I refuse to praise the "glory" of war, though understand its occasional need. I decry the utter waste of human life and potential in the pursuit of power or glory. I spit on the leaders, politicians, and diplomats who would rather stand on "honour" than seek peace. I revile the media, which publish stories of "glorious" battles and lie about reality to appease their political and financial masters. I hate, truly hate, the military financial machine that seeks profit from death. I weep in memory of those who died for another man's glory.
Those who fell are not our "glorious" dead; they simply are our dead. Nothing more. Lost to us through other men's folly and hate.
I praise the bravery of men and women placed in untenable situations by those who have the power to not do so. I praise the protesters who stand up for truth against the machinations of their country's powerful.
IF there is any granted ‘sanctity’, is its strictly only reserved for Australian families, civilians and soldiers, within their very limited duty, role and responsibility in international conflict.
HOWEVER, Media and Politicians are not granted any form of ‘sanctity’ due to its role and responsibility leading up to; during; and aftermath of deploying the Australian Defence Force.
The ‘Anzac story’ should never be used as a ‘human shield’ for Politicans and Media to hide from criticism.
Never. Ever.
Ever since Bruce Ruxton died in 2011, Australians have struggled to find a way to make ANZAC Day cringeworthy, manipulatively sentimental, insensitive, attention-grabbing, disrespectful, inauthentically mythologised, and downright embarrassing.
At last, we have all that and more — thanks to the Queensland government's Virtual Veterans AI guide to World War I. Hurrah to the Queensland Government and the brave techbros at TalkVia AI who merged the horrors of war and the horrors of an "AI" LLM chatbot. slow clap
As we observe ANZAC Day here in New Zealand I am thinking of all the "freedoms" allied soldiers are lauded for dying to protect which are now blatantly under attack by fascists in the "Allied" countries.
I am also thinking of Україна 🇺🇦 , defending itself against a war of conquest by one of those allies and where Kiwis are also voluntarily fighting and have died to protect those freedoms.