Politically Correct War Memorial
Until my visit to London, I would have said that a "politically correct war memorial" was an oxymoron, since political correctness nowadays seems to embrace a disdain for all things military. However, I was proved wrong by this memorial:
Yes, that is a memorial to all the fallen animals in British wars. There are statues of dogs, donkeys, horses, and elephants. Remember that the UK is a country that finds it politically uncorrect to build a holocaust memorial (though the Imperial War Museum has a holocaust exhibit) and may well abolish its annual holocaust remembrance day because its considered insulting to Muslims (my history here must be a bit rusty -- I don't remember many Muslims in the SS). Well, never-the-less, we can all rest easier now that we know that the donkey's will be remembered. I know this was supposed to be serious and solemn, but I must admit that the key "tag line" on the monument only got me laughing:
Yeah, as if the human victims of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, etc. did have a choice.
Doc:
There were entire Muslim SS divisions formed during the war in Yugoslavia, but I can't imagine how that would prevent the building of Holocaust memorials in England. But politics is weird like that, I guess.
July 9, 2006, 10:50 amCraig L:
Eliminate the Holocaust remembrance because it offends Muslims? Absolutely asinine. As if they are driven to kill because they are mad about that. This is reason #14,245 why Europe is screwed.
July 9, 2006, 6:43 pmTechnomad:
I will admit that I cannot fathom the passion for Holocaust museums and remembrances in countries that did not participate. The two minutes' silence every Decoration Day, in honour of the men of the British Empire who died in the wars, is enough.
I'd also like to know just why we obsess endlessly about the Holocaust, but Stalin's victims, as well as those of Mao, Pol Pot and Kim il-Sung, barely get a mention?
July 9, 2006, 8:11 pmDan:
To quote from the Beatles' "Hard Day's Night"
"Funny, they usually reckon dogs more than people in England."
July 10, 2006, 1:50 pm