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Post by jonesy on Apr 23, 2012 13:54:28 GMT 12
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Post by ErrolC on Apr 23, 2012 14:04:14 GMT 12
Just to make the actual quote clear: "The Aussies have been reluctant soldiers at the best of times. They've been essentially lazy, bludgers, some of them, and excellent black marketeers, scavengers, poachers and thieves," he said on the radio show.
"Occasionally they've actually been quite good soldiers, but there is no way, in my opinion, that they can hold a candle to the Kiwis." So the bludgers comment is explictly "some of them", and the rest of that sentence implies that it's a case of 'more so than others', rather than every single Aussie soldier ever. Many responders are treating this part as appliying to all Aussie soldiers. The 'reluctant at the best of times' is complete bollocks. There are many instances of enthusiastic Aussie soldiers (as a group). |
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Post by oldnavy on Apr 23, 2012 15:37:59 GMT 12
Don't worry guys. In the grand scheme of things some ill-informed journo gobbing off is not important. Unfortunately, people these days can't seem to discriminate between games and serious issues like wars. The ANZAC legend is about us being allies in a bloody fight. The enemy was to the front of our boys, not alongside them in the trenches...or on the sports field.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 23, 2012 15:41:16 GMT 12
I find it a rather shocking statement from the usually astute Jock Anderson. It would be nice if he either put up evidence of what he said or apologised unequivically to the veterans of both Australia and New Zealand.
I'm sure those Aussie veterans who held Tobruk, and thos who held off the Japanese in the Owen Stanley Ranges of PNG might have something to say about it. It was also the Australians and New Zealanders who spurred the big push in 1918 on the Western Front that broke the stalemate and pushed the Germans back as I understand it. And who took the critical city of Beersheba in Palestine when everyone else failed.
They have been a lot less reluctant than the kiwis in Afghanistan and Iraq too...
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Post by mcmaster on Apr 23, 2012 19:11:50 GMT 12
Well said Dave  Anyway I agree with YN, no big deal ...media today loves slip ups, cock ups and ill considered opinions etc ..even better when there's video  |
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Post by richard1098 on Apr 23, 2012 20:22:30 GMT 12
Looks and sounds like the classic loser nobody desperate for their chance to feel "important". I feel sorry for him; they're not the words of someone who has a healthy sense of self respect.
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