Hard News: Anzac Day II
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This was brought to my attention by Auckland photographer Allan McDonald, the Mercer War Memorial. A wee concrete soldier mounted on the turret of the Waikato River gunboat, used during the Waikato land wars.
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And then, at the end of the Hurricanes’ rugby match against the Reds in Brisbane, someone thought it appropriate to mark this time of loss with round of after round of machine-gun fire from an armoured vehicle. It seemed impossibly insensitive
It was truly gobsmacking. If I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed it.
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Sam Neill's was the only Anzac tv I watched. Brilliant. Listener interview with him about it here.
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Over here, the clowns who run the Herald on Sunday's Spy section claimed their "tip line lit up" in response to the off-message Anzac thoughts of Lizzie Marvelly, who responded with a thoughtfulness and intelligence her witless accusers didn't really deserve.
That so very well encapsulates everything that is wrong with this highly polished jingoism about "our nation" and "their sacrifice" and who is "re-writing history". Reporting the insufficiently patriotic for a round of pillory, because you can't let the facts get in the way of official "history".
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Russell Brown, in reply to
That so very well encapsulates everything that is wrong with this highly polished jingoism about "our nation" and "their sacrifice" and who is "re-writing history". Reporting the insufficiently patriotic for a round of pillory, because you can't let the facts get in the way of official "history".
You may also note the use of the phrase "tip line", endlessly used by Whaleoil and exposed for what it was in Dirty Politics.
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"They fought for our freedoms" is a bit of a red flag to a bull phrase to me about Gallipoli. Maybe the Turks were there fighting for their freedoms, but to me the New Zealanders were there trying their best as footsoldiers in a war of empires strategy dreamt up in London.
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EE,
I was at the Pt Chev ceremony and couldn't figure out why most of the junior cadets were fainting and needing to be assisted to seating.
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A friend and I got up at 5.30am, and took our scooters into the domain for the dawn service on Saturday. It was packed, and there were some personal moments when the daughter of good friends got up to speak and lay a wreath.
However, Len Brown was a little disappointing, to be honest, but you get that.
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joshua grigg, in reply to
I've seen plenty of professional trained adult service people faint on parade. So it's probably a bit much to give the children grief for not being able to manage.
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Tinakori, in reply to
The Wellington dawn service was very big and the only two speakers aside from the padre running the show were the two Governors General. Aside from the size the service was exactly the same as all those I have attended with our two boys as they became old enough to be interested in attending. And the service was pretty much as I remember it from attending with my own father, very focused on those who served and not a lot said about wider issues. I think the dawn service was always traditionally for the servicemen and women and the rest of the population went to the later morning one.
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Geoff Lemon's sober truth-telling is an outstanding contribution.
McIntyre's comments were insensitive and fail the basic interweb anger test (i.e. "do you really need to send now, or would you rather take five first?"). But the reaction to them is far more disturbing.
I could go on, but Lemon has said it better than I can. Mostly I just feel sad - the centenary has been a missed opportunity, a national conversation avoided.
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The Sam Neill documentary was screened over here in Australia by the ABC and was excellent. Quite emotional for an expat Kiwi at the end when he was at the Waikouaiti War Memorial (a typical small town arch with a shockingly long list of names for such a small place) as I spent most of my holidays just south of there at Karitane and used to regular go to Waikouaiti to help with the shopping (and get a huge ice cream in the cone). Wall to wall Anzac in the media here but the ABC (as usual) were pretty good. My free to air viewing is almost completely restricted to ABC and SBS where (most of the time) you feel like you are being treated as an intelligent person. I suspect that if I still lived in NZ I would watch no TV as the commercial channels really are shit (as they are here).
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BlairMacca, in reply to
And then, at the end of the Hurricanes’ rugby match against the Reds in Brisbane, someone thought it appropriate to mark this time of loss with round of after round of machine-gun fire from an armoured vehicle. It seemed impossibly insensitive
It was truly gobsmacking. If I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed it
I caught this item on One News on Australian's 'celebrating' anzac day by getting smashed off their faces and gambling. Maybe its an Aussie thing but I prefer our more 'sober' rememberance
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
However, Len Brown was a little disappointing, to be honest, but you get that.
