Excerpt: (from near the photo of Hector Charles Stephens, above)
At Honest History, one of our favourite Anzackers is Brigadier Andrew Nikolic, federal member for Bass in Tasmania.
When the ABC early last year published a piece on the launch of our Honest History website – it was a scrupulously balanced piece but it included Peter Stanley talking about the unsoldierly exploits of some Australian soldiers in the brothels of Cairo – Brigadier Nikolic accused the ABC of lacking ‘situational awareness’ for broadcasting such material in a year when we were starting to commemorate the centenary of World War I.
And, a little further down …
So, if you are an Australian patriot you are expected to accept the Anzac legend. Or in Brigadier Nikolic’s terms, even if you have misgivings you need to display ‘situational awareness’. We at Honest History have translated that term – situational awareness – as ‘pipe down, pull your head in, keep your awkward opinions to yourself, while the rest of us have a good old patriotic celebration’.
• John Hayward in Comments: Much like Battlelines Abbott, Nikko sees the world through the conservative’s Manichaean lense: a planet of perpetual war against a perpetual succession of apocalyptic threats: foreigners, heathens, apostates, ethnic minorities, people who talk funny, etc. If there isn’t a credible thread to bind a country together under a fearful hierarchy, an incredible one, such as desperate boat people, will do fine, given lashings of PR embellishment. Don’t blame poor Nikko. He’s only following his id’s orders.
