Posted on 04/02/2003 1:02:47 PM PST by TexasGunRunner
White Feathers for Stephen Eagle Funk
At the risk of being called a liberal for relying upon a movie for a history lesson, the recent movie "Four Feathers" is about a soldier who resigns as his unit is to be sent to the Sudan to fight for Her Majesty. Three of his comrades in arms and his girlfriend give him white feathers along with their calling cards to signify their disgust with his cowardice.
Whatever your thoughts about the movie (made by an anti-British Indian peacenik who lionizes early Moslem terrorists), in honor of our British friends, we should revive this tradition.
Stephen Eagle Funk (son of Robert Funk of Everson, Washington) deserves white feathers as symbols of his cowardice. His Marine reserve unit was called up to be deployed to Kuwait and he failed to report. Instead, he took 30 days to decide to apply for conscientious objector status (read more on this FR thread).
While he might oppose war based on his personal political philosophy, he is not a conscientious objector bound by his faith to accept victim-hood over self-defense. He is a coward who tried to defraud the American taxpayer by gambling that he could earn California residency and a free college education at our expense without having to go to war.
I won't give out his personal information, but his attorney, Stephen Collier of San Francisco, has a commercial and publicly available address. I will be sending my business card and a white feather to:
Stephen E. Funk
c/o Stephen Collier
Tenderloin Housing Clinic
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
415 771 9850
There is no need to include a note, he will get the message.
I never realized that cuts of beef had problems obtaining affordable housing.
As I am sure you likewise suspected, he didn't choose this attorney out of the yellow pages; he either already had contacts with him (living in the Tenderloin) or his friends/associates/partners recommended him.
That is why I am speculating this isn't the real reason he wanted out - he findly found a place/community where he feels at home and doesn't want to leave. Unfortunately, publicly declaring at 20 "I'm gay" doesn't have the same impact as declaring yourself as the first objector without a conscience.
A coward, plain and simple.
I actually liked the movie. I didn't think the moslem terrorists were portrayed too sympathetically (they showed a lot of their brutality and cowardly tactics), and the 'hero' eventually goes to redeem himself and help his comrades.
I rented the DVD, and what surprised me was the commentary of the director. He originally wanted to portray the terrorist leader (an old-timer Bin Laden) as a sympathetic anti-imperialist hero and central figure of the movie. According to him, they didn't have the time and the producers wanted a more marketable film, love-affair, good guy wins all in the end, etc. I was appalled at his comments and very grateful he was not allowed to make the film he wanted.
I didn't have the information you have, but I suspected the director's explanation of this early Bin Laden terrorist leader was totally wrong. Thanks for enligtening me.
She sure as hell does. And she knows what’s important (while Funk just wants to save his arse.)
Don't run, you'll only die tired.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
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