Anyone else sick of hearing about ANZAC Day and what makes us Australian yet?

[Pie eyed]

Faux sentimental drivel is reaching fever pitch on the idiot box of late.
Am I just imagining an over the top media vomit of jingoistic hyperbole.
I think most of the real ANZAC's would be thoroughly embarrassed.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

To be honest, I'd have to say I haven't really heard anything at all about ANZAC day etc so far.

 

[little graham]

What makes us Australian?

 

[pokerspiv]

Nope, they would not be embarrassed.

ANZACS fought for the crown and the ideals of British Empire.

They'd be embarrassed by their hipster great-great grandchildren who espouse moral relativism and can't see the enormous benefits of the legacy they left.

The British Empire continued the tradition of civilisation that was begun by the ancient Greeks and Romans. If you hate civilisation, feel free to go live in the scrub, take the Greens with you, you are a waste of oxygen.

 

[Ruck Machine]

Anyone else sick of hearing about ANZAC Day...

NO. It's our most important public holiday. I think most real Australians would be embarrassed by your comments. Shame shame shame shame.

 

[The Edukator]

I don't like hearing about Christmas in October/November. The music is just awful.

 

[raghav]

Faux sentimental drivel is reaching fever pitch on the idiot box of late.
Am I just imagining an over the top media vomit of jingoistic hyperbole.
I think most of the real ANZAC's would be thoroughly embarrassed.

Will you be at the G on the 25th April soaking up the atmosphere? I reckon that most of our real ANZAC'S would love to be there particularly the ones who gave their lives so that you can be there.

 

[Long Live HFC]

honestly, i'm far more concerned about not getting a public holiday when ANZAC day falls on a weekend

 

[little graham]

I reckon that most of our real ANZAC'S would love to be there particularly the ones who gave their lives so that you can be there.

Even if Essendon can't field a side because of doping bans?

 

[Chief]

Faux sentimental drivel is reaching fever pitch on the idiot box of late.
Am I just imagining an over the top media vomit of jingoistic hyperbole.
I think most of the real ANZAC's would be thoroughly embarrassed.

The day used to be a sombre, low-key affair.

John Howard decided it should be a nationalistic rally.

 

[Mofra]

I think most of the real ANZAC's would be thoroughly embarrassed.

I know vets who avoid it, or just have a quiet drink at a mate's place.
Have met many, many vets who certainly don't see the day as a celebration - and many of them are the biggest pacifists I've met.

 

[clogged]

If they're going to bang on about the centenary and fill up the airwaves with maudlin grief over blokes who would have been long dead by now had the war not happened, they could at least have given us a public holiday.

My great grandfather was in the 10th light horse, left from Fremantle on the Mashobra. He shunned the day. For someone like me or my peers to drape themselves in the symbolism is not only hypocritical but disrespectful.

 

[Contra Mundum]

Faux sentimental drivel is reaching fever pitch on the idiot box of late.
Am I just imagining an over the top media vomit of jingoistic hyperbole.
I think most of the real ANZAC's would be thoroughly embarrassed.

Wait for the vomit inducing spectacle of Abbott/Bishop at Lone Pine - as I have said in a thread before - together with clueless idiots crying for the fallen who think Franz Ferdinand is a ******* band. Most diggers I knew hated Anzac Day with a passion. We all thought it would die out in the early eighties and then Howard came along with his ahistorical nonsense. Preach Paul

This is why Australia was never in need of any redemption at Gallipoli, any more than it was in need of one at Kokoda 30 years later. There was nothing missing in our young nation or our idea of it that required the martial baptism of a European cataclysm to legitimise us.

What the Anzac legend did do, by the bravery and sacrifice of our troops, was reinforce our own cultural notions of independence, mateship and ingenuity. Of resilience and courage in adversity.

We liked the lesson about supposedly ordinary people; we liked finding that they were not ordinary at all. Despite the fact that the military campaigns were shockingly flawed and incompetently executed, those "ordinary people" distinguished themselves by their latent nobility.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/paul...to-be-cannon-fodder-again-20131111-2xb2w.html

 

[spinynorman]

Will you be at the G on the 25th April soaking up the atmosphere? I reckon that most of our real ANZAC'S would love to be there particularly the ones who gave their lives so that you can be there.

