Another April 25th is upon us, and once again I pull a flag to the top of our family flagpole because it seems like the only way I can thank the men and women in the Australian and New Zealand armed forces who fought and died for their lives and ours.
Today is for the Diggers, and I’ve analysed their sacrifice and my feelings about it an insulting amount in the past, so this time I will simply pay my respects.
Misty and damp old morning for it this morning. But I’m glad I sawed up that old cherry tree that had buried the base of the flagpole.
Time for a status update, though.
Today is also the day Marvel is releasing an Avengers movie. It’s not the first time they’ve moved up the date to (coincidentally, intentionally, who really cares) take advantage of the public holiday in Australia and New Zealand. It’s actually about the third time. It is, however, the first time there’s been public and media outcry about it, and about how it’s disrespectful to the troops.
And that worries me. Any measurable state-change in this direction worries me, because it means reason is falling further under the wheels of the nationalistic jingo train. Believe it or not, it’s possible to pay one’s respect to the Diggers and then also enjoy a nice day off and a movie about a war. A make-believe war, I should add. The only sort of war the Diggers wanted to exist at this point. That, as I’ve said before, is why they died.
I’m managing to do both, and I don’t even have a day off.
And then there’s this.
Catherine isn’t wrong. Like Australia Day, ANZAC Day has become a celebration of white mastery over the foreigners and the glorification of war rather than the celebration and remembrance of those who fell.
Make no mistake. I am not proposing we abolish ANZAC Day. On the contrary. I’m saying we need to observe it in the manner it’s intended. A respectful reflection on the horror of war, the acknowledgement of those who fought and died, because if we forget history we will go on repeating it.
And the same goes for letting it become a full-blown bogan Halloween. Because when that happens, the ferocious spirit of goodness that the Diggers embodied will really be gone from this world. And we will be back to bleeding and dying in the dirt, with our hearts full of fear.
Yes, just like theirs were.
– Sent from my Huawei. We will remember them.
Hatboy's Hatstand 
When the ice cream turned out to be Turkish Delight. I laughscreamed.
Also worth watching:
I’m gonna go ahead and agree with you here about people getting BS butthurt. Movies open on Memorial day in the US all the time. My understanding is that Infinity War opens globally today. The number of Australians who know and care that today is Anzac day, vs. the number of people who just want to go see a film is…. let’s call it a small percentage.
Agreed. There’s a lot to unpack here, but I have long been taking a page from the alt-right and actually not being a snowflake (unlike them) and calling out other snowflakes (like them). So, people need to get over it. Plus, if it’s right-wingers who send us into meaningless wars (here in the US at least) saying “respect the troops”, they already failed on that count so it’s farts in the wind to me. Stop tying everything together. Things are allowed to occur on the same day without their being connected. Also, why would Marvel, a US company, even be thinking of a non-US “holiday” or whatever you want to call it? Every day’s a holiday somewhere.
It’s rather like how so many awful US policies seem to have started in 1984. It’s called a coincidence (I hope). So let it go.