What IS Memorial Day, anyway?

[Smarmie Doofus]

That's what I thought:

>>>>>Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 31 in 2010). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service.<1>>> (Wikipedia)[br />
"commemorates US men and women who DIED".

MSM seems to miss the hoiday's significance ..... and seems to be inventing a new one on its own. In other words: it's another Veterans Day ( ok: Armistice Day; don't get me started) with a tinge of Armed Forces Day thrown in.

But we have one of those ( two of those actually) already.

NBC's national TV News had a long ( about six minutes , I'll wager; that's long for a nat'l; broadcast) piece last nite on "Memorial Day". The focus was uniformed military personnel on leave in NYC, how they were enjoying the town, didn't have enough time to see it all, etc. The service people got congratulated and thanked by civilians for their service. The service people thanked the civilians for their "support". etc. etc. etc. Boilerplate media-military feelgood stuff. You know the drill.

Again: Memorial Day is supposed to commemorate those who *died*; i.e. people who got KILLED in a war. Not "served in", not even "wounded in". ( Where were *they*, BTW?). But *killed*

I'd like MSM to note the "got killed" part of Memorial Day... as it is notoriously skittish in including "graphic" images in it's "war coverage". ( Witness the Bush era ban... complied meekly with by NBC and the rest of MSM, of the flag-draped coffins at US airports in the Bush-era part of the Iraq War.... or should I say, "Operation Iraqi Freedom".)

We have Armed Forces Day and Armisti.... ooops.... VETERANS Day specifically set aside for homage and glorification of all things military. Plus a lot free MSM "reportage" all year long that hammers home the same set of pro-war, pro-military messages.


How about leaving Memorial Day alone? Let it remind us of what it's supposed to remind us of: people *die* in war. We should remember those people and we should remember HOW and WHY they died.

And, if we don't know the WHY part... we should try to figure it out.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I try to do two things on Memorial Day to remind me of its significance.

1. My small town has a little parade and honors service at the town's war memorial that include rifles and taps. It brings the town together on several levels.

2. I watch All Quiet On The Western Front to appreciate the horrors that the soldiers had to live through. Each war is theme and variation about killing, survival, insanity, hunger, fear, companionship, etc. And when the guns are silenced, reaching for a lone butterfly . . . .

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. Outstanding idea..

>>>>>I watch All Quiet On The Western Front to appreciate the horrors that the soldiers had to live through. Each war is theme and variation about killing, survival, insanity, hunger, fear, companionship, etc. And when the guns are silenced, reaching for a lone butterfly . . . .>>>>>>

I was looking for a VN era film to show my class ( we're reading about it and the Cold War) but I'm not wild about any of the post VN film versions of the war.

I think I'll netflix All Quiet for a 'slightly out of sequence', 'little bit late for memorial day' showing.

[unhappycamper]

2. Memorial Day, much the same as Veterans Day is a propaganda tool

to keep everybody 'patriotic'.

As a country, we build memorials all over the place noting the 'sacrifices' dead military folks made it took so we could be 'free'. Watch the History channel sometime....

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. You mean, "there's no better way of forgetting something....

than by commemorating it?"




>>>>>>>>>>>The truth was, in 1914, Germany doesn't want war. Yeah, there's an arms race, but it's Britain who's leading it. So, why does no one admit this?

That's why. The dead. The body count. We don't like to admit the war was even partly our fault 'cause so many of our people died. And all the mourning's veiled the truth. It's not "lest we forget," it's "lest we remember." That's what all this is about — the memorials, the Cenotaph, the two minutes' silence. Because there is no better way of forgetting something than by commemorating it.>>>>>>>

- The History Boys 2006

Not my point exactly but an interesting perspective in itself.

[LargeGreenSpider]

3. M$M does the same thing to the Fourth of July

... it's amazing and terribly sad. Instead of focusing on history - Adams, Washington, Jefferson, etc. - July 4 also has been twisted into another day for endless military promotion.

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. You're right. Add it to the list. Maybe we can turn Labor Day....

.... into some kind of "Support the Military" - fest also.

[hobbit709]

6. It's an excuse for all the stores to have big sales

The original intent has been long commercialized.

[deminks]

8. When I was a kid, Memorial Day was a day to remember all your ancestors,

not just the ones who died who served in the military. We used to gather up peonies and iris and make bouquets for all the grave sites. It was to honor all of those who had gone before, and a chance for the young ones to remember where people were buried. Now, the peonies and iris bloom too soon, the stores want you to buy the plastic fantastic flowers on stands with "Mom" or "Dad" banners, too many people don't care or remember where anyone is buried, many are choosing cremation with no site, and as others have noted it has turned into a military exercise. If I go to some grave sites this weekend, I don't necessarily want a military band playing. My father served in WWII. That was way before I came along. I don't remember him as military at all. My mother certainly wasn't, nor my grandmothers.