For most of the worlds history, war is made possible because of imperialism. The tradition of our Remembrance Day came from the War of 1812 and the World Wars, where we were in fact fighting to maintain national sovereignty. I will grieve for the loss of my brave ancestors.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
remembrance day makes me ill
Thank you for the balance, Luigi. You are a smart and level-headed man.
Mostly when I think of these soldiers, I grieve as well, but in a sense that I cry for them that they had to endure such suffering, their wives and families at home as well, and all the same Axis soldiers who just wanted a pint of ale and their friends just the same. IMHO they all got duped (both sides) into rich people's plans and were sent to the slaughter by those who cared not for them.
It makes me intensely sad.
I also wonder exactly HOW so many Canadian men were actually called to war and informed about the situation?
Think about it; there were no TVs, no internet, no variety of news reports to compare and contrast. Only a few newspapers, likely, with limited means of international journalism - and the radio, with but a few stations.
Imagine; you are a Canadian man, with parents and family, living in a town or a farm etc. You know NOTHING of international politics or wtf is happening in Germany. Then you get news - how? - of a war? What? I have to go fight them? WHAT??
I wonder how many demanded more information? I wonder how many were suspicious/were thinking critically/asking questions? Or did they all just believe the story they were given and patriotically went to kill Nazis?
Seriously - do you see how EASY it would have been in that day to convince a nation of whatever story you wanted? There is no second opinion, there is no cross-referencing or fact checking.
The entire nation was basically asked to believe a story, and turn their entire moral compass upside down, leave their wives and children to go murder as many people as they could before getting killed yourself.
WHAT COULD CONVINCE A MAN TO DO THIS???
It boggles my mind.
Mostly when I think of these soldiers, I grieve as well, but in a sense that I cry for them that they had to endure such suffering, their wives and families at home as well, and all the same Axis soldiers who just wanted a pint of ale and their friends just the same. IMHO they all got duped (both sides) into rich people's plans and were sent to the slaughter by those who cared not for them.
It makes me intensely sad.
I also wonder exactly HOW so many Canadian men were actually called to war and informed about the situation?
Think about it; there were no TVs, no internet, no variety of news reports to compare and contrast. Only a few newspapers, likely, with limited means of international journalism - and the radio, with but a few stations.
Imagine; you are a Canadian man, with parents and family, living in a town or a farm etc. You know NOTHING of international politics or wtf is happening in Germany. Then you get news - how? - of a war? What? I have to go fight them? WHAT??
I wonder how many demanded more information? I wonder how many were suspicious/were thinking critically/asking questions? Or did they all just believe the story they were given and patriotically went to kill Nazis?
Seriously - do you see how EASY it would have been in that day to convince a nation of whatever story you wanted? There is no second opinion, there is no cross-referencing or fact checking.
The entire nation was basically asked to believe a story, and turn their entire moral compass upside down, leave their wives and children to go murder as many people as they could before getting killed yourself.
WHAT COULD CONVINCE A MAN TO DO THIS???
It boggles my mind.
Thanks for the kind words Mas.
If you lived back then it was total war, everyone talked about the war, and if you weren't fighting you were building guns and melting your cutlery into bullets. So everyone knew about the war, and everybody trusted the leaders when they said that the other team were the bad guys. Were there any real bad guys? I suppose so, but its important to remember that until very recently in history global politics was a dog eat dog world with absolutely zero remorse and fierce competition. If your country wasnt fucking people up and taking their resources then your countrys power remained the same while the imperials grew in power, and there was a good chance you would be next in line to get invaded if you couldnt defend yourself. In a way we were competing for survival in a bloody game as old as time itself.
The best case scenario would have been if we had a NATO like org back then with all the big players as members and truly committed to peace. I think it could have stopped both world wars, but its hard to imagine guys like Hitler and Stalin would truly commit themselves to peace. Maybe there is just too much temptation with the idea of controlling the world.
I think the only reason its not like that now is because of American global hegemony and America having a monopoly on fucking people up without being official condemned by "non-pariah" states.
If you lived back then it was total war, everyone talked about the war, and if you weren't fighting you were building guns and melting your cutlery into bullets. So everyone knew about the war, and everybody trusted the leaders when they said that the other team were the bad guys. Were there any real bad guys? I suppose so, but its important to remember that until very recently in history global politics was a dog eat dog world with absolutely zero remorse and fierce competition. If your country wasnt fucking people up and taking their resources then your countrys power remained the same while the imperials grew in power, and there was a good chance you would be next in line to get invaded if you couldnt defend yourself. In a way we were competing for survival in a bloody game as old as time itself.
The best case scenario would have been if we had a NATO like org back then with all the big players as members and truly committed to peace. I think it could have stopped both world wars, but its hard to imagine guys like Hitler and Stalin would truly commit themselves to peace. Maybe there is just too much temptation with the idea of controlling the world.
I think the only reason its not like that now is because of American global hegemony and America having a monopoly on fucking people up without being official condemned by "non-pariah" states.
guys like Hitler and Stalin were controlled by financial interests just like "leaders" are now.
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Vutulaki-san
Hitler and stalin had their character flaws for sure but let's not go comparing them to Obama.
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