WITH just two days until Australia celebrates the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day, the time for reflection has been tarnished by what can only be described as vulgar and unpatriotic social media posts.
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While the next few days should be a time to honour our diggers, this special milestone has been overshadowed – ever so slightly – by a social media page which has branded our brave men and women dole-bludgers and called for the burning of the Australian flag.
Facebook has rightfully come under fire for refusing to shut down a page (which this paper has chosen not to identify) for calling soldiers dole-bludgers and urging people to burn our national flag.
The fight to have this disgusting page – which can only manage 300 likes, by the way – has reached the highest post in the nation, with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott being asked to intervene.
Facebook has decided not to remove the page, even after many complaints, because somehow it does not breach community standards. If naming diggers dole-bludgers and urging people to burn a national flag isn’t against community standards, then what is?
These diggers are heroes who fought and died for our country. These are the diggers who continue to fight for Australia.
While the men and women of our defence force – past and present – have put their lives on the line for Australia, one has to wonder what these people creating such hateful pages do with their time other than spread vitriol over the internet?
The people behind this page need to show our diggers and our nation a modicum of respect. It’s people like those in the Australian Defence Force who have – and continue to – keep us safe.
It’s such a pity that social media has attracted such people, who can only be described as faceless and spineless, who can turn Anzac Day into a campaign of lies.
Our veterans deserve much better than being treated with such disrespect from keyboard heroes too quick to criticise, but too slow to show their faces. And Facebook needs to realise that, yes, pages like these actually do contravene community standards on all levels.
What we need to do as a nation is to collectively stand up to these haters – and to Facebook – and attend the local Anzac Day dawn service, a march through the main streets, to fly our Australian flags proudly on Saturday and pay homage to the diggers who fought at Gallipoli and all wars before and since.
