This week marks some kind of anniversary of the First World War Battle of Vimy Ridge where young Canadian soldiers "made their mark" at the art of war.
All week long we've been hearing of the glory and bravery of these Canadians, who all on their own won a decisive battle against a considerable foe.
Now wait a second. I thought the days of glorifying war were gone? But that's exactly whats been happening this last week, especially by the CBC.
Let get things straight. WWI was the greatest and most useless slaughter of human life EVER, and I'm including WWII. This war was basically a game of one-upmanship played by the Kaiser and his Royal Cousins.
Millions were slaughtered for the sake of a few kilometers of land and for no real purpose. The Battles of the Somme, Ypres and Verdun are forever a disgrace on the human race.
Bravery? How about Stupidity? Naive, very scared young men ordered out of the trenches to face certain death in the path of machine gun fire. A turkey shoot.
They are saying that Vimy Ridge defined Canada as a nation throughout the world. Sorry but I don't want my country connected with nonsensical battles, or defined by same.
This anniversary of Vimy Ridge (over 3000 Canadians were killed) should be an anniversary of the disgust of Purposeless Conflict, not Glorifying a Useless Battle.
I can recall viewing the late British/American journalist Alistair Cooke stating, as he introduced a television episode of Upstairs, Downstairs: (I paraphrase) "If the British and German public knew, if they had any idea, of the conditions and carnage occurring on the front lines of the Western Europe War, they would have risen up in revolt and toppled their respective governments."
He made this statement with a tear rising in his eye.
There were two outcomes of the First World War:
1) Millions of dead for no reason.
2) A humiliated Germany fueled for revenge.
Nothing else.
