The reaction, condemnation and outrage over Yassmin Abdel Magied’s Facebook post: Lest. We. Forget. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine ….) was swift.
There were calls to have her sacked from the ABC where she is a part-time presenter of Australia Wide, a backlash on social media (some comments have been sadly abusive) and politicians have weighed in. Abdel Magied amended the original post to Lest. We. Forget. as soon as she realised its impact and she also apologised for causing offence, but the outrage continues.
ANZAC Day has become Australia’s holy public holiday. Most feel it is a day to remember the men and women who never came back from war. That it is a day to remember the courage, mateship, bravery and sacrifice of all the men and women who have been to war for us and continue to represent Australia in our military services so we can enjoy the freedoms we have today. That it is a day that represents a time when we forged our own identity, separate from the British.
Then there are some that feel ANZAC Day glorifies war, is jingoistic and represents unthinking Australian nationalism.
Listen to MMOL discuss Yassmin Abdel Magied’s ANZAC Day post.
I’m someone who can think a lot of things about ANZAC Day. At the moving Dawn service, my thoughts are very different to when I see tribes of drunk people taking “ANZAC” selfies by 12. These thoughts change again when I see young hands touching those glorious old hands in the ANZAC parade and then when I see an Instagram of a bowl of ACAI with the words #grateful for freedom #Less We Forget.
Top Comments
I agree that she wasn't able to provide context in a Tweet. I also don't think her comment would appear so insensitive if she had explained it - she wasn't saying that we shouldn't commerate Anzac Day, but that we should consider victims of all wars. This could be quite a thought-provoking point of view that could spark interesting debate without being offensive.
What really worries me is that the Tweets she received in response have been extremely disturbing, many of them suggesting that she die or kill herself, highly offensive and disgusting. Frightening. Absolutely out of proportion to what she said.
Why has this happened to her and not others who have said things about Anzac Day? I read an article elsewhere that suggested there's a disturbing sexist and racist undertone to these horrible responses and I'm afraid that could be the truth.
Just as there is nothing wrong with her questioning it, there is nothing wrong with offended parties questioning her. Can't we just move on, already.
Questioning is one thing, tweeting that she should die or kill herself is entirely different.
Twitter is a cesspool and you can find random awful hateful tweets from both sides. Taking random twitter posts from anons with 3 followers and using it as "proof" of any kind of general consensus is deceptive. It's like saying everyone endorses nazis because you saw a swastika on a toilet wall.