Probably everyone in Britain is familiar with Wilfred Owen's poem, 'Dulce et Decorum Est.' Every English teacher in the land insists on their pupils studying the poets of World War One; so much so that it is hard to think of the Great War without them. Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and others wrote of the mindless slaughter and struggled to find a reason for it all.
In the aftermath of the war the whole population of Britain felt nothing but a sense of loss. Spiritualists and mediums did a roaring trade as people tried to get in touch with lost loved ones. Interest in the Occult increased, as did the influence of exotic religions as everyone strived to come to terms with what had happened. Even working-class folk subscribed to spiritualist magazines and organisations. Remembrance Day was instituted, to remember the dead and to make sure that it never happened again.
There was no sense that the Great War had made the world a better place, that the dead had sacrificed themselves for 'freedom.' On the contrary, war was evil and to be avoided as much as possible. Even the Oxford Union passed a motion that they would never again fight for their country.
All of which makes absolutely disgusting the jingoistic language used by the followers of the team at Ibrox. On Bill McMurdo's website someone decided to post Wilfred Owen's famous poem. He then repeated the last line, with a translation, 'It is sweet and right to die for your country.' I'm not sure I would agree with his translation of 'decorum,' but the main thing that stands out is that he is missing the point of the poem. In the last two lines, Owen calls the saying 'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,' a lie. It is neither sweet nor fitting to die at any time. The person that posted this is guilty of either gross stupidity or breathtaking cynicism.
The rest of McMurdo's blog is filled with folk boasting about Scottish soldiers fighting, and dying, to build and maintain the British Empire; heroes, all of them, they maintain. So, firing a Maxim gun into natives, armed only with spears is heroic? Invading China with gunboats and heavy artillery to force that country to let British drug dealers in is heroic? Burying Muslims alive, wrapped in pigskins and firing canons with people tied to the font because they had the nerve to mutiny over their religious beliefs being trampled over is heroic?
During WWI itself the high command on both sides were terrified that the working classes might refuse to fight. The scenes at Christmas 1914, when ordinary soldiers met up and played games of football etc, absolutely terrified those at the top and soldiers were threatened and even shot for not fighting. And yet, we are told that they were there to safeguard our freedoms?
And what of WWII? After it was discovered what had been going on in Nazi Germany, it was easy to convince everybody that it was a morally just war against the forces of evil. But is that why Britain went to war? If everyone was so concerned about the treatment of Jews then why were they all so keen to participate in the 1936 Olympic Games? Not one word was raised in our country to suggest a boycott. The truth is that, just as in WWI, the war was about 'Realpolitik'; in fact, most historians see WWII as just a continutation of WWI.
At the end of WWII, in the General Election, Churchill turned on his erstwhile Labour colleagues in the War Cabinet, comparing them with the Nazis. The election of a Labour government was seen by many at the top as a betrayal. Airey Neave wrote how disgusted he was with the changes in Britain; this was not what he fought for, he said. Neave swore to get things back to how they were and got his chance when his protégée, Margaret Thatcher, won the 1979 General Election.
All the rhetoric and propaganda about fighting for freedom also fired the ambitions of the people in the British Colonies, who wanted their own freedom. This is not what Britain meant to happen and the loss of the Empire caused a deep hurt among the ruling classes and their forelock-tugging followers among the middle and working classes.
The vile posturing and jingoistic rhetoric displayed by right-wingers in association with Remembrance Day pollutes the memory of all those that died. The poppy is now more to do with support for war, the armed forces and the myth that all those men died to preserve 'freedom.' Meanwhile, that 'freedom' is being trampled over by the very people that constantly spout the word. Those that do not agree with the new meanings behind the poppy are to be reviled and treated as pariahs; freedom is only for the few, it seems.
In the past few years, football teams have taken to wearing the symbol of the poppy on their tops. Now it is being claimed that this has been a long-standing tradition and those that do not comply are to be made an example of. So much for freedom!
The Ibrox hordes have started sending e-mails to the SFA to complain about teams that did not hold a minute's silence on Saturday or did not wear printed poppies. Probably the players and fans went to church services on Sunday and observed the silence on Monday but it seems that is not enough. It appears that you've not just to remember the fallen but turn the whole thing into a circus by making sure that everyone sees your bleeding heart, while you desperately try to make yourself look good. A wee read of the Parable of The Widow's Mite in the Gospels might let these people see how disgusting their acts are.
Meanwhile, McMurdo takes the opportunity to remind everyone that there was now an 'isidious threat from within.' In a vile move, he equates the referendum on Scottish independence with 'external threats,' whom our 'fallen heroes' died fighting in order to stop. As has often been stated on McMurdo's website, this 'internal threat' is actually comprised of Catholics, descended from Irish immigrants, trying to turn Scotland into a republic! These are exactly the kind of scare tactics used by the Nazis in the 1930s in order to turn Germany into a totalitarian state.
So, on the one hand, we've to celebrate the death of thousands, if not millions, of soldiers, who died to keep us free from Nazi tyranny, as well as to destroy an evil regime that discriminated against minorities to the extent of killing them. And on the other hand, the memories of those dead soldiers are being evoked to discriminate against a minority in Scotland! Plus ça change...
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