(Above: proud patriot Bronnie, back in the days when she took temporary possession of paintings in the parliamentary collection, and outrageous ratbags made a Call for Bishop to surrender Gallipoli artwork).
Where would Australia be without The Punch, which provides ... for free ... the thoughts of Australian politicians ... written for free ... as a way of promoting the very best conversation?
Gallipoli and all it stands for is now under attack by the rejuvenated yet antiquated lefties – Germaine Greer, Henry Reynolds and university lecturers of a left wing bent undermining the ethos of the ANZAC tradition and heritage by denigrating the worth of our soldiers.
... HENRY REYNOLDS: Well, certainly a half truth.
ANZACS according to him are to be derided not honoured, to be seen as pawns who were manipulated and acted badly; not heroes who gave their lives, 8700 of them from a country of just under 5 million people.
... I mean one of the things that is not understood is just how strict the censorship was, that people in Australia learnt little about the realities of the conflict, particularly once it got to the Western Front. Now, Bean himself was part of this. He felt it was important, indeed, to present a picture of war which was heroic, that left out much of what was unpleasant, and certainly there was never any talk in the official propaganda about, indeed, the Australians having a reputation for being particularly brutal; that is, killing prisoners and bayoneting the wounded. So all of these things were quite obviously left out and Bean himself felt that he had to present a story that could be read profitably and happily by Australian families. So therefore he was an official war historian. He wasn’t an independent, critical journalist, and therefore what he presented was, indeed, a very, very much distorted picture but, as I say, remember this was a volunteer army. There was no conscription in Australia. They had to present a picture which would encourage people to go on volunteering and that’s part of the reason why Australia got a fairly distorted picture of the conflict.
What is it about left wing ideology that needs to tear down the memory of those who have served our nation and made the ultimate sacrifice in order to assert their own relevance?
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
(Below: more Nicholson here).
Where would Australia be without The Punch, which provides ... for free ... the thoughts of Australian politicians ... written for free ... as a way of promoting the very best conversation?
Now now, don't go all oxymoronic on me. Politicians and best conversation go together like a horse and carriage, or perhaps more to the point, like a jumbo shrimp, the living dead, and a happy depression.
How my heart lifted and sang - soul clap hands and sing, as Yeats once wrote - when I saw that Bronnie was back, scribbling furiously Where's a good whistleblower when you need one?
Most of the Bronnie outburst is a standard litany of outrageous Chairman Rudd follies, which has seen Australia reduced to a post John Howard dark ages, a kind of primitive pagan leftist trendoid world which has seen coffee elevated to the drink of choice.
There's the outrageous way Australia avoided the major effects of the world-wide recession. Then there's the pink batt affair, funded by borrowing:
The most likely source of the borrowing is China, just as the installation product had to be imported from China. Some stimulus for Australia. Not.
Um, actually Bronnie, there were only two products from the United States that met the appropriate Australian insulation standards. If you got anything else, you were taken by a boondoggle as the private sector made hay rorting the government, right up there with the way private contractors rort defence in the United States.
That's why our ally was so pleased with our efforts to help out the US economy. The wise did their shopping with Uncle Sam.
But do go on, and not just about private sector shonks. Ah yes, there's the matter of climate change, in which of course Tony "climate change is crap" Abbott can hold his head high. And dearie me, I see you manage to get in "great big tax on everything", followed by "the destructive ETS big tax on everything". Once you teach a cockatoo to talk, it's amazing how they can grasp complex issues, and reduce them to one insightful formula. If only Einstein had known about the GBTE.
Panic and hysteria. The two favourite devices in politicians seeking to cultivate the best conversation in Australia. If the greens have Clive Hamilton, whether they want him or not, then loon pond has you Bronnie. Whether we want you or not.
But what really moved us most of all was the poetic outburst you saved for the end.
Meanwhile, the left wing ideologues are at it again. Lying dormant for a dozen years or so under a Coalition Government they rise up under Labor to attack the essence of our nationhood, which binds grassroots Labor, Coalition and other voters together in nationhood. That is our pride in our forefathers who served to protect our new nation and gave their lives in so doing.
Oh dear, yet another burst of that old lie dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori. (Wilfred Owen, for those who missed it last time around). No doubt it's important you have a flock of white feathers to hand around to young lads who fail to understand their duty. As if there was no ambivalence or a better understanding of the true nature of war amongst those who actually did the fighting (or so I gather from those who did the fighting in our family, whether on the Somme or in New Guinea).
But do go on, I suspect the sordid hand of the chardonnay swillers at the ABC are somehow involved:
Gallipoli and all it stands for is now under attack by the rejuvenated yet antiquated lefties – Germaine Greer, Henry Reynolds and university lecturers of a left wing bent undermining the ethos of the ANZAC tradition and heritage by denigrating the worth of our soldiers.
Oh yes, indeed. Got it in one. It's Q&A, that degenerate creator of noise and heat and its Anzac day special, which featured Germaine Greer and Henry Reynolds, and the outrageous transcript and episode for viewing is available here.
It seems that some in the panel denigrated the worth of Australian soldiers by noting that somehow we lost to the Turks at Gallipoli, when truth to tell, we won. Why Alan Bond himself noted how we gave them a good thrashing, marched up through the Dardenelles, seized control of the straits, resulting in Churchill's promotion for a vigorous well managed campaign, and cutting a good year and a half off the war.
Well not quite, but we did win:
Despite the fact that we landed in the wrong spot at Gallipoli, Australians still scaled the murderous cliffs and captured Lone Pine.
