pick smarter fights. Fight for what matters as a ward councilor.
Bill,
Please dial up the performative banalities and dial down the thoughtful insight.
Sincerely,
Boomers
@Greg
Ok, Boomer
I truly don’t understand the notion that anti-war sentiment is anti-veteran.
If we honor brave men and women for their sacrifice, we should make sure the sacrifice is worth it.
If your constituents are potentially upset, it’s probably not the best idea to then subtweet (or directly tweet) about it?
https://twitter.com/BillHumphreyMA/status/1194389081368727552
Everyone has been too easy on Bill. The characterization is false that Bill is “declining to honor” or “not honoring” veterans. Bill’s actions are much worse. He is dishonoring veterans.
Bill could have said nothing. Rather he went out of his way to point out that it was Armistice Day. The federal government does not recognize Armistice Day. It recognizes Veteran’s day. By calling it “Armistice Day” and not recognizing “Veterans Day” Bill is belittling the sacrifice of our veterans. Imagine that your daughter’s birthday is August 15 and instead of congratulating her on her birthday, you spouted off to everyone that it was VJ Day!
But, it is worse than this. Bill takes the knife and twists. He dismisses the sacrifices of our soldiers in WW1 as being in vain and throws out a poem that claims the “old lie” is that “it is sweet and proper to die for country. ” This is nothing more than cruel to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
Fig-pen,
How exactly are tweets distracting?
Bill’s tweets give a pretty good picture of he is, what he thinks about, what his values are?
There is nothing wrong with a politician making a standard Veterans Day. Some of them, like Jake’s, Andreae’s, and Alicia’s, can even be surprising and revealing.
But, Greg’s treating Bill like he failed to fulfill some sort of political obligation, which kinda saps the meaning out of everyone else’s Veteran’s Day statements.
Bill has been tweeting regularly since practically the day the little blue bird was born. Ward 5 elected him. That’s all that matters.
Acknowledging veterans on Veterans Day is performative banality, Sean? Explain.
And drop the straw man – no one said anti-war = anti-veteran.
Bill: I love that poem because it’s very personal to me. My dad was a World War I veteran who was in the thick of combat and was gassed a few times during the last three great battles of the war. Joanne and I visited the battlefields he fought in during our recent trip to France. It was a pilgrimage we had to make before we, too, pass on. Dad was also a big fan of Wilfred Owen because Owen experienced the horrors of battle first hand and saw just how useless most of the slaughter was. Most of the gung ho charge ahead songs, then as now, are written by people who were not there. One of the very few times I saw dad cry was a few months before he died when he told me that he prayed every night when I went into the Navy that I would never have to see or go through what he did.
I would have probably advised Bill not to post Owen’s greatest poem on Veteran’s Day because it can be so easily misinterpreted by generations who had no real contact with veterans from my dad’s era. Many were staunch isolationists. But it’s well to remember that Owen described war as it really is. Too many leaders, with their inflated egos, have taken us into too many senseless war, but this detracts not one bit from the brave military veterans in all our wars who did the best they could under trying circumstances.
Jeff,
That’s an easy one.
The ultimate cruelty is to have brave soldiers make the ultimate sacrifice for no good reason.
Every time I hear someone say that soldiers were in Iraq to protect our freedom, I want to scream. Nothing about the Iraq war was about protecting our freedom. It distorts our political discourse and our foreign policy to attribute purposes to war that are not grounded in reality.
Let’s understand why our soldiers fight as we honor them.
Tricia,
You think Greg would have posted this if Bill had tweeted some generic Veteran’s Day sentiment?
Also, read the comments.
Jeffrey:
I think you are missing the nuance in the poem. The poet, Wilfred Owen, is a soldier who was awarded the military cross for bravery and died right before Armistice Day. His poetry does not dishonor those that have made the ultimate sacrifice, that basically ignores the whole history of the poem and the poet. Wilfred Owen volunteered to fight and to return to the front in World War I, even after experiencing shell shock, which we would now know as PTSD. His view of war and its effect on those who bear the brunt and the weight of the effects of being in battle was meant to show the world the experiences of his fellow soldiers, the doomed youth he also wrote about.
I think folks are going overboard here, and we are in a feedback loop of self-righteousness. Why don’t we break that chain?
Here is a good charity I know of, which works with other good charities, all of which support our wounded veterans.
http://homebase.org/contribute/donate/
From my experience, the platitudes of Veteran’s Day are fine and good, but what the veterans I’ve talked to want is for the US govt to fulfill the promises made to them when they enlisted, something we don’t do. Our VA heath care system sucks, we allow for-profit education companies to target our soldiers returning to civilian life, our govt fights soldiers claiming PTSD to the point that entire charities exist to get injured soldiers their benefits. Our soldier housing in this country is a disgrace, and is often shifted to private companies to manage, and they do a bad job of it. Our soldier’s death and injury benefits are a joke.
