tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post246959846203872197..comments2024-03-29T05:24:12.453+00:00Comments on call me ishmael: WOTSONTELLY. SPINNING, IN HIS GRAVE.call me ishmaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369028864168461729noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-36471483788631553042009-09-03T23:09:59.636+01:002009-09-03T23:09:59.636+01:00PT Barnum,
Yes, we look to the example of our par...PT Barnum,<br /><br />Yes, we look to the example of our parents and grandparents, nursing for the girls, the forces for the boys, and the Navy for the others.Alcoholic drug addictnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-89843536083945456912009-09-03T22:53:28.483+01:002009-09-03T22:53:28.483+01:00C'est magnifique, mais c'est la guerre.C'est magnifique, mais c'est la guerre.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-62074531452063818062009-09-03T20:32:42.331+01:002009-09-03T20:32:42.331+01:00Attenborough's rant is enjoyable, don't be...Attenborough's rant is enjoyable, don't be deterred by the title being in French, the speech is in English.<br /><br />Thoughtful comments, all, thanks,call me ishmaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14369028864168461729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-76156333133589816932009-09-03T19:50:34.041+01:002009-09-03T19:50:34.041+01:00Some readers may enjoy this very short extract of ...Some readers may enjoy this very short extract of Richard Attenborough playing the role of Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale in the film 'The Guns at Batasi'. <br /><br />It exemplifies some of the comment that P T Barnum makes above.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV1f0uFDYNACaractacusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-23865331143111687262009-09-03T19:10:26.369+01:002009-09-03T19:10:26.369+01:00Coming from an "army family", where youn...Coming from an "army family", where young men from every generation since the Boer wars have joined, fought, died, been mutilated, emerged to join "civvy street", descended into alcoholism and violence and mental illness and prison, I have seen two antithetical identities reside in a single individual, sometimes simultaneously: the diligent, honourable and robust soldier, aspiring to be a Good Man and a patriotic exemplar of all that is of value in Britain; the aggressive, thuggish, kill-hungry automaton, manufactured through selection and training, to fulfil a function and know that obeying orders is all and everything.<br /><br />It is not Rambo or Arnie who are their role models. It is the mythic heroes of their own family, who fought and died for Noble Causes in WW1 and 2, even the Falklands and NI. That their minds and values are crushed in a vice, twisting and degrading what was there, would appear necessary for this modern army (I cannot speak for the RAF or RN), where no simple, single image of whatwearefightingfor is possible to drive them forward.<br /><br />It's what so many white working class boys do - join the army, become a man, become someone. The man who, if he lives, comes out of the army is a sight which ought to sober the most warmongering government. Except these ex-soldiers are the invisible people, like all the broken and fragmented Others, noticed only when they frighten the horses or vomit on a policeman's shoes.PT Barnumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-57421421768156723952009-09-03T12:55:56.665+01:002009-09-03T12:55:56.665+01:00Perhaps there have always been shortages during wa...Perhaps there have always been shortages during wars but at least in WW11 everyone was on short rations and feeling the pinch. What is particuarly galling for soldiers now, is that, whilst they are being asked to make do and mend in extremely difficult circumstances, their political masters apportion resources to themselves and their electoral base.Caractacusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-65903769260341158032009-09-03T12:45:14.799+01:002009-09-03T12:45:14.799+01:00He was a lovely bloke.One of the lads.A real diamo...He was a lovely bloke.One of the lads.A real diamond.At his happiest when blowing an Afghans brains out. Why would you want to join the Paras? For the sports facilities? Young men raised on images of Arnie,heavy MG under each arm,living out their dream. Much like Bob Ainsworth,who probably dreams at night of himself stripped to the waist,dealing death to faceless ragheads.Young men are entranced with the romance of soldiering,old men usually know better. Old men know that there's a killing to be made.With God on our sidenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-26117349771483689552009-09-03T11:55:21.891+01:002009-09-03T11:55:21.891+01:00I have so had enough of this war. But what to do?...I have so had enough of this war. But what to do? To protest is to undermine the boys, or to be criminalised, or to be unpatriotic. Can't be "won" and it will end with Kharzee as Speaker and Bin Laden as Deputy PM, with the war referred to as "troubles" and the Afghan farmers compensated from the UK tax payers empty pockets...lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-84923578903501810022009-09-03T10:39:22.004+01:002009-09-03T10:39:22.004+01:00Good post Mr Ishmael, I agree with you, but I must...Good post Mr Ishmael, I agree with you, but I must remind you of your previous excellent post entitled “What’s on the telly, shit” and in particular the canary pecking at your brain. The answer, as I repeatedly tell my moaning husband, is to follow your own advice and “turn if off” or even “throw the fucking thing out in a moment of anarchic fervour or hit the bastard with a sledgehammer.” How’s the wild garlic?Mrs Bnoreply@blogger.com