I know that if I’d been forced to go to war for unclear reasons and died in the mud in Belgium, I’d be happy to know that I was still being remembered, in a generic anonymous way as a class, by a solar-powered light-up Tommy silhouette lawn ornament.
There are many worrying political associations with England’s obsession with “Remembrance”, but we shouldn’t forget that it’s often also tacky as shit.
@Nickiquote@mstdn.social
worth mentioning that the official figures state 2 in 5 men headed to the front in WW1 were not eligible to vote and therefor had no say in whether they wanted to risk their lives or not.
The franchise was limited to men over 21 who owned property or ‘paid rates’. Plural voting (one person having more than one vote) was also permitted in some cases on grounds of higher education or business ownership. Men who received poor relief were disqualifiedhttps://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-11777/
@Nickiquote obsessed but not enough to take a day off work like they do here in France. Here it always feel like there is a very big difference in the way such things are seen from a country that was occupied.
@GlasWolf @Nickiquote TBH, nowadays I am just thankful he wasn’t dressed as a Luftwaffe plane.
Nov 2, 2026, 2:48 PM
@pikesley @Nickiquote Cursed.
@pikesley Amazing. Richard O’Brien making wry asides to camera just out of shot.
@Nickiquote I think you’ve found something solar I’m unenthusiastic about.
It’s not quite disrespectful enough, maybe it needs progressive flashing coloured lighting ..
@Nickiquote I'd buy the Tom of Finland version
@Nickiquote Caked Up Solar Garden Tommy
@Nickiquote Classy.
@Nickiquote For it's Tommy this, and Tommy that, and kick him out, the brute.
But the hero of our nation when the guns begin to shoot.
@Nickiquote I note the WWI silhouette became popular just about the time that the last few remaining soldiers from that conflict died. It's also significant that, although lipservice is always given to those who perished or suffered in conflicts since, there's few memorials for them (for example, the Korean War memorial, that was paid for not by the State, or general public subscription, but the remaining Korean veterans), with 1 exception (The 'Falklands conflict', which had state sponsorship).
Nov 2, 2026, 2:13 PM@Nickiquote That’s what you get for shopping in the Roayaul Breetish Legirxn section of Temu
@Nickiquote where are their fucking poppies
i thought we decided the nazis were the good guys now?
@Nickiquote They're not even wearing poppies. Traitorous, lefty scum.
@Nickiquote We were debating today at an anti-racist organising meet whether to have a presence at an event by a group honouring Hindu "war heroes" as part of Remembrance Day, at which there would be "patriotic songs". It was unanimously agreed that we wouldn't attend after both south Asian and Jamaican-heritage members pointed out that these were not heroes, but victims of racist and class-based oppression who had no choice but to fight.
Being forced into becoming cannon fodder isn't heroism.
