Does ANZAC day glorify war? Possibly. Here are some images of war. On the left is todays war in the Ukraine. On the right is the type of images you see of ANZAC day in Australia. There is nothing wrong with these ANZAC images, in fact it is good to see them. The problem is the images that you don’t see about war and the ANZAC tradition. Compare the images on the right and the left. The wars the ANZACs have fought in would have many of the same images, of what the bad guys have done to us and what we have done to the bad guys. There is concern if we forget that the images on the left are the “main game” images of war and not the images on the right. I think we have forgotten this at least to some degree.
I'm worried that ANZAC Day is changing. I think up 'til now we've got it pretty right. Solemn rather than 'celebratory'.
ReplyDeleteI think as the last survivors and their children are dying that it may be becoming more nationalistic and celebratory. This would be a very bad thing in my opinion.
I think we are going to hear a lot of nonsense about war in the next 4-5 years.