tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13716931.post114594042591732926..comments2023-06-23T18:28:12.061+10:00Comments on Bowling for Illidan: ANZAC Day, Australia Dayboy_fromOzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12354698665016613894noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13716931.post-1146133557542700882006-04-27T20:25:00.000+10:002006-04-27T20:25:00.000+10:00Certainly, Beazley's views on Australia's war hist...Certainly, Beazley's views on Australia's war history are deplorable, as you would expect. I duly deplored them <A HREF="http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2005/04/26/beazley-on-gallipoli/" REL="nofollow">here</A><BR/><BR/>JQAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13716931.post-1146126647240792782006-04-27T18:30:00.000+10:002006-04-27T18:30:00.000+10:00I'll grant that my use of 'lynchmob' was a tad se...I'll grant that my use of 'lynchmob' was a tad sensationalist. But I do think that much of the reaction shows intolerance for a contrarian view about Kokoda's significance in the larger context of WW2. That qualifies it as a 'sacred cow' in my book, regardless of the merits of Barton's argument. <BR/><BR/>Btw I wasn't referring to your blog post JQ, I had in mind (inter alia) Beazley's claim that Barton is trying to "take Anzac Day out of the Australian legend". Perhaps Beazley was being quoted out of context by The Australian, an outcome that wouldn't surprise me.boy_fromOzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12354698665016613894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13716931.post-1146121158976270922006-04-27T16:59:00.000+10:002006-04-27T16:59:00.000+10:00Barton's certainly dug pits for himself with his r...<I>Barton's certainly dug pits for himself with his rant about an ALP agenda and other gratuitous political grenades - e.g. that a Japanese occupation of Queensland would have been tolerable (in view of ultimate allied victory), or that the diggers in New Guinea weren't fighting in defence of Australia's liberty.</I><BR/><BR/>Given that these offensive and stupid claims have been the main focus of criticism, I don't see why reference to a lynch mob is justified here, or why people criticising him should be presumed to be protecting sacred cows.<BR/><BR/>JQAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13716931.post-1146051507345673752006-04-26T21:38:00.000+10:002006-04-26T21:38:00.000+10:00"I think its a concealed attempt to assert the ang..."I think its a concealed attempt to assert the anglo history over the non-anglo history of our citizens"<BR/><BR/>One can certainly argue that ANZAC Day is morphing from commemoration of past service into a vehicle for a crude, semi-jingoistic brand of Australian nationalism. The fact that last year's Cronulla rioters called themselves 'sons of ANZACs' may not seem significant to John Howard but it rings alarm bells for me.boy_fromOzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12354698665016613894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13716931.post-1146046685786738552006-04-26T20:18:00.000+10:002006-04-26T20:18:00.000+10:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.boy_fromOzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12354698665016613894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13716931.post-1145979175790227032006-04-26T01:32:00.000+10:002006-04-26T01:32:00.000+10:00Anzac Day does glorify war. You can unpack the not...Anzac Day does glorify war. You can unpack the notion of war in all sorts of ways, which here are peculiar.<BR/><BR/>Containing the paranoid notion of a clique of "mates" which were worked over by a parental command structure who didn't even like the indiscipline of the Anzacs.<BR/><BR/>That story happens to be true, but it still embodies a psychopathalogical response, into which we are now frozen.<BR/><BR/>I always wonder about the concept of gallipoli being fundamental to our nationhood. I think its a concealed attempt to assert the anglo history over the non-anglo history of our citizens, now slightly opened up but only for the Turks at Kokoda.<BR/><BR/>I think the notion of embodied nationhood/ blood sacrifice etc is too coarse. What about the Light Horse? The Western Front.. etc etc..<BR/><BR/>Thoughtful place you have going here.<BR/><BR/>- baristaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com