Well, I'd have loved to be disappointed by Len Brown. Thanks to another Auckland Transport flustercluck (apparently nobody thought to lay on any extra capacity on the Northern Express or Inner Link to meet entirely predictable demand), we got there just in time for the national anthems.
If there was one day it would have been really nice for AT to get its act together, it was Saturday. Shame nobody thought to try.
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I agree with your recommendation of Sam Neill's documentary: thoughtful, reflective and moving. Many aspects of this commemoration have created missed opportunities for a more informed discussion on the myths and meanings of what we are commemorating. I doubt we will have that opportunity again over the next three years as many seem to have reached overload.
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I watched the Sam Neill programme. It was good. A very personal account that was watchable and interesting. He prefaced with his objection to militarism and nationalism. Bravo. And at the end he made a curious reference to the Armenian people in Turkey. Most people will have missed the reference - but it struck me and I wondered what had fallen on the cutting room floor. It's good and proper to remember young New Zealanders who were freighted en masse to a war of doubtful value in total and contemplate the dubious motivation of the New Zealand government of the day - I don't see it as a necessary sacrifice or 'honourable' expedition; but we should commemorate a time in our history that was both mindlessly suicidal and homicidal if only to ensure that we do what we can to prevent getting tangled up in more expeditions of the sort. (Too late I realise). And for all the talk of comradeship with the Turks it is also reasonable to be aware of the genocide of the Armenian population - in the millions at the hands of the Turks - that occurred at the same time in the same place - and that the Turks' official stance on their history is equivalent to the Germans taking no responsibility for their own heinous acts in the years leading up to and during the Second World War. It's relevant because they are our modern allies and their treatment of the Kurdish population isn't much to be proud of either.
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(apparently nobody thought to lay on any extra capacity on the Northern Express or Inner Link to meet entirely predictable demand)
Could it be that French utilities company that runs the Auckland rail system, Veolia, have no interest in the needs of the 'man in the street' considering they are still in the middle of suing the Egyptian Government for 80 million Euro, for raising the basic wage - something that was aided by the European version of the TPPA, the TTIP or similar...
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
The Northern Express and Inner Link are bus services which Transdev Australasia has never had any contractual role in running. Take my word for that, since they've also been my partner's employer for eleven years and he's worked in the rail industry not on the busses since 1964.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
The Northern Express and Inner Link are bus services which Transdev Australasia has never had any contractual role in running.
Ooops, My bad - buses and a rail system, luxury us southerners can only dream of.
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
Quite alright -- finer minds that ours have been trying (and failing) to make sense of it all for a while.
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Yamis, in reply to
Does that crossed out red graffiti say "To Murder Maori People" ???? Whatever it was somebody objected to it. Kind of like the twitter debate...
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Sacha, in reply to
I suspect that if I still lived in NZ I would watch no TV as the commercial channels really are shit (as they are here).
You might like Maori TV. Everything TVNZ is no longer. And had full Anzac Day coverage right from the get-go.
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Sacha, in reply to
Australian's 'celebrating' anzac day by getting smashed off their faces and gambling. Maybe its an Aussie thing but I prefer our more 'sober' rememberance
I've learned this Anzac Day that Australia has long commemorated survivors whereas we have mainly focused on those who died - so they get pissed and march and play two-up while we lay wreathes and talk. Makes some sense.
I didn't really understand the function of our widespread monuments until Sam Neill talked about the bodies not coming home and family needing an equivalent to a funeral and a grave. Will never see all those small town memorials the same way again.
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SteveH, in reply to
McIntyre's comments were insensitive and fail the basic interweb anger test (i.e. "do you really need to send now, or would you rather take five first?"). But the reaction to them is far more disturbing.
Unfortunately a big chunk of the population only thinks about this stuff on one day of the year, if that. McIntyre's comments were inflammatory and he should have been more tactful, but they did spark some reasonable discussion. If he had said the same at another time it's quite likely he would have been ignored.
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Sacha, in reply to
the two Governors General.
who were they?
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