Comments on ORGANIZED RAGE: The Red Poppy signifies the yearly charade of conc...

Paula I have some sympathy with the point you mak...

2009-11-17T12:50:07.133Z

Paula

I have some sympathy with the point you make, the majority of Squadies have left school at 16, often with only the most basic of eductions. This does not make them stupid but it does mean they are easy meat for the Military recruiters. Who I doubt tell them anything about the sheer boredom and terror of war, etc.

Besides how could a young person have any real understanding of a country like Iraq, let alone Afghanistan with its countless clans, languages, political and military groups. The bloody government clearly does not understand the place so how could these youngster?

It has crossed my mind when watching on TV the parents of a very young solider killed in combat, whether they signed the papers which enabled their child to join the army, if so what a burden they have to carry.

Thankfully few of the parents of todays soldiers had to go to war, thankfully Harold Wilson kept my generation from the Jungles of south east Asia. I'm sure Wilson's generation, that of my own father, were so anti military due to having they experienced WW2 and they only very rarely talked about their experiences.

Although I do remember talking to a friend of my Dad who was a Chindit fighting the Japanese in the Burmese jungles. When as a teenager I asked him what it was like, he replied with a withering look of contempt.

"Not bad if you like shitting yourself with fear."

Perhaps we need a little less flag waving and a bit more blunt old solder talk.

If we had 'education' in our schools, not 'state i...

2009-11-17T10:34:10.165Z

If we had 'education' in our schools, not 'state indoctrination', and people left school able to think for themselves, then I would agree that it was entirely the soldier's descision to fight wars and their fault if they were killed. They are usually young and only with the experience of war realise the reality.

I think it is fair to point out that the soldiers ...

2009-11-16T21:43:24.221Z

I think it is fair to point out that the soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq volunteered to be soldiers, presumably knowing what the job would entail and that politicians are fallible and often dishonest - I don't really buy that the glorification of war can trick these young men and women to the degree that they did not realize that they might be sent to unjust wars, and if this really is the case, they surely have only themselves to blame and should have become conscientious objectors if they changed their minds?
I agree about the Remembrance Day farce, but would not feel sorry for soldiers who have voluntarily joined the army, unlike than the innocent conscripts of WW1. Without these people joining the military in the first place Tony Blair would not have had soldiers to send to war in the first place!

Jon Snow called it 'poppy fascism', this need for ...

2009-11-03T19:52:15.751Z

Jon Snow called it 'poppy fascism', this need for every individual appearing before a TV studio camera (and some outside broadcasts) having to wear a poppy. If we could just see one person without a poppy I could accept that there was no coercion involved, and that the wearers were sincere in their demonstration of support for the fund; that they weren't provided with the poppies as part of an advertising stunt.
I see that the poppies are made by the Lady Haig Factory, Limited. Is there such a thing as a limited charity?

Every year the British Nation gets ready to celebr...

2009-11-03T17:48:00.483Z

Every year the British Nation gets ready to celebrate WAR and DEATH: it is the most important day in the national calender. 91 years after the lives of hundreds of soldiers were wasted it still represents the death-loving culture of the British Empire. Send a message to the government, 'Bring the troops home from Afganistan'.

One wonders how long the Welfare/Warfare State wil...

2009-11-03T16:07:53.045Z

One wonders how long the Welfare/Warfare State will triumph. Probably just as long as "the People" accept the propaganda--has done so since the time of Thucydides to now!

Well said, Mick.

2009-11-03T15:44:11.608Z

Well said, Mick.