But they didn't. It's a noble notion, and I have the greatest sympathy and respect for the Australian soldiers who fought on Australia's behalf, but the only war that Australia was truly right to engage in was World War II. ANZAC Day, while honouring the fallen soldiers who died, should also be about remembering the huge mistakes we as a nation have made, particularly by politicians who sacrificed their citizens' lives more often than not for achieving their own political ends.

Sadly, as mentioned above, Howard did the same but about the very notion of the day, giving it this oddly nationalistic tone.

 

[raghav]

The day used to be a sombre, low-key affair.

John Howard decided it should be a nationalistic rally.

When was that Chief?

It was a day of dedication and ceremonial long before Howard.

 

[Gough]

When was that Chief?

It was a day of dedication and ceremonial long before Howard.

Previous to the Howard sexing the whole thing up, it was a day of sober reflection, with many my parents age, in the post Vietnam, Alan Seymour era, seeing it as anachronism. Now there are no ANZACs alive, to tell us they weren't heroes, and that many died on the battle field screaming for their mothers, we are free to reinterpret the day to suit whatever agenda we choose.

 

[raghav]

But they didn't. It's a noble notion, and I have the greatest sympathy and respect for the Australian soldiers who fought on Australia's behalf, but the only war that Australia was truly right to engage in was World War II. ANZAC Day, while honouring the fallen soldiers who died, should also be about remembering the huge mistakes we as a nation have made, particularly by politicians who sacrificed their citizens' lives more often than not for achieving their own political ends.

Sadly, as mentioned above, Howard did the same but about the very notion of the day, giving it this oddly nationalistic tone.

It's not about paying respect to those that gave their lives in any specific war and whether we should have or shouldn't have been involved it's all about remembering and honoring those that gave their lives in all of the wars/conflicts we have participated in. I share your opinion re the role of politicians and I am of the view and have let my views be known to the RSL and others that politicians should only be allowed to attend Anzac Day ceremonies as ordinary members of the public. They should not be recognized when they lay their tax payer floral tributes and they should never be given the opportunity to address the gathering.
Will you be attending a dawn service or other Anzac Day ceremony and if so will you complain if any politicians play a role in the proceedings?

 

[Gough]

We never hear of the wives and children of ANZACs, who suffered as their husbands and fathers came home changed men, suffering PTSD, who may have suffered violence at the hands of, or had to endure the alcoholism of the returned soldiers, because that doesn't fit the narrative of the myth that is being sold.

 

[fleabitten]

I saw a Gallipoli teddy bear being advertised today. A cute little stuffed (non-native) animal in a digger's uniform with the "Lest We Forget" slogan across the page. Um, I think you might have already completely forgotten what is being commemorated. It seems to me to be the same as if they had a Bali Bombing Bear or a Boxing Day Tsunami action figure. Tacky.

 

[Chief]

When was that Chief?

It was a day of dedication and ceremonial long before Howard.

Before we had pilgrimages to Gallipoli every year. Before we had people tattooing southern crosses on themselves. Before we had ANZAC teddy bears.

Before John Howard. That was when.

 

[pokerspiv]

Before we had pilgrimages to Gallipoli every year. Before we had people tattooing southern crosses on themselves. Before we had ANZAC teddy bears.

Before John Howard. That was when.

John Howard didn't invent Gallipoli ceremonies. I attended one every year since I began school in 1982. I'm not sure exactly what it is you think he's responsible for.

 

[skilts]

I know vets who avoid it, or just have a quiet drink at a mate's place.
Have met many, many vets who certainly don't see the day as a celebration - and many of them are the biggest pacifists I've met.

Quote from a WWII army type I met at an RSL club: "For those who served, every day is ANZAC Day."

 

[Chief]

John Howard didn't invent Gallipoli ceremonies. I attended one every year since I began school in 1982. I'm not sure exactly what it is you think he's responsible for.

You've been to Gallipoli every year?

 

[raghav]

Before we had pilgrimages to Gallipoli every year. Before we had people tattooing southern crosses on themselves. Before we had ANZAC teddy bears.

Before John Howard. That was when.

Obviously you have a problem with John Howard but I think your're on the wrong tram re associating him with the over glorification of Anzac Day.

 

[Chief]

Obviously you have a problem with John Howard but I think your're on the wrong tram re associating him with the over glorification of Anzac Day.

Almost nobody else agrees with you.

It is a historical fact that Howard pumped up the ANZAC legend and the day beyond anything it had ever been before. This is not in dispute.