Anzac Day 2008
Today is ANZAC Day.
While I don't have a particularly strong national identity, or perhaps because of that, ANZAC Day always leaves me feeling extremely annoyed. My respect and admiration for troops in general is overshadowed by frustration at the sheer stupidity of a military leadership which would send those troops into a bloodbath by carelessly miscalculating their landing point.
History tends to gloss over the events at Gallipoli by focusing on the bravery of soldiers against insurmountable odds, but I have trouble getting past how senseless it all was.
Australia has a fondness for tales of spectacular failure which I simply do not share. Instead of honouring the memory of young soldiers, the day makes me angry and disgusted at the wanton waste of their lives by incompetent high-ranking fools.
What makes it worse is that the ANZAC Day march has become a multinational medal-flaunting mardi gras. Organizers allow the marching of soldiers who fought for other countries in conflicts which didn't involve Australian troops.
Australia has a very thin culture of its own at the best of times, but now for reasons I cannot understand, we're expected to dilute the poignance of our most significant national day by honouring soldiers who fought in conflicts which have nothing to do with our country. I'm all for inclusion and integration but these countries have their own events to memorialise their conflicts. There's absolutely no need to include them in ours and confuse an already barely present Australian national identity.
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Hey Milo! Do a blog about the budget!! I need to rant and swear a lot. lol.
It’s nice to see you around again BJ ;)
I was planning a post on the budget actually, but every time I go to write something I get that sick feeling you get when when elevators go down too quickly.
haha! I love it.
thanks its good to be back. I had this surge of realisation on the train home last night that it was May and I had probably missed your birthday…however your “about” page informed me this morning there’s still a few days to go yet; you must be nearly as old as me soon :)
I have to say, there’s something extremely attractive about you birthday-aware women. The ability to juggle that information around your brain and keep it connected with the right names is pretty sexy.
If a guy could do that, I’d say his brain chemistry was suspect, and I’d start looking for his purse, but it really is quite a charming feature of someone’s personality.
I hope you forgive me (in general, and for any number of things) but I’m lucky if I can remember people’s names, and my own birthday when the bank asks me to verify myself. It doesn’t mean I don’t care, it just means I don’t care about that.
lol, it’s ok Milo - I know too well what men are like when it comes to birthdays!!! The only one who ever remembered mine was gay, lol.
Altho Bleachy nowadays has an alarm thing set on his phone that alerts him when it’s my day of joy (too many ear bashings from Meg for forgetting it, heh).