What a load of religious babble that turned into.

Australian flags have always played a part of ANZAC Day wher people young and old would stand alongside the road holding small Australian flags. There is nothing wrong with this at all. All I saw here was a person's attempt to demonise the flag and any person who wishes to carry it.

Australian soldiers gave their lives for our protection whether the war was justified or not and this must be respected. Unfortunately, nations such Australia have more repressive laws than the Third Reich as airing views opposite the ruling social elite goes from being a civil crime to a criminal offence.

I bow my head for our forefathers. I turn my back on our despotic rulers of today be their politicians, propagandarists(journalists) and those cafe latte sipping dweebs who have never got dirt under the finger nails.

Lest We Forget.

Maybe Im cold hearted, and a very small minority, but I cant relate to anything whatsoever about Anzac Day.
I think it is all a complete load of nonsense---every last bit of it.
It was even a military failure.

There was a feature article in the Age on Sunday in which several young people gave comments about Anzac Day being the definitive part of the Aussie ethos. Bollocks I say.

Also this nonsense about being "blooded" as a rite of passage to individual and collective manhood/maturity. Bollocks again.

Humanity will truly come of age when it, as EVERYONE ALTOGETHER, asserts their collective moral authority and tells the manipulative powers that be, NO MORE WAR.

Such moral authority being based on the understanding that, despite the seeming superficial differences, we share and inhere in, a PRIOR UNITY at the heart level of our being, and that humanity is now one family (even genetically) and that we are all living together in a very small boat in which everything is interconnected.

This essay gives a very sobering assessment of the state of the world.
Cooperate or you WILL destroy yourselves.
1. www.dabase.org/openlett.htm

What an excellent article.

I'm not religious, but for the last few years ANZAC day has continually left me with a feeling of unease in the pit of my stomach. It seems to me that it is continually hijacked - unintentionally i have no doubt - as a vehicle for nationalism and religious sentimentality. In Victoria we have an AFL game played every ANZAC day in which the players are referred to as displaying the 'anzac spirit'. I think too often and too many get caught up in the rhetoric and let the real meaning - that is its lack of meaning - of the event pass them by. More dangerously, this kind of rhetoric only reinforces a sense of duty to ones' country and only encourages another generation of our young to take up arms and fight a war on the other side of the world at the behest of our benevolent leaders.

If the human race is going to put war behind us, we need to stop glorifying it and start focusing on the real issues surrounding it.

Stabinthedark.You and Hohum just haven't a clue.WW2 was a rightful and necessary fight for our freedoms.Some things are worth dying for, if they give future generations a better philosophy to live by.

The modern hedonistic culture of our time are losing the plot.You only appreciate the good times when the hard times have moulded your attitudes and character.Experience and resolve does not come from cyberspace or a book.Lest you forget.

err, not wanting to be a stickler Arjay, but the ANZACS in Gallipoli happened during WWI, not WWII...

I've noticed that this forum is being filled with the self loathing lefties as of late.

ANZAC Day is for all those who gave the greatest sacrafice possible, for all wars. Not just WWI.

Waving the flag is not glorifying nor is the rise in nationalism so get use to it and, if you don't like it, then move to Iran or such where you will probably prefer it. I shouldn't forget the dream model called, Cuba.

Spider:

Why? We'd only find just as much nationalism in Iran and Cuba. Probably more.

I'm not against paying respects to people who died in WWI or any other war. I'm deeply saddened and respectful of the ordeal they went through.

But using it to appeal to a nationalistic ideal, and claiming it 'defines our nation' is both dangerous and ridiculous in my opinion. And it continually happens, whether you choose to see it or not.

Stabby, the only politician I have ever seen play politics on ANZAC Day was Paul Keating with his Republican comments. Nobody is using ANZAC Day to push nationalism. I can come as a result of but that is okay.

Nobody is leaving a parade to beat up anyone. Waving flags is not threat. Flags have always played a part. It may seem as if flag use has increased but this is due to an increase in numbers attending ANZAC Day. The only people out there politicising ANZAC Day now are the extreme side of multiculturalism who see anything representing Australia as evil.

Leave the politics alone and pay respect. This is for ALL people.

gerrymander,what happened at Gallopoli was wrong.Many Aussies went there with the anticipation of finding glory and adventure.Instead they experienced death and depravity.

It was to be the war to end all wars,but alas this is the nature of a humanity with a chimpanzee ancestory.Just study their social disposition.They also make war on each other.

The ANZAC tradition however is not diminished by the motivations for war,but respect for those who fought for a principle,whether it be right or wrong in our eyes.

If you're not passionate about something in life,it becomes meaningless.The ANZACs showed courage and resolve beyond anything we could imagine and that deserves our respect.

Today many more thousands in Australia die from drugs,car crashes and alcohol abuse,yet they are the silent collateral damage.

Death daily rides on all our shoulders.It is just a matter of time and at what intensity we all want to live our brief interlude called life.

I took my family to the dawn service in Melbourne this year. One couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of solidarity with the throngs making their way to the shrine. The crowds meant we didn’t get close but were in perfect position to see the sun rise over it’s apex. During the stillness of the last post it was natural to reflect on my fathers service and those of my great uncles, one of whom was beheaded by the Japanese during WW2.

The service included addresses given by two young Australians who had visited battlefields around the world. It was clear our youth appear to be adopting a new, more singular vision for the ANZAC tradition. Words such as ‘triumph', 'sacrifice', 'loyalty', 'mateship', and 'pride' abounded.

Our local paper however had printed extracts of speeches made at past ceremonies in our town and it was quite noticeable the reflections on the futility of war in those post conflict years. One of the most poignant passages related the belief by many servicemen and their relatives that the sacrifice of their lives, bodies, and minds was worthwhile because this was the war to end all wars. There were none of these tempering sentiments this year.

Something occurred on the walk to the service that caught me by surprise. A chap in his 20’s appeared with a large Australian flag draped around his shoulders and well I cringed. It just didn’t seem appropriate and not one of the thousands of others I saw in the early morning dimness repeated it. Naturally I had no problem with the flags flying at the shrine, but this act jarred.

Perhaps the images at Cronulla have tainted our flag worn in that manner for me. I understand a different generation is constructing their own stories and relationships with our national symbols. I’m not about to say mine are right because they may well be not be, but they are mine. I know the ‘southern cross’ adorned like that won’t bother me indefinitely, but right now it does.