As a country we are quick to honor, slow to help. We send our troops into battle but then we underfund the long term effect of their injuries in budget after budget. Doubt what I’m saying? This isn’t based on reporting from CNN or MSNBC or Fox, this is from conversations with actual soldiers. It isn’t hard to find confirmation of what I’m saying.
Sean:
I appreciate that Bill tweets and that he got elected. I’m just saying he got elected in spite of his tweets, not because of them.
He can certainly keep tweeting. He can certainly also lose the next election too.
He’s got a two year window to convince the majority of folks in his ward who did NOT vote for him that he’s the best fit for their ward going forward. There is only so much oxygen in the room. You tell me, does this discussion help him?
Again, multiple folks mentioned his tweeting to me last weekend. Most with an eyeroll. You may disagree with that, but I live in the real world where those folks are moderates and liberals, and who voted for Bill or Kathy.
He can choose to be whomever he wants and he has two years to define himself to the voters in more detail. I doubt there will be a write-in candidate to save him next time.
And again, I say that as someone who wants his voice on the Council.
@Sean – Again, missing the point. Politicians are not required to tweet about Veterans Day/Armistice Day/Remembrance Day. No tweet, no foul. But if you’re going to tweet on the subject of war on this occasion, how about including some sentiment that actually honors veterans for their service? In his thoughtful insight, Bill didn’t even mention them.
Tricia hits the nail on head. As hard as it is to believe, I am probably more anti-war than anyone here. I have no problem with the poem.
Bill has had many chances to affirm his support for Veterans since his original Tweet. He made a conscious decision.
Let’s pretend that Martin Luther King Day replaced the original Arbor Day. What would people think of an elected official firing off an annual tweet that read, “It’s Arbor Day….”, without mentioning Martin Luther King or the civil rights movement?
As Sean says, “The ultimate cruelty is to have brave soldiers make the ultimate sacrifice for no good reason.”
Not only did Woodrow Wilson getting the USA into WW1 for no good reason (other than for the good of his newly created Federal Reserve paying for it by printing money out of thin air and serving the armaments industry and British bankers) but it was perhaps most tragic step in world history, considering the deaths and suffering sustained in the ensuing Nazi Germany and Communist Soviet Russia, aside from inaugurating the inflation of our money which persists today. (It’s ironic that the progressive Woodrow Wilson is an icon of the left.)
@Jeff
“Bill has had many chances to affirm his support for Veterans since his original Tweet. He made a conscious decision.”
It’s incredibly bizarre that you think there are some magic words Bill needs to say to affirm his support for veterans.
This statement here (https://mobile.twitter.com/BillHumphreyMA/status/1194390735426129920) is 100 times more meaningful than the “hurrdurr thank u troops” you and the other ding dongs in this comment section seem to want him to say. I know its probably bewildering to see patriotism that manifests itself in a way that can’t fit on an American flag lapel pin, but do try and keep up.
Whoa, Sean. Let’s crank up the way back machine. Way back about 48 hours.
It was Monday morning (Armistice Day/Veterans Day). I was browsing Twitter and noticed the above tweet from Alicia Bowman acknowledging her families’ service and soliciting donations for our soldiers, followed a few hours earlier by Bill Humphrey’s history lesson tweet.
I thought the contrast was interesting and posted both tweets side by side.
Go back and follow the comments from the top of the thread. We immediately had a comment supporting Humphrey, followed by a few, not objecting to his post, but what he didn’t say: That Nov. 11 is also the day when we honor our military veterans.
Humphrey had a choice at that moment.
He could have acknowledged — as just about every national and local elected official did yesterday — the men and women who served our nation. Just or unjust; others shed blood on our behalf. Would it have been so hard to just say he appreciated their sacrifice or others’ loss?
Apparently, yes.
Because instead Humphrey dug in. Read his full response.
Humphrey choose not to take into account others’ feelings, dismissing them as “banal.”
He had another chance this morning. Opting instead to post the Owen poem, but without context and again without acknowledging the comments that, at minimum, deserved to be acknowledged.
All Humphrey had to do either time was the one thing he still has yet to do: Acknowledge that — his history lesson aside — this day matters to others for other reasons (including those who cited a family member or other lost loved one). That’s all.
He didn’t have to agree with our military policies or even how Veterans Day became Veterans Day.
All he had to do was show some sensitivity to his constituents, those fellow Newton residents who, to use his words “think it was ‘renamed’ to Veterans Day or something.”
He choose not to.
But Councilor Elect, it’s not too late either. We’re waiting.
Greg D.,
Exactly!
Humphrey Tweet — “Bring all the troops home and stop feeding them into the wars”
(I know it’s rhetorical, but why are all the traditional liberal anti-war/anti-military types suddenly against Trump’s draw-down from the Middle-East. Answer: Always profess the OPPOSITE of Trump!)
