Apparently the government declared that the flag would no longer be lowered to half mast each time a soldier is killed (instead having all fallen soldiers be memorialized on Remembrance Day), then apparently reversed that proclamation.
I'm not sure how I feel about this.
I like half-masting because it's noticeable. I like the idea of it being very in-your-face every time someone dies - it keeps the debate alive on whether what they're doing is worth doing rather than having our soldiers shipped off places to warmonger to various degrees while the public sits by complacent. On a personal level, I like it because it's a reminder of when I've been derelict in my keeping-informed duties. If I see a half-mast flag and don't promptly know what it's for, then I know that I should read my newspaper more closely.
On the other hand, I am opposed to anything that glamourizes soldiering. I am of the highly-unpopular "What if they had a war and nobody came?" school of pacifism - I firmly believe that it is every human being's duty to reject all forms of military involvement (Yes, I am aware of the arguments against this position. No, that's not the point right now), and I think that any action that makes people think they'll be Great Big Glamourous Heroes if they get involved in the military is ill-advised in the long term. (This is why I've always been uncomfortable with Remembrance Day ceremonies).
I'm not sure whether a half-mast flag glamourizes combat deaths. I'm not sure whether the good achieved by keeping "OMG! People are dying!" in the forefront of the public mind outweighs any potential glamourization. Personally, based purely on intuition, I think I'd rather have a half-masting for every death and no Remembrance Day, but obviously that isn't feasible.
I don't presume to have any answers today - just a few good questions at best.
6 comments:
While I can appreciate your point of view, the purpose of Remembrance Day is not to glamorize soldiering at all. It was conceived to ensure that, at least one day each year, we stop and consider the terrible carnage of war, and the true human cost of it.
Remembrance day is about the desperate, immediate, and all-consuming need for peace -- it has nothing to do with glorifying the military. If we don't stop and consider the impact of war, on the day a most terrible and senseless war ended, then we will be too quick to go to war again.
It's a good idea to lower the flags, not because it glorifies war or combat in any way, but because it forces us to keep present in our minds that what we're doing is killing people. We must not be allowed to forget the results of our actions, as a nation.
I don't know...I've only been involved in Rememberance Day ceremonies at one particular cenotaph (my high school band provided music), and it felt like an attempt at glamourization, regardless of what their intention was. It wasn't overt glamourization like a recruiting ad or a movie or a propoganda poster, but it felt like it was more about "See all these old men? They're heroes!" than about the actual horrors of war. They weren't like throwing confetti at them or anything, but it seemed to be far more about saluting the veterans in attendance than it was about the dead or all the other lives ripped apart or even the horrors those veterans had to experience. It didn't feel like it was about peace at all, so I really did not feel good about participating.
I have no idea whether that approach is universal or just a fluke. I've avoided Remembrance Day ceremonies since then so I don't have a wide scope of experience.
Now what would be far more helpful is if we had to lower our flags every time someone was killed on behalf of Canada!
Well in a way, Remembrance Day has been co-opted by the military and the veterans societies, as they're the ones who keep it going.
But I was in the reserves, and I remember one Remembrance Day when I was part of the Honour Guard (which meant I fired for the 21-gun salute). We actually had a long group discussion on what Remembrance Day meant to us, and what we thought of the way the whole thing is remembered.
When I talk about how it was conceived, of course, I'm talking about the post-WWI era, when people were still in shock about what they had done to themselves and each other. Unfortunately it didn't take long to go far, far beyond the horrors of WWI.
Anyhow, I guess one could see something like All Quiet on the Western Front as glamorizing war, if it were presented in a certain way. But war is an important issue and we must confront it head-on to be able to deal with it properly.
I'll refrain from going on about my anti-war novel being published next month. :)
I'm not sure whether a half-mast flag glamourizes combat deaths.
I don't think death can ever be glamourized. I don't think many people join the military based on the hope a flag will be lowered to half-staff in their honor someday.
I like the half-staff concept because I think it recognizes the soldier's sacrifice (and I think such recognition is due, even if you do not agree with the worthiness of the cause or even with the idea of a military.)
At the same time, it does what you say, too. It's in-your-face and it keeps the debate alive.
It can serve people on both sides of that debate and make them all feel better about their position.
I think that's a remarkably powerful impact for what is a very simple act.
Yeah, the major flaw in my theorizing about this is that I can't identify with the mindset that would find anything military glamourous (I have about four separate layers of repulsion to get through first), so I can only guess at what would successfully glamourize it. So I'm kind of flailing about trying to decide what to staunchly oppose.
I think we can all find common ground by saying we staunchly oppose war. Canada has had a pretty good record on that since the 50s and I'd like to see that record preserved. (The difference between war and peacekeeping is almost infinite.)
I have a hard time getting to the Bertrand Russell level of pacifism. Certainly it would be a better option than the perpetual non-war war on terrorism that the Dubya Rangers down there are pretending to fight. I grow more and more opposed to the Afghanistan operation by the day.
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