Labor Hegemony Under Threat? Perspectives on the By-Election…

By Denis Bright The tidal wave swing against Labor in the Ipswich West…

Predictable Outcomes: Australia, the National Security Committee, and…

Archivists can be a dull if industrious lot. Christmas crackers are less…

Dutton's bid for nuclear power: hoax or reckless…

It’s incredible. Such is our love-in with Peter “Junkyard” Dutton, our former…

No wind power, no solar farms. Let’s go…

By Bert Hetebry Holidaying down at Busselton in the last week, enjoying time…

Racing the Sun

By James Moore “If you want to know the secrets of existence, do…

Israel government continues to block aid response despite…

Oxfam Australia Media Release International community resorts to sea routes and air drops…

Siding with Spotify: The European Commission Fines Apple

It will come as little surprise that colossal Apple has been favouring…

Plan to dump eight toxic oil platforms off…

Friends of the Earth Media Release Threat from mercury, lead & radioactive waste…

«
»
Facebook

Attack On The ANZACs Must Be Condemned!

na

Hot on the heels of Yassmin Abdel-Magied and her refusal to adopt Australian values, another shocking ANZAC day moment has been brought to my attention. Yassmin, for those of you who haven’t heard, posted on Facebook the following comment: “Lest We Forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine)”. This comment is so disrespectful that it’s been repeated hundreds of times by the media so that we can all hear how disrespectful it was. Of course, not only did Yassmin fail to appreciate the offence her comment would cause, but once this was drawn to her attention she did something that nobody embracing the values of this country would do: She apologised and took down the post.

But, it’s not her that I wanted to talk about. And it’s not even Labor MP, Anne Aly, who apparently only laid a wreath at one Anzac day ceremony and was justly castigated for refusing to lay a wreath at another one.

No, I want to draw your attention to a dreadful attack by people on our Anzacs. Apparently, on 25th April, 1915, our forces were innocently minding their own business and defending freedom on the Turkish coast when a group of terrorists attacked them. Now, thanks to political correctness, I can’t tell you what religion the people attacking our poor soldiers were. Well that, and the fact that I don’t know. But I think I can probably guess, and if I have a guess, it’ll be a damn good one, because I won’t know that I’m wrong until someone produces some empirical evidence. Whatever, thanks to that dreadful 18C, I can’t say what I’m thinking and that’s just wrong because everyone should be allowed to speak their mind.

Unless, of course, it’s something that contradicts Australian values. Freedom of speech only means the freedom to say things that support Australia and Australians and Anzac Day. Our diggers didn’t go and fight so that people could say “Lest we forget” and add something political. After all, there was nothing political about what they were doing, so on Anzac Day we should remember that it’s the one sacred day of the year where we remember and mourn those who sacrificied themselves for their country. And on November 11th, we mourn… Mmm… Well, I suppose we don’t mourn the Anzacs again because they’ve already had their day and even Jesus only gets one day a year for mourning, so I suppose that we mourn that the war ended and how that prevented even more of our soldiers from being given the chance to do something heroic. And these two days are sacred and to talk about anything else on such days is disrespectful.

P.S. Speaking of disrespectful, someone brought this terrible poem by some guy called Rudyard Kipling. This Kipling guy uses the phrase, “Lest we forget” and makes no reference at all to Anzac Day. Some may try to excuse him by arguing that he wrote it in the nineteenth century, but I don’t think that excuses him!

God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the Kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard,
For frantic boast and foolish word-
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!

29 comments

Login here Register here
  1. nurses1968

    Anatomy Of A Fake News Story: How A Muslim Politician Became A Facebook Villain

    ALPs Anne Aly
    Aly’s WA electorate of Cowan has two dawn services – one at Wanneroo and one at Ballajura – and because the sun only rises once a day, she can only attend one.
    Last year it was Wanneroo, so this year she attended the Ballajura ceremony and sent a wreath to Wanneroo, where state MP Sabine Winton laid it on her behalf.
    Aly’s been to three Anzac ceremonies this week, and she’ll attend three more before the week is out.
    But still, for the past two days Aly has been fending off attacks on her Facebook page.

    http://linkis.com/www.buzzfeed.com/rob/7pH0G

  2. Halfbreeder

    this post is so ludicrous i cant believe its serious. i mean anzacs didnt fight to allow political comment…freedom of speech does not entitle criticisms of australian values. are u for real? surely this is sarcasm and cynicism???

  3. wam

    you are spot on, rossleigh, red threeft. whilst he was not with the benefit of the deliberations of the 100 year committee for ANZAC, he was 50 when the ANZACS landed and should have known better than write”
    If any question why we died,
    Tell them, because our fathers lied.
    Still both have a history of provocation, he with art, she with artifice.

