tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post7985872605796243589..comments2023-11-29T04:14:24.973-08:00Comments on Simon Bestwick: Remembrance DaySimonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-34740409021157989512008-11-20T08:01:00.000-08:002008-11-20T08:01:00.000-08:00Thanks fellas. Sorry I've not been back before, b...Thanks fellas. Sorry I've not been back before, but various things intervened.<BR/><BR/>Crazy Fitter, I know what you mean about WW1. For me that often seems the worse conflict because of the pointlessness, waste and stupidity of it all. German militarism was seen as one of the reasons for the conflict, but I think most of the big powers had unrest of one kind or another at home (socialism and feminism in Britain, revolutionists in Russia etcetera) and a war was a good distraction, and an excuse to clamp down on internal dissent. Add that to a shower of incompetent bastards in charge and you get four years of carnage. The Guardian journalist George Monbiot coined the term 'ephebicide' (the mass slaughter of the young by the old) for it. The full- and excellent- article is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/11/first-world-war-edmund-morel<BR/><BR/>And if it hadn't happened, then as you say there would never have been a WW2. I keep hoping... not that we'll learn. It's not about learning. We've seen in the last five years the language and suffering of WW2 twisted to justify the invasion of Iraq. Most war memorials and war remembrance glosses over the loss and suffering and turns it into an exercise in 'patriotism'- which is basically the fodder for whipping people up for the next war. It's not that we haven't learned, it's that power resides in the hands of an elite who are completely merciless when it comes to extending or maintaining it. What we're supposed to do about that, I don't know. I just hope one day we're able to do away with people like that and rule ourselves sanely. Chance would be a fine thing.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10858899715313108981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-39601704293758566202008-11-10T15:32:00.000-08:002008-11-10T15:32:00.000-08:00That was a fantastic post mate. Very moving.That was a fantastic post mate. <BR/><BR/>Very moving.Chris Woodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01621838021756564517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652470563521952606.post-45784958289395246532008-11-10T14:35:00.000-08:002008-11-10T14:35:00.000-08:00Thanks Simon, I read your post and was deeply move...Thanks Simon, I read your post and was deeply moved. I too have family who died in WW2, a distant cousin who was a rear gunner in the Dam Busters and who didn’t survive, a distant uncle who captained a merchantman in the North Atlantic Convoys, and did survive and settled post-war in Toronto. A man I did meet was a Japanese POW and worked on the Burmese railway. He didn’t live long after I met him in about 1958 and incredibly I can’t remember how he was related. I come from a mining family so no immediate family were involved. My father did apply to join the army but he had exceptionally high arches to his feet and his pit boots were made to measure and the army wouldn’t take him.<BR/><BR/>I’ve only been to 3 Remembrance Day Parades, twice as a Boy Scout and once as an adult when I lived in Oldham. The Oldham parade was a strange experience, hardly anyone was there except for the necessary contingents. A friend remarked that it was a ‘circus’ but he couldn’t explain his comment and it was many years before I came to a similar conclusion. The point I think is that these ceremonies are not ‘anti nazi’ or ‘anti fascist’ and I think they should be after all that’s what it was all about. Appallingly I don’t know anyone who can say what WW1 was about and I have to confess that I waffle on the subject.<BR/><BR/>Most people I know regard history as a series of boxes, this is WW1, this is Spanish Civil War, this is WW2 etc but it is a mistaken view. History is a straight line and a series of causes and effects. If WW1 hadn’t happened then neither would WW2 and we all might have Hitler prints on our lounge walls next to Picasso’s Spanish Pastoral Period prints circa 1932-1938.<BR/><BR/>War memorials for the most part are appalling. What on earth have Roman Columns and concrete angels got to do with anti fascism? I actually like the Oldham monument, which depicts a nasty wartime scene, and has a ‘Daybook’, which turns a page daily and displays the name of any Oldhamer killed on that day. The expression, ‘The Glorious Dead’ I have long thought to be an oxymoron as it is to live that is glorious. This solar system we inhabit was created about 4.5 billion years ago and all the atoms, which comprise us, were created at that time. We have effectively been dead all that time and will be again for an even longer period soon enough. In short war is a crime but these Parades glorify it. <BR/><BR/>The world has improved, for me it means that I have never been kidnapped by the state or witnessed or suffered in a war and for that I’m more than grateful. In fact the more I think about it all the more I’m glad I’m not a politician, which sounds enormously selfish but represents the fact that putting a full stop in a cause and effect link is very difficult. I’m rambling so I’ll put my full stop here. Best Wishes.Crazy Fitterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05673434620757587787noreply@blogger.com