Lest We Forget, Or Selective Memory!
Ok, this isn’t really about selective memory… It’s about selective attention.
But let’s remember what happened on Anzac Day. Well, not the original Anzac Day but Anzac Day 2017. A young woman tweeted “Lest. We. Forget. Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine…”. Her tweet was criticised and she removed the references to Manus, Nauru, Syria and Palestine, adding:”It was brought to my attention that my last post was disrespectful, and for that, I apologise unreservedly”. Alan Jones called her “cowardly” for removing the tweet; one wonders if he’d have called her brave if she hadn’t.
Of course, you all remember this. Just as I’m sure you remember the outrage from various people that she should dare write such a thing because, well, one shouldn’t use the phrase “Lest We Forget” in some sort of political comment. From politicians like George Christensen suggesting – with a wonderful oxymoron – that she should consider “self-deportation” and Peter Dutton’s calling her tweet was a disgrace on “our most significant national day” to the newspapers and shock jocks, there was outrage on a large scale. There was even a petition calling for her sacking.
Was this because she’d expressed a political view? No, we were told, it was the hijacking of Anzac Day and, in particular, the phrase “Lest We Forget”.
So for a couple of weeks now, I’ve been waiting for the outrage over this Mark Knight cartoon. I apologise for its quality because but I never buy “The Herald-Sun”; as I’ve said before I grab it in coffee shops to prevent feeble-minded people reading it and actually thinking that it’s true.
Now, because you probably can’t see what’s there: Somebody is laying a wreath at the “Tomb of The Unknown Aussie Larrikin” with a further inscription telling us that he was killed by political correctness, and in the corner there’s a speech bubble with the words, “Lest We Forget”.
Surely, this cartoon makes a mockery of Anzac Day and its traditions! Surely, there’ll be a petition for me to sign, demanding Mark Knight’s sacking. Surely, the same newspapers who so readily condemned the tweet must also condemn the cartoon… Oh wait, they published it.
Isn’t there some inconsistency here? Are we meant to conclude that Anzac day is our most significant day and should be respected, but only on the day itself?
Or is it that the cartoonist’s name is Mark and he works for the Murdoch Muckraker, while the tweeter’s name is Yasminn and she worked for the ABC?
Surely not. Surely we’re all equal in Malcolm Turnbull’s Australia*.
*Yes, I know that I may be wrong to call it Malcolm Turnbull’s Australia, but at the time of writing, he still hasn’t been removed by the Liberal Party.
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14 comments
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Kronomex -
stephengb2014 -
helvityni -
Keitha Granville -
king1394 -
Christine Farmer -
Steve Flora -
jamesss -
Michael Fairweather -
Max Gross -
bobrafto -
Enslaved -
Johno -
Wayne Johnson
Return to home page“Or is it that the cartoonist’s name is Mark and he works for the Murdoch Muckraker, while the tweeter’s name is Yasminn and she worked for the ABC.” You answered your question with that sentence.
Kronomax, me thinks the question was rhetorical !
Meanwhile those warriers of the sacred nature of ANZAC day, have actually gotten Yasmin sacked.
(They killed the program because the weak kneed ABC couldnt sack so they killed the program to make her redundant).
I am so disgusted with those “Australian values”, that are conveniently put to one side so that cowardly bigots and racists can score a few browny points at the expense of someone unable to defend themselves against the orchestrated bullying of the Right Wing hypocritical Nut job’s, of which there are a lot in Australia, possibly more than 50%.
Dumb bastards.
S G B
SORRY but what was done to Yasmin makes my blood boil!
My parents (in a faraway country) taught me by their example, their values have served me well wherever, in whatever country, I have lived…
Only In Australia my AUSTRALIAN children were bullied ,which surprised me.. Why I wondered, I concluded that perhaps if you are not a bully yourself, you will be bullied.
I watched the comedian Charlie Pickering on ABC, his co-host Tom Gleeson (Lets chat, HARD) , interviewed celebrities by putting them down.
Some seemed offended; what’s funny about bullying…???
whatever suits the agenda on any given day – there is no consistency. Children being abused is the subject of a Royal Commission here in Australia, but in offshore detention it’s quite ok.
a pox on all of them
Don’t forget, Yazmin also dared to be female whilst tweeting
What was done to Yasmin was outrageous, but could have been predicted, as we’ve seen so much of this behaviour before. Just what is it we mustn’t forget on Anzac Day? Obviously not man’s inhumanity to man. Or the futility of war. Gallipoli was a failed battle over a hundred years ago, from we obviously learned nothing, and continue to learn nothing. I’d have thought Anzac Day was exactly the right time to look at the horrors we are still assisting in perpetrating in many places.
Exactly right, Christine Farmer ….
Didn’t the AFL highjack ANZAC day?, Do businesses trade on ANZAC day? What values?, we are all responsible in the way we conduct ourselves in relation to our interaction. Being the example for each other is a beginning. Yazmin’s tweet alluded to her compassion and caring for others.
In this Great Country Australia and under Turdbull’s bullying they is not such thing as “EQUAL” any more. Turdbull has change our Country from a Democracy into a Dictatorship where only the rich get treated “EQUAL” the rest of us have to scramble for what crust’s are thrown out. Cant wait til Turdbull become “HONEST and well RESPECTED”
But hang on, it is 6pm at the local RSL and time for a minute’s silence as an ominous, disembodied voice warns patrons to hold that beer, that spin of the slot machine, that mouthful of chicken parmigiana, that dash to the dunny, while a creaky pre-recorded Last Post plays and the traditional, maudlin faux-patriotism is demonstrated on scattered video screens around the dining tables, gambling rooms and bars. On multiple plasma flat-screens stands the hallowed Digger in his “iconic” slouch hat, his bugle raised, the sunset ablaze in the background. Everyone in the darkened place looks solemn, even the fat bloke at table twelve with barbecue sauce on his chin and a schooner of Tooheys in his fat fist. The first time I witnessed this bizarre phenomenon I clearly wasn’t drunk enough to appreciate the solemnity of the occasion!
I believe Yasmin was axed from the ABC or her contract wasn’t renewed which is the same thing.
I find the ANZAC tradition grossly offensive because it is a fraud. The ANZAC’S did not give their lives for democracy, freedom and liberty and the rule of law because it is self evident that we don’t have these things. No they died for and in the name of British imperialism, so its actually an insult to their memory but much more invidious is that the imaging as hero’s is false and makes future generation much more tractable to be the future gun fodder for the gangster criminal politicians for what else is war but achieving a political gains which could not be gained by other measures, so its all a great big fraud! Further the ANZAC’S ignored the tenets of their Christian society like thous shall not kill and love thy neighbor etc and went to war against a people that they had no cause to creating generational dislocation for the Australian and Turkish people alike.
Enslaved.. Well said.
its the war mongering muck rakers the billionaires who back both sides because the rich are spending money for the tools to run this war they get rich whoever loses