  4. Jaquix

    Meanwhile over in South Australia the RSL – yes folks run by those revered gentlemen supposedly looking after a supporting the returned diggers, has been sprung mismanaging the affairs of their branch, losses of $1,000,000 expected, haven’t paid their workers superannuation since Dec 2916 etc etc etc. No outrage from the Murdoch press, which has been leading the Charge of Confected Outrage against Yassmin. No defence from them of her right to the freedom of speech, with which they filled their column a few short months ago.

  5. Mick Byron

    Freethinker
    As one who on both sides of the family tree lost relatives in WW1 and 2 and a suicide from a veteran of Vietnam I spend the day remembering the sacrifices they made for us. They didn’t sit and philosophically discuss the politics or the rights or wrongs, they just served their country and believed they were looking out for their families and communities.
    I go to a dawn service to remember them and the fallen of all frontsand sides of the conflicts,Young men fighting wars they little understood-on both sides Lest we Forget.
    I don’t think it is to much to let them be remembered and honoured one day a year without having a range of other issues thrown in.
    I read a post on Twitter today
    ” April 28th is Workers Memorial Day.”

    thats right, today
    April 28th is Workers Memorial Day.”
    Lest We Forget…(Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine…live animal exports.. domestic violence victims ……..)”

    Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to put off a comment or two until tomorrow so as not muddy the message of today

  6. bobrafto

    I’m not sure whether I heard this term before as it just popped in my head and so I googled it, therefore my comment is:
    Rope a dope’ and it appears the racists and the bigots and rwnj’s and the trolls are trying to do just that.

  7. Freethinker

    Thank you Mick for your comment.
    I am fortunate that I have not lost a relative in any war conflict and at the same time I respect and value the courage of those that sacrificed their life believing that the cause will be the freedom of the generations to come.

    Regarding the workers memorial day I celebrate it every year on the 1st of May.
    I have lost dear friends in the struggle for better conditions and freedom for the working class and it is an important date for me.
    Peace

  8. Matters Not

    I’m not sure whether I heard this term before as it just popped in my head and so I googled it, therefore my comment is:
    Rope a dope’

    This ‘rope a dope’ bit. Try:

    The rope-a-dope is a boxing fighting style commonly associated with Muhammad Ali in his 1974 Rumble in the Jungle match against George Foreman.

  9. Michael Taylor

    2015, Rossleigh? Don’t you mean 1915?

  10. keerti

    frankly speaking all this ww1 stuff happened a hundred years ago! I for one am sick to death of hearing the same old arguments year after year. Please if it means something to you, honor it by all means Please at the same time respect the right of those who are noy interested. Wars are always started by old men and fought by young men..

  11. halfbreeder

    Keerti. The cause of much of the world’s current problems stems from WW1. WW1 was not a victory it was an amnesty and ceasefire. That’s why we have Armistice Day. Hitler merely continued the hostilities of WW1 during WW2 after the 21-year ceasefire agreed to in order to end hostilities of WW 1 had transpired and the current problems in the middle east today derive largely from the carve-up of the Ottoman Empire by the British and French when the Ottomans surrendered. Isreal was, in a practical sense, seeded in WW1, with the Balfour Declaration and land grants to the Zionist Rothschilds family in Palestine by the British. WW1, WW2 and today’s regional wars in the middle east are really part of the same ongoing war.

  12. Hettie Lynch

    If the confected (and utterly vile) outrage against Yassmin Abdel-Magheed’s very gentle reminder that the victims of war are not all Australian, not all dead, not all soldiers, and that there are ongoing atrocities being perpetrated by Australia right now – if that outrage is a true expression of Australian values, then I am deeply ashamed that I chose to become an Australian Citizen.
    New Zealand soldiers were also present at Gallipoli. That’s where the acronym comes from. Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.
    In my native New Zealand, ANZAC day is commemorated, But it does not degenerate into an excuse for a pissup.
    All victims of war are remembered.
    Shame, Australia. Shame.

  13. Zathras

    Actually the world changed dramatically after WW1 and was called the beginning of “The Age of Reason” by some historians.

    The heavy loss of troops was the result of the ridiculous trench warfare strategy and sending men “over the top” into what was essentially a meat grinder.

    It was due to the officer class being the product of promotion due to aristocracy rather than merit, with almost inbred congenital idiots in control.
    The General Melchitt character in the final series of Black Adder was not entirely satirical and the age of the unchallenged aristocrat came to an end.

    Now wars are no longer the result of the internal family squabbles of royal families but arranged by and for corporate interests.

    Companies chase the money and soldiers follow the flag.