Yep, there might have been a little wayward navigation, but we captured Lone Pine. Winners. Talk about steel springs in our legs ...
Ah there's nothing like a Bronnie view of history, as she mightily smotes the heretics and the treasonistas:
The historic record made by Charles Bean, the official historian in World War I is attacked and undermined by a pathetic leftie academic ageing without the grace of wisdom – one Henry Reynolds.
Go Bronnie. It just so happens I have a rare early edition of Charles Bean's twelve volume Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18, including the picture book that makes up the last volume, and if some mug thinks it remains the only viable history of the war, its price is likely to keep on going up.
In distinct contrast to that wretched Chris Lindsay who lobbed Henry Reynolds a patsy:
CHRIS LINDSAY: ... my question is to Henry Reynolds. C.E.W Bean, who laid the foundation of the ANZAC legend with his official history of World War I, has been accused of excluding the negative aspects of what Australian soldiers might have done, for example desertion or mistreatment of prisoners. Doesn't this, at best, make the ANZAC legend a half truth and, at worst, make it a lie?
... HENRY REYNOLDS: Well, certainly a half truth.
Outrageous. Flens him Bronnie, flens him like the wallowing whale he is:
ANZACS according to him are to be derided not honoured, to be seen as pawns who were manipulated and acted badly; not heroes who gave their lives, 8700 of them from a country of just under 5 million people.
And remember, they took Lone Pine!
Funny I seem to remember that it was 8,141 deaths and 26,111 Australian casualties (so you got that wrong Australian War Memorial), but after all, history is best seen as a form of inexactitude, and never mind that the British and the French lost more soldiers. Come to think of it, never mind the way Reynolds attempts to look at the reality of Bean's world:
... I mean one of the things that is not understood is just how strict the censorship was, that people in Australia learnt little about the realities of the conflict, particularly once it got to the Western Front. Now, Bean himself was part of this. He felt it was important, indeed, to present a picture of war which was heroic, that left out much of what was unpleasant, and certainly there was never any talk in the official propaganda about, indeed, the Australians having a reputation for being particularly brutal; that is, killing prisoners and bayoneting the wounded. So all of these things were quite obviously left out and Bean himself felt that he had to present a story that could be read profitably and happily by Australian families. So therefore he was an official war historian. He wasn’t an independent, critical journalist, and therefore what he presented was, indeed, a very, very much distorted picture but, as I say, remember this was a volunteer army. There was no conscription in Australia. They had to present a picture which would encourage people to go on volunteering and that’s part of the reason why Australia got a fairly distorted picture of the conflict.
Eek, block my ears, how dare this deviant wretch talk about the actual history of the times, when what we need is a flag, and a mob of simpletons dressed up to salute it, and perhaps also celebrate the way we still have the Union Jack tucked in the corner.
No wonder Bronnie is outraged at the way these trendy leftoids won't leave the legends alone:
The image of Simpson and his donkey or the fact that those who survived Gallipoli went on to serve on the Western Front leave those on a mission to destroy the ANZAC legend apparently unmoved.
The image of Simpson and his donkey. Ah, here we must turn in irony of ironies to that wretch Eric Butler of the extreme right wing Australian League of Rights (here):
... what really motivated Simpson? Correspondence provided by his sister revealed him as a political radical, a non-Christian believer. He was no "God, King and Country" young man, a revelation which so upset well known Melbourne churchman the Rev. Irving Benson that for a period he refused to hand back the Simpson correspondence to Simpson's sister. Perhaps Benson was making the same mistake as those who criticised Christ for associating with prostitutes and similar people? (here)
... what really motivated Simpson? Correspondence provided by his sister revealed him as a political radical, a non-Christian believer. He was no "God, King and Country" young man, a revelation which so upset well known Melbourne churchman the Rev. Irving Benson that for a period he refused to hand back the Simpson correspondence to Simpson's sister. Perhaps Benson was making the same mistake as those who criticised Christ for associating with prostitutes and similar people? (here)
Indeed. Butler still manages to find that Simpson is a real Christian, with Christ-like chivalry, but truth to tell, this good samaritan, as well as being a cheerful ship jumper, deserter and willing brawler, was a unionist who scribbled home that "what they want in England is a good revolution", who enlisted to get a free return passage home, and instead in ways typical of NSW public transport, got dropped off at Gallipoli. (Gallipoli's Shadows).
Chances are, if Bronnie was a man, and Simpson met him in a bar, there'd be a good old punch up once he (which is to say Bronno) mentioned how much he hated the unions and Simpson took up the challenge. As usual Mosman toffs don't have a clue ... not that we're in any way insinuating gender politics into Bronnie's world view. Hush Germaine ...
What is it about left wing ideology that needs to tear down the memory of those who have served our nation and made the ultimate sacrifice in order to assert their own relevance?
Yep, it's hard to repress a chuckle, as Bronnie berates historians for tearing down the memory of those who served the nation, while forgetting the nature of those did the serving.
When the legend becomes truth, print the legend - John Ford.
Keep printing the legend Bronno, we have no need of the truth. And vale Alec Campbell, the last Gallipoli veteran to die, republican, peace activist and fellow-travelling trade unionist, who talked of going to Spain to fight the fascists.
There's more to the world than is concealed in Bronnie's beehive brain.
And now, because time with Bronnie can be wearing, a little more of that Yeats' poem Sailing to Byzantium (in full here):
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
Monuments of unageing intellect.
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
(Below: more Nicholson here).
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