War is horrible. It is not glorious and dying for your country is not brave. Standing up and refusing to fight is brave [*]. Condemning violence is brave.

Today is ANZAC day. For those who don’t know what that means, or who want to be reminded, please play this song by Eric Bogle, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.

[*] EDITED TO ADD: I wrote this post in a hurry. I want to make it very clear that I’m trying to counter the jingoism that encourages people to go to war and that I do understand that in certain circumstances, it’s a lot more complex than my statements yesterday made it out to be. I probably wouldn’t have made this such a blanket statement. I’m sorry for any distress I’ve caused. More details in the comments.