  14. townsvilleblog

    It is disrespectful to the tens of thousands of Australian soldiers who fought and dies for the then Australian population to live in freedom, not ring ins like Yasmin whatshername. If she cannot adapt to Australian values I’m sure there is plenty of room where she came from to go back there and try some of her arrogant self obsessed ways in her country of birth, goodbye Yasmin, don’t let the door hit you on the arse on the way out!

  15. bobrafto

    Matters Not
    Yes I know what the term is and I thought I deleted the comment. But in a sense the lynch mob were also saying she didn’t have the guts to stand behind her comment.

    And in effect they were trying to rope a dope. One has to admit it was a dopey thing to say on the day. Another day or a week might not have enraged so many people.

  16. Helen Bates

    townsvilleblog-right on!
    Yasmin probably wouldn’t know the significance of Anzac day as the followers of the pedophile Mohammed are supposed to be at war everyday
    The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule so really they are at war everyday 24/7 365

  17. Terry2

    The confusing thing about all this for me is that I am unable to understand what it is to be Right and Left anymore, the lines are blurred and the boundaries keep shifting.

    When the issue of Bill Leak’s cartoons was to the fore those on the Right were extremely loud in calling for Leak’s absolute right to free speech and freedom of communication to be protected even if he did insult and offend many aboriginal Australians : we were told ‘tough-tiitty’ suck it up this is Australia.

    OK I accept that !

    Then, when a young woman posts a thoughtful tweet on ANZAC day which many would find to be unremarkable, it is those same people of the ‘Right’ who want her shut-down and sacked by the ABC for whom she does some presenting.

    “Eric Abetz has asked Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to terminate Abdel-Magied’s membership of the Council for Australian-Arab Relations. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said it was “a disgrace that on our most significant national day … this advocate seeks to make political mileage”. Peter Dutton is never one to seek political mileage at all and any media opportunities, is he ?

    The Nationals’ George Christensen said not only should Abdel-Magied not be on the ABC, but “self-deportation [she was born in Sudan and has been in Australia since she was a toddler] should also be considered”.

    Pauline Hanson tweeted: “Why’s the overfunded ABC giving a platform to people like Ms Abdul-Mageid [sic]?”, adding: “Let’s end this sort of tokenism!”

    There’s a pattern here and I don’t think it has much to do with what Abdel-Magied tweeted, I think it has more to do with the fact that she is a Muslim and that she gains some of her income from work done for the ABC. Are these people of the ‘Right’ seriously saying that if you work for the ABC you can’t have or express your own views in your own time but that if you are a cartoonist for News Corp you have unfettered freedom to insult and offend ?

  18. helvityni

    Turnbull tells us that here in Australia: women are equal to men, according to him it’s one of the very special AUSTRALIAN values.

    I wonder if women like Gillian Triggs, Yassmin Abdel Magied,Julia Gillard,and many other capable Australian women believe this to be true…..?

  19. helvityni

    I just read a news item on ABC online:

    “Tusk Takeover: Meet the women stamping out sexism in Canberra’s hospitality scene”

    Oops, why is there a need to stamp ‘sexism’, if it does not exist, as Mal wants us to believe. Are we equal or not…?

  20. keerti

    Halfbreeder…”Thanks” for the history lesson, but you clearly didn’t read or understand my comment.

  21. Rhonda

    I reckon Yasmin A-M copped all this trumped up rage and vilification because she highlighted some flaws in our so called Aussie”values” propaganda about our misplaced reverence for ANZAC day. If there is no room for her commentary around Australia’s treatment of those fleeing wars, then it makes a mockery of our lesting to forget. NB. My Grandfather was a returned WW1 serviceman ( he uped his age & volunteered at age 16) and a changed man. 3 of his 4 brothers never returned. I do the poppy thing for him, them, all of us…and especially for people like Yasmin to remind us of the frightful legacy of war. All wars and those who are touched by them.

  22. Kronomex

    The dirty dealings of rewriting the borders, among other things, of the Middle East done (by France and England to name the two worst offenders) during and after then end of W. W. One behind closed has caused the mess that the world is in now. The promises made to the Arabs by England and France, subsequently turned to ash has left an indelible mark on the world. Strangely this doesn’t get much coverage when the Great War is brought up.

  23. RonaldR

    rossleigh you are as dumb as Hanson , What are Australian Standards ? locking up victims of War in concentration camps , Australian Governments risk the lives of our men and women in our Defense Force in acts if Aggression, attacking other countries Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria AND don’t forget the first one Vietnam. Yassmin Abdel-Magied done the right thing she used her Freedom of speech to speak out against aggression and War but it touched the guilty nerve of a lot of our Politicians then all those political correct jerks and racists went into a giant Knee Jerk reaction -like a lot of those commenting and showing how small minded they are.