Which he tweeted at 6pm this evening… I guess it took 36 hours to manifest.
@Greg
Hush, little baby
Greg Dwyer, do you think you are helping Bill? I get there is a certain perverse joy in trolling, but you know it makes Bill look bad, right?
You’ve insulted and been derogatory multiple times in this thread. Is that necessary to prove your point?
You might want to rethink the strategy and the goal. Convince folks? Or troll? Hard to do both.
@Fignewtonville
Who’s trolling? I’m simply pointing out how silly many of the people in this comment section look with their transparently bad faith attacks over a tweet posted in the middle of the night. If anything, y’all are the ones who are trolling. None of you actually care about this. You don’t think Bill doesn’t care about veterans you’re just upset he hasn’t expressed his views in the precise way you find acceptable.
Ultimately, the goal is to make you reconsider posting inane comments because you are worried about looking foolish. If you consider that “insulting and derogatory” maybe keep your foolishness to mediums I can’t see. Otherwise, it may very well be a “long two years” (but perhaps not in the way you think)
@Greg Dwyer: I’m sure I’m the last guy you’ll take advice from, but if you want to have some impact here, you’ll take anything Fignewtonvile suggests to heart. He’s by far the most respected, persuasive, consistent, participant here. He’s helped enlighten and modify my views and approach more times than I can count. He does it by being thoughtful and respectful and with a healthy dose of self-deprecation and an openness to understanding others’ views.
But as best I can see, you’ve posted a total of eight comments ever on Village 14; all about Bill Humphrey. Sounds like trolling to me.
And one more thing Greg D:
There are people on this thread who’ve referenced having loved ones, family, friends, neighbors who’ve fought and served and sometimes died in service to our country.
There are others here and across our community who may not have been touched directly but admire and recognize that sacrifice.
How dare you suggest “none of you actually care about this”?
Really, I mean it. How dare you?
I certainly hope that view isn’t also held by our City Councilor-elect Bill Humphrey. But absent him taking the opportunity to clarify (it’s not too late), you’re acting as his de facto defender, and only making Humphrey look worse.
Greg:
Ok then. We can all just be true to ourselves. Perhaps we will have better conversations in the future. Enjoy the day.
Figgy
I genuinely hope we will.
@Greg
I know you are very used to this comment section being mostly an echo chamber of people on the right and center so any leftist perspective might seem like somebody trolling, but let me assure you that I genuinely believe that these comments are bad and am willing to critique them as such.
Moreover, if defending my friend of 10 years from bad faith attacks levied by people with an axe to grind is considered “trolling” (and to be clear, I do not think it is) then I hope everyone has a “troll” like me in their corner.
@Greg D….From my participation on Village 14, I can assure you that commenters on Village14 are not right or center leaning. Have you read any other comments on other posts? I would estimate that the majority of commenters are in fact left leaning. I would also suggest that the majority of the left leaning people commenting do so respectfully. I don’t agree with too many of their positions, but the proper way to handle that is by having an adult discussion without personal attacks.
I know I’m late to the party here but I couldn’t resist commenting on such an important subject.
Veterans deserve our support every day. Hate the war but value the troops.
Sure there have been useless wars but our military personnel didn’t start them, they just risked there lives doing what they could.
Every year I celebrate Veteran’s Day by contributing to organizations that help our veteran’s gain back their health and well-being – and have a home for the ones that need it. It’s not much but I hope it helps.
I also spend part of the day looking at pictures of my large extended family who have all served their country in various ways.
My dad was in WWII and Korea; my uncles all served – one died at Pearl Harbor, another fought with Patton, was injured and was forced to come home, others were Navy Seals, Navy pilots, Marines, and Army special forces. My husband served in Vietnam Nam. I respect and honor them all.
I always like Fig’s explanation that “more than one thing can be true at a time.” I have taken it to heart and spread it around. I have always known this, as have most people, but sometimes it’s hard to describe to those who think you’re either being hypocritical or just don’t agree with what you’re doing. Fig’s comment is the perfect way to start.
For example, I protested the Vietnam Nam war while my husband was in the Navy because I have always supported our troops at the same time I have hated the wars.
It’s not hard because they are entirely different things although I got plenty of grief from some of the other protesters. They knew how I felt about supporting our troops because I shouted it along with my shouts of protest.
I also wore an MIA soldier’s name on a copper bracelet until he was found. When the one whose name I was wearing was found, the bracelet and a note went either to the soldier or his family and I received another. Three were found, 2 dead and 1 alive,
I was more than disappointed that the troops who fought in Vietnam Nam were treated badly. As if they were the war most hated. They were not the war. They were just the ones over there risking their lives.
Since it appears that Councilor-elect Humphrey has chosen not to weigh in again here, Marti’s excellent comment seems like a good place to end this conversation.
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