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Deeply Disturbing
Bill Ackman, who runs a private equity fund, put up a Memorial Day post at Twitter. It has an image of a woman stretched out on the ground over her husband’s grave at a military cemetery, with the words:
Let’s make sure to remember and honor the fallen on Monday. Many of us, myself included, enjoy the long weekend with our families without giving sufficient consideration to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can leave free. We owe them everything. Let’s never forget.
An entirely appropriate post for Memorial Day, wouldn’t you think? But of the 270 comments to the post, a significant portion of them are worrying and depressing to read:
***Some of them are anti-Israel. (“Never forget these men died for Israel because American politicians are blackmailed by Epstein tapes,” for example.)
***Some are unable to comprehend that wars might be motivated by something other than the financial interests of corporations. (“Why exactly should I thank them for their service? I’m not an oil company.”)
***Some use the post to take a shot at Jews. (“Jews don’t serve in the American forces. They just send them to fight their wars”)
***Some claim that we don’t have any freedom, anyhow. (Vaccine mandates, social media censorship, etc.)
***Several make it about Trump. (“Makes no sense that you want to honor the fallen, those who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our representative Democracy yet support a man who came dangerously close to killing it”)
***Many clearly resent Ackman’s personal financial success (and I believe that an upsurge in bitterness and envy in a society is highly correlated with the growth of anti-Semitism in that society).
***At least one says that we should also remember the 13 ‘pro-Palestine’ students were barred from graduating for their involvement in campus protests, as if these ‘freedom fighters’ were analogous to those Americans killed in combat.
Now, not all of these people are Americans; but a high proportion of them appear to be.
The majority of comments to Ackman’s post are reasonable and appropriate, but there are a disturbing number along the lines sketched out above.
Published in General
There are just people who simply can’t pass up any opportunity to attack the U.S., even if it means desecrating the memories of those who fought to preserve this free country. Sad.
And there are also people who cannot pass up any opportunity to make everything about their personal obsessions.
I abhor the nature of the comments you’ve singled out. However, I find the intimate nature of that photo, and its publication, disturbing in itself. I hope the woman so pictured knew she was being photographed and what would be done with the photo. (There are other such photos that have been published over the years, and they always give me a bit of a jolt, and the same feeling. If she didn’t know, then I think that’s an unforgivable intrusion.
Oh. Apparently the photo is from 2014, and the story is out there: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-us-military-widows-unauthorised-photos-twitter-jenn-budenz-cemetary-grave-a8147286.html
TBC, I don’t know why the article has to make it all about Trump (except that it’s The Independent). My objection is non-political and has to do with basic decency.
From the link quoted in #:
“San Diego Union-Tribune photographer Hayne Palmour IV took the photo of Jenn Budenz in 2014 at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego, for a Memorial Day story about the long tail of grief felt by families of fallen service members.”
I don’t mean to be cruel, but Mrs. Budenz allowed the San Diego Union-Tribune to use her image. After an image is out in the world, she can have no expectation of control of its use. There is no privacy in the internet age.
While I see the logic of the comment of @DoctorRobert I note I was about to use that very image and decided against it when I saw the article about widows objecting to the use of these photos.
Not to try to sound like I am virtue signaling but it does seem extremely invasive of these families’ grief.
With respect, how do we know she was asked for her permission considering the current state of “journalism ethics “?
The article in the San Diego Union Tribune (from 2014) is here. Clearly, Mrs. Budenz spoke to the newspaper. Whether the photo came before or after she did is anyone’s guess. My own guess is she thought the piece would be respectful, which it was, she gave the paper permission to use the photo, and she thought that that would be the end of the matter. In 2014.
The photos appear to have some sort of attribution. Perhaps it’s on the order of a copyright. Odd that the newspaper hasn’t done anything about it then, but I expect it’s not worth their time or effort.
Frankly, I think taking such photos of private citizens in moments of raw grief, removing them from their original context (as in this case, and if they were even authorized for any other use), and reworking them in what I consider to be such an emotionally manipulative manner says far less about Mrs. Budenz’s behavior than it does the behavior of others. (We’ve had a few conversations about this here, before, IIRC.) The fact that people “can” do a thing doesn’t make it right, and doesn’t mean they should.
For those whose mileage varies on that last, point, well, OK.
FWIW, I’m not condoning intrusive or unauthorized use. But it has to be expected. If you wish to preserve your privacy, you have to preserve your privacy.
A good point about being careful with images of people in grief. I had seen that image published previously, more than once, I think, and wouldn’t be surprised if Ackman had seen it as well. Also, his use of the image wasn’t remotely political, unless one views any expression of traditional American patriotism as political.
I suppose it’s political now, since the Democrat Party/leadership no longer supports traditional American patriotism.
With respect, how do we know anything is real, and that reality isn’t an illusion or we aren’t really just characters in an AI simulation. 🤷🏻♂️
I’m not doubting Ackman’s expression of, or appeal to, traditional American patriotism. Not even going down the somewhat ungracious path of, “well, it took him long enough.”
Welcome to the right side of history, Bill.
But being “careful,” in such matters (to use your word), is exceptionally important, I think. There are so many ways to express respect, thanks, and gratitude to those who served. I don’t know if we need to drag the families unknowingly into the mix. It’s all well and good, and perfectly understandable, to say in 2024, “if you like your privacy you should keep your privacy,” but such things really weren’t envisioned in 2011 or 2014, when private citizens spoke to the local papers, or were the subjects of short profiles on local television stations with no glimmer of what was to come. Today, would the ladies concerned have done things differently? I think they likely would have. But this is now. That was then.
I think this photo was the first time such a one was one discussed on this site. Slightly different story. In this case, the reporter/photographer wandering through the cemetery came upon the woman and merely had a chat. Mary McHugh told photographer John Moore her story. (This was in 2007, so even further back.) Later, he recounts:
And subsequently:
My opinion, FWIW: If he tried to get in touch with her, but she didn’t answer, perhaps that was a clue. And perhaps his “respect” for her didn’t go far enough. And perhaps his subsequent publication of the photograph–without her explicit permission–was a horrible intrusion into her private grief.
That photograph lives on, Internet-wide.
Not to Mary McHugh’s detriment, that’s for bloody sure.
I’ll stop now, probably to the relief of many. Carry on.
I attended the Memorial Day Ceremony this morning at Barrancas National Cemetery on NAS Pensacola. To say that it was moving would be a vast understatement. There were many family members among the markers visiting the graves of their husbands, wives, Dads, Moms. Had I happened upon a Mrs Budenz and instead of leaving her to her grief took a picture of her, I would be, quite simply, a ghoul. But I’m sure I am so far from that photographer’s generation and mindset I may as well be from another planet.
Photographers are looking for the equivalent of a social media ‘like.’ It is mostly a career move.
It’s not a good image to publish, even if the widow did give her permission. It’s undignified.
Were any “real” journalists involved?
They are thin on the ground.