Militarisation of our society

trisher I think there have been several commemorations in he past two or three years of the first World War and that may have brought this to the public's consciousness. There will be more next year of the 100th anniversary of the end of the war and the Armistice.
I think these events remind people of the horrors of war and I hope strengthen people's resolution to try never to let this happen again - but always to fight evil if we are faced with it.

Wearing a beret, a blazer badge, is a sign of identifying with comrades which many people, particularly men, seem to need. Many group have a sense of camaraderie such as the forces, miners etc and I don't think we are becoming more militarised. Indeed, the forces have been scaled back in recent years to a huge extent.
People could be wearing their father's medals and they are a sign that we live in freedom and have freedoms such as to post our views on here without fear of being arrested thanks to them.

Perhaps we should remember that it is politicians who start wars not the military.

I don't think there is any evidence of militarisation.

Grey makes some excellent points re the thinking of ex military of which both Grampy and I consider ourselves part of and say so with pride.

We wear our medals on appropriate occasions to remember and salute those who fell in combat and who suffered afterwards for having taken part. Its a sign of respect and solidarity.

Also , on such occasions it has given us the opportunity to remind our children and thir children that war is and always should be the last resort and by remembering the fallen and the atrocities committed in the name of religion, power, greed and sheer bloody minded ness we may, just may avoid history repeating itself.

Reminding people to try to never let this happen again? There are wars going on all round the world - it is probably as bad as it's ever been - and we (and, of course, other countries) are complicit in it by progressing the research, development and sale of deadly weapons - and hosting the disgusting arms "fair" in Britain.

I agree that it is politicians who start wars (and they and their families are not usually the ones fighting them) but people are often supportive of their military actions and taken in by the notion that those who campaign against them are unpatriotic.

Here we go again!

I remember someone once saying "I don't support the war but I do support our men and women who are fighting it" That just about sums up my feelings.

Every year since the start of the century British troops have been fighting somewhere. Why?

Because the arms industry is big business and some people think that it makes us a better country if we send in the troops. Then they make themselves feel better about things by donating to Homes For Heroes or buying a red poppy.

Good posts Greyduster. Remembrance Day in particular brings a tear to my eyes. Those dedicated people to whom we owe so much. They wear their medals with pride!
No I do not see it as militarisation or glorification of war.

That's your view and of course you are entitled to it trisher. I was a bit taken aback by Your comment about people buying a red poppy or donating to Help for Heroes to make themselves feel better. I do both those things, not because I glorify war but as a mark of respect for those who serve, in remembrance of my grandfathers and my father (ww1 and ww2), and to donate cash to help service personnel who need it. It's nothing to do with making myself feel better and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

I agree totally Iam64 !

They wouldn't need it so much if they weren't sent into so many wars in other countries.

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?
Selling poppies in town today.
The poppies, child, are flowers of love.
For the men who marched away.

But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy?
Why not a beautiful rose?
Because my child, men fought and died
In the fields where the poppies grow.

But why are the poppies so red, Mummy?
Why are the poppies so red?
Red is the colour of blood, my child.
The blood that our soldiers shed.

The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy.
Why does it have to be black?
Black, my child, is the symbol of grief.
For the men who never came back.

But why, Mummy are you crying so?
Your tears are giving you pain.
My tears are my fears for you my child.
For the world is forgetting again.

I don't think men in uniform marching and wearing medals is a symbol of the horrors of war on Remembrance Day. I'd prefer to see a quiet ceremony with the reading of something like Owen's Dulce et Decorum est. If you've forgotten it here it is

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
If it was read every year perhaps the message would get through.
I wouldn't mind the sounding of the Last Post as a military part.

Very appropriate at the moment, trisher.

Iam64 agree 100% with what you say!!

Well, trisher that was just one of the poems read at the Remembrance Service here last year. When everyone remembered and prayed that the horrors would cease and we could have peace around the world.

Perhaps we should do away with politicians then we wouldn't have any wars. Everyone in the world be allocated a little piece of land to grow their crops, keep their goats, hens (except for those who don't want to) and follow the Ten Commandments so that no-one coveted anything that belonged to anyone else and everyone living in harmony.

I forgot!! That is from one of the Abrahamic religions, differences in opinions about religion of all kinds can be the cause of wars.


rosesarered you are right, here we go again

iam64 nailed it. If you don't want to donate to Help for Heroes, or buy a poppy; don't, but don't insult those who do by suggesting that those who do, only do so "to make themselves feel better". A pretty low comment, imo.

One of my grandfather's was captured and spent over a year in a German prisoner of war camp during WW1. He spoke movingly about that war, he stressed to me that his captors "were lads, just like us, no they didn't steal the Red Cross parcels, they could have but we shared them. Towards the end we boiled grass and cooked rat together, they'd nowt and neither had we". He also expressed pride that "your generation wouldn't just march off to war as we did. We knew so little, the Germans had their Keiser, we had Kitchener - our country needed us the German lads and our lads all believed that. It was a while for us to realise it should never have happened". My other grandfather (also aged 19) was selected to follow the fighting and try and identify the dead bodies.
My father told us he was lucky to miss all the fighting, wherever he arrived, it was over. Only after he died did we find letters from one of his Marine friend's sons talking about his father's action along with our father in hand to hand fighting. None of my relatives glorified war. My father was incensed by the invasion of Iraq, which he and all his pals saw as an illegal war, they shared the view that Blair should have been prosecuted as several Nazi's were at the Nuremberg trials.
The poets who emerged during WW1 have left a legacy that can't be forgotten, neither should we forget the thousands of young men killed in that awful war. That's the point of Remembrance Day, it isn't to glorify, its to commemorate and remind us, less we forget.
Sorry for this preachy post - I loved my grandparents and my father and credit them with helping me grow up and reminding me what prejudice is.

What a moving post, Iam64.

Excellent post iam64, you've explained perfectly as to why we continue to honour those that fight in wars, wherever they are from. GNHQ reached a new low today with the inference that buying a poppy, or supporting Help for Heroes, was done only for the donors self appeasement. Shame on those that think it, or say it.

GNHQ?

Nope dj just a sense of decency

Or maybe respect would be a better word.

I think that the poets and many of those who died in the wars would not be impressed to see the marching and the military presence at any service. Like it or not the impression given (and certainly promoted by politicians) is that there is something heroic and glorious about fighting. Even if individuals don't intend to glorify war their actions sometimes do this.
As I said many of the men I grew up with had fought and none of them chose to act as some do now. It has been said that they had no choice about fighting. That is true but they had a choice about what they did afterwards and most of them rejected militarism. The idea that one shouldn't criticise military charities or wonder why they are now so prominent just shows how brainwashed some people now are.

Chewbacca, you said GNHQ reached a new low today.
I was questioning whether you really meant that.