Remembrance Sunday: why I choose not to be silent

I observed the silence on the 11th November as it marked the end of the war, and I did it solely in respect of the soldiers who died.

But I will not be observing the additional Sunday silence because this year I truly have had enough. Enough of the hypocrisy; enough of the lies; enough of the bullshit; enough of the social game that is the need to be seen to say the right thing at the right time, merely to appease everyone else’s sense of self-worth.

This past year has seen a disgusting pattern, especially from the UK and the USA. Within days of last November’s armistice we were back out attacking, striking, bombing and killing. And we were doing so against forces who were no doubt using weapons that had been – in part at least – made or funded by the UK. We continue to throw water on the same fires we sell the fuel to keep them burning.

Then we go and hold a referendum which became a deluge of detritus. Lies, propaganda, and polarising arguments, hyped up by media hyperbole and political rhetoric. We accept the likes of a beer-swilling buffoons making posters that mimic Nazi propaganda. And we accept it. We allow it. Disgustingly hiding behind our “rights” of free speech and a free press. Too cowardly to say that such imbalanced arguments are inflammatory.

Lies and False Promises

I am not one to shy away from difficult topics, and indeed I think they should be debated in the open: but there were no debates. There were arguments characterised by childish back-biting, buoyed up by lies and false promises that had no merit being strewn on the sides of buses. We were racist and xenophobic out in the open and allowed the skewed narratives of immigration to poison our compassion for even the weakest of souls cast adrift by wars we were fighting and funding.

We closed our gates even on children who were desperate and alone. I can accept that a number of the refugees were indeed dishonestly catching the crest of the wave and simply looking for economic gain from our country. But not the tiny little bodies found on beaches; or the lonely little souls locked in a slum in Calais as heavily suited politicians debated the damned inconvenience they were proving to be.

The “Swarm,” as one privileged pig-fucker called them. (See Mr Cameron: we can both use words to achieve an effect.)

Why was it that my blood boiled harder in anger than the pathetic simmer of compassion our country showed these refugees? What happened to the caring for our fellow man that led to us taking ten thousand children in on the Kindertransport in WW2? And where is our shame for failing to show that compassion?

Regardless of anyone’s reason to vote “exit” or “remain”: where was the sense of loss of everything we have achieved as members of the EU? Throwing it away like a dirty rag that has hung over our mouths for years is nonsense, immature, and petulant.

Polarised Politics

And yet that is the problem with polarised politics. We are sold the idea of it being “democracy in action” when all it is, and all it ever can be, is a single binary choice: “in” or “out” – “remain” or “exit”. We even gave it the pathetic name “Brexit” as if to afford the idiotic choice some more credibility. We were manipulated into ignoring the grey areas, the nuances, the subtleties, the details usually found in proper debates. We ignored all the experts who actually knew what they were talking about.

We walked away from something that was not perfect, but had been built on the ideology of unity that has prevented world wars since. And we stepped into a masked abyss of uncertainty because no-one had thought to actually PLAN what we’d do if we left the EU.

Well done, Britain; well done. We sent ourselves up the shit-creek without a boat, let alone a paddle.

Then there was the USA. Another false democracy that polarised a single decision and turned it into “the people” choosing the lesser of two evils. Surely it should be unthinkable that with all the history we have that proves how racism, bigotry, segregation, hatred, and everything else that spewed from a moronic mouth, should lead to the election of a president. Either he meant everything he said and the USA just elected the biggest mistake in presidential history, or he just said it for the freak show to get the votes. But think about it: even if the latter is true, the voters followed suit.

Stupid is as Stupid does...

However, we should not be mistaken for thinking that everyone who voted Brexit or Trump is stupid. They aren’t: well, not all of them, anyway. But that is what makes it even worse. Supposedly intelligent, educated people made those decisions. People who teach your children were fooled by a big red bus with a lie painted on the side because they were too ignorant to read how it couldn’t be true before they voted. People who you entrust to perform a dangerous operation on you voted for a slack-brained, lying, oafish moron who spouted more racial hatred than you would be allowed to in your own town centre.

People claim this is merely our democracy in action. But in a democracy the power is held by the people and for the good of the people – even if they choose to elect representatives to deliver it. All we have done is had one flip of a coin; one odd or even roll; a single evens bet between “shit” and “lots of shit” – and the latter has won both times. That isn’t democracy: it is lunacy.

Have we forgotten?

Yet we dare to offend the honour of troops that have died by saying “lest we forget”? We have the self-righteousness to stand in silence, in their name, when we have turned our backs on the unity their deaths had allowed and facilitated?

How dare we perform a stunt like “Brexit” and watch a c**t like Trump become president of one of the USA, and still hold our heads high and say: “Lest we forget”?

We have forgotten. No: worse. We have walked knowingly, and yet so ignorantly into the mess those men died to prevent. All under the cover of “democracy” – because we were too lazy to bother using education, intelligence or real debate to avoid it. We let the media and celebrities tell us what to think. Even more sickening is the fact that we let politicians who are known liars, self-serving to the core – and too privileged to be affected by the fallout – sway the arguments to pluck votes from enough of the ignorant underclass to just about tip the vote.

I am so very glad that I am not a teacher any more because I simply do not know how I could look my pupils in the eye and tell them that their education is worth the time and effort in the wake of this travesty. Let’s face it: if the most educated, powerful and successful people in the world can fall so foul amongst the stupid, reckless and irresponsible, what hope is there? Moreover, what really is the point in getting an education if this is all it leads to?

So I will not offend the memory or honour of our fallen heroes by saying “lest we forget” when in spite of their memory we keep killing, fighting and betraying everything they were told to believe in enough to have them die for it.

They did not die for this.

So I for one choose not to dishonour what they achieved in their lives with such hypocrisy as to say: “Lest we forget” any more.

#LestWeForget #Remembrance #Armistice #Brexit #USA #Trump