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VA rewriting the words of Abraham Lincoln because of feminist whines

Because a feminist group complained, the Veterans administration is rewriting its motto, which had been take from an actual the words of Abraham Lincoln.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it has received complaints about its official motto, which is a quote from Lincoln’s second inaugural address in 1865. The quote, which has been the VA’s motto for 59 years, reads:

“To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.”

The motto appears on plaques at many VA facilities across the U.S.

But in November, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America asked VA Secretary David Shulkin to change the motto, saying the Lincoln quote excludes women service members and symbolizes the obstacles they face in navigating the VA health system, Stars and Stripes reported. “They’re missing the point that women don’t feel comfortable at the VA,” IAVA Executive Director Allison Jaslow, a former U.S. Army captain who served in Iraq, told Stars and Stripes. “We want to be respected and appreciated as much as male veterans are, and the motto is symbolic of overall challenges.”

In response, Kayla Williams, director of the VA Center for Women Veterans, said the VA has gradually been introducing an altered version of the quote: “To care for those who shall have borne the battle and their families and survivors.”

I would have told this pampered feminist children to “Go pound sand.” Sadly, no one in government today has any courage, so instead, we are going to rewrite history, while allowing this group of hateful babies to denigrate the reputation of one of our greatest and most humane presidents.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

15 comments

  • ted

    I wonder if they will continue to say it’s a quote from Lincoln.

  • Andrew_W

    “I wonder if they will continue to say it’s a quote from Lincoln.”

    They won’t. They’ve just dropped the Lincoln quote and replaced it with something they see as more appropriate for the times, so I don’t think Robert’s title is fair.

  • Cotour

    I do not see a problem with this adjustment in verbage to better reflect the makeup of today’s modern military. Women as well as men have an equal opportunity to be blown up or killed in today’s military. Lincoln did not write the piece for the VA specifically, the VA high jacked it for their own purposes, and now the VA’s purposes have changed and so should their motto.

    This is not an example of over righteous feminists being petulant, this may be just an example of a narrow form of inflexible Conservatism making something out of nothing. How might Mr. Lincoln see this situation? I suspect he would support the change. Why? Because its equitable.

  • wayne

    Cotour-
    No, you can’t let these people destroy the language to that extent.

    Prof Jordan Peterson
    “I’m NOT Doing This & That’s That”
    https://youtu.be/WQ-M5MgqVOo
    1:23

  • Cotour

    You, and others, are conflating this issue, the logic is faulty.

    Even Lincoln would disagree with you, and them.

  • Andrew_W

    Wayne, Peterson is talking about how that recent Canadian law imposed on the rights of free speech, nothing to do with VA changing their motto.

  • wayne

    Andrew_W:
    yeah, I get that. It’s the concept I was trying to convey.

    I’m not particularly fond of the VA as it is. I don’t want the Federal Government running hospital’s for anyone.

    Politics and the English Language,
    George Orwell
    https://youtu.be/fBu0yPaGpsU
    35:44

  • Andrew_W

    What has VA deciding to change their motto got to do with free speech? Aren’t they free to change it? it’s their motto. Should other organizations be condemned for changing their motto’s should they choose to do so?

  • Cotour

    Explain your position to her (After you clear the tears from your eyes that is):

    https://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/26/iraq-veteran-absolutely-hammers-irs-contractor-for-taking-advantage-of-vet-benefits-program-shame-on-you

    Like I have stated, this is a non issue issue, the Lincoln quote was purloined by the VA for their purposes, and their purposes have changed. This is not a Confederate statue type issue. Do you, Wayne, or the Zman suggest that brave young women who have had their bodies destroyed due to their honorable service be omitted and disrespected in such a way?

    I for one do not.

  • Edward

    If the VA is treating women differently than they treat men, it is not because of a motto or a quote.

    If they want change, then they have to find the root problem and solve that. Changing something that “is symbolic of overall challenges,” and not solving the problem, only means that they will seek yet another symbol of the overall challenges.

    Unless the problem is that they need someone to listen to the complaint and not someone to find a solution. It may not be about the nail.
    http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/the-evening-pause/jason-headley-its-not-about-the-nail/

  • pzatchok

    If they actually changed the quote to something entirely different I would not be upset or put out, but instead they just changed part of the quote.
    They edited something for a simple PC reason.

    Would you be more or less upset if they started to edit the great works of literary history just because a few passages upset a few people?

    How about when they edit slave history to reflect that it was started by white people because they were white and not simply ignorant?

  • Alex Andrite

    Cotour – “Do you, Wayne, or the Zman suggest that brave young women who have had their bodies destroyed due to their honorable service be omitted and disrespected in such a way?”

    Why are they even in Harms Way ? Is it not enough for us, men, our Nations Sons, to be destroyed and mutilated on the field of battle ? Why our Women? Who are we to come home to for healing? Destroyed Women? The V.A. ?
    I did not come home to attempt to figure out Function and Worth.
    I came home to be healed.

    U.S.N. ”68 – ’72

  • Andrew_W

    Alex, perhaps you’re commenting on the wrong thread, this ones about the VA changing its motto, it’s not about the merits or otherwise of women in the US armed forces being in harms way, I think that discussion was had about 10 years ago.

  • wodun

    It is a little insulting that people think women can’t appreciate the spirit of Lincoln’s quote for what it is. Who could possibly hold women in such low regard?

    Oh yeah, Democrat’s SJW brigade for communist change.

    Nothing will make these SJW happy. More demands will be made to change the motto or something else.

  • Andrew_W

    wodun, the push to change the motto is coming from female veterans, perhaps you shouldn’t go around telling women what they’re supposed to think?
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5348333/Veterans-group-asks-VA-remove-Lincoln-quote-motto.html

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