  24. Harquebus

    “Politics is war without blood, while war is politics with blood.” — Mao Zedong

    “In war, at each end of the gun there is most often, a worker.” — Unknown.

    Cheers.

  25. Rossleigh

    Thank you for your insightful comment, RonaldR. After listening to you, I am now opposed to locking up asylum seekers and risking the lives of men and women. There’s nothing like calling people “dumb” to change their minds. It usually works a treat.

  26. Alan Baird

    For decades now there has been a long tradition of folk on the right, whether in politics OR business, USING the good bits of digger-derring-do to attempt to raise their own profiles. For example, I clearly remember a Real Estate would-be using the above at conferences to attempt to draw some sort of connection between agents proselytising to potential buyers and brave soldiers. Presumably he reasoned that no one would be game to blow raspberries out of fear of a blowback on patriotic grounds. Laughable, yes, but that’s EXACTLY what the poltroons of the RW media do on a daily basis. Newspapers have exploited this weakness in Australian society for ages. You’ve GOT to go with the flow and no analysis will be tolerated… geddit? World War 1 did not get fought to protect Australia, yet it is regularly quoted as a reason for engagement by (often young) people who possibly had some vague idea that Kaiser Wilhelm 1 was on his way. Or perhaps the Turks… Basically, the eruption that takes place (when the RW commentariat reacts to a vaguely alternative commentary) is trying to silence ANY alternative. “J… J… Just shut up! Can’t you see we’re enraged you stupid b…! We shouldn’t have to explain it!” goes the “reasoning”. As a child I remember my uncle, chain smoking dozens of roll-your-own cigarettes. My mother, a non-smoker, had once rolled these for him as his hands had lost dexterity due to copious shaking. He was a wreck and never functioned again after the war. He wasn’t the only one like that and some had other symptoms, less immediately obvious but nearly as debilitating. All this for a war which, in many ways was a proxy war on behalf of the crowned heads of Europe together with their military/industrial assets. Yes, World War 2 was a different case but it’s the constant referencing of “the fight for freedom” involving World War Number One that displays a pernicious anachronism conflating wars one and two. And the self-generated, worked-up and almost choked outrage from the Right Wing commentariat at those daring to venture a comment other than hagiography? Bullying for silence as anything else is a threat. To finish, I find it strange that so many of the Right’s most bellicose representatives who have advocated war had avoided it with an excuse at an earlier age. Prominent US folk spring to mind in connection with Iraq. Certain film stars supported the Vietnam stoush with “screen” bravery but had been less interested in the real thing during WW2. And I don’t mind telling you that I’m over patriotic visits to troops by politicians sprouting pretty forgettable tosh. I see that as continuing that same “Don’t you dare to criticise!” technique.
    NB. NOTHING of the above impugns the bravery of Australian soldiers or other military forces… whatever the war or its genesis. I know full well that my sphincter would be confused if waiting to climb out of a trench and walk toward those opposite.

  27. guest

    @Terry2, you are spot on.

    @RonaldR, perhaps you have missed the irony of Rossleigh’s article.

    Rossleigh, I politely suggest that the use irony is a tricky tool.

    @Alan Baird, you are right to suggest that there are those who use a confected nationalism to make themselves look good. And there are those who keep freedom of speech for themselves, but not for others.

    An example of the use of jingoistic nationalism is seen in the writing of Piers Akerman in the Sunday Telegraph. There are several things which could be said about his writing.

    He attacks Yassmin Abdel-Gied, born in Sudan, for comments she made about how ANZAC Day is more than about commemorating ANZAC. Her comment, which she has withdrawn (so much for freedom of speech), merely echoes the statements made by the War Memorial in Canberra which says just what she said, in effect.

    Akerman does not consider what Yassmin said in any detail. Instead, he uses his half-baked, disjointed rant to attack her as a person for her origins, her religion and, apparently, her gender.

    This is Akerman the Bully Boy. It gives him an opportunity to attack multiculturalism. Yet the irony is that he himself is of over-seas origin – but he denies that privilege to others. When I see his name I think of far right Geert Wilders in The Netherlands and of apartheid in South Africa and Dutch colonialism in Indonesia. So here is dear Piers in his cosy, well fed nest, denying Oz as a safe place for the oppressed.

    Furthermore, Akerman attacks the ABC because of some association with Yassmin. Thus he makes her some kind of pariah to be silenced, excommunicated and exiled.

    I find his whole attitude repugnant and replete with ignorance.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 2 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here

Return to home page