White feather - Wikipedia
"The white feather is a widely recognised symbol, although its meaning varies significantly between different countries and cultures.[1] In the United Kingdom and the countries of the British Empire since the eighteenth century it has been used a symbol of cowardice, used by patriotic groups, including prominent members of the Suffragette movement and early feminists, in order to shame men into enlisting. However, in some cases of pacifism and in the United States armed forces, it is used to signify extraordinary bravery and excellence in combat marksmanship."
"One example was Private Ernest Atkins, who was on leave from the Western Front. He was riding a tram when he was presented with a white feather by a girl sitting behind him. He smacked her across the face with his pay book and said, "Certainly I'll take your feather back to the boys at Passchendaele. I'm in civvies because people think my uniform might be lousy, but if I had it on I wouldn't be half as lousy as you".[8]
Private Norman Demuth, who had been discharged from the British Army after he had been wounded in 1916, received numerous white feathers after he returned from the Western Front and decided that if the women who handed them out were going to be rude to him, he was going to be rude back.[9] One of the last feathers that he received was presented to him while he was travelling on a bus next to a lady sitting opposite him. She handed over the feather and said, "Here's a gift for a brave soldier". Demuth replied, "Thank you very much - I wanted one of those". He then used the feather to clean out his pipe, handed it back to her and remarked, "You know we didn't get these in the trenches". The other passengers became angry with the woman and started shouting at her, much to Demuth's amusement.[10]
Supporters of the campaign were not easily put off. A woman who confronted a young man in a London park demanded to know why he was not in the army. "Because I am a German", he replied. He received a white feather anyway.[11]
Perhaps the most misplaced use of a white feather was when one was presented to Seaman George Samson, who was on his way in civilian clothes to a public reception in his honour. Samson had been awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the Gallipoli campaign.[12]
Roland Gwynne, later the mayor of Eastbourne (1929–1931) and a lover of suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams, received a feather from a relative. That prompted him to enlist, and he would receive the Distinguished Service Order for bravery.[13]"
Your whole movement began with sending men to die in a senseless war, cunts. You shamed them so they could be slaughtered and maimed as a strategy to gain the right to vote and destroy your country. And now you shame men too so they can pay your bills, raise your kids and censor/put in jail those who dare to criticize you.
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