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Anzac Day hashtag shows lack of respect

Anzac Day isn’t about your bikini pics, so don’t share them on the day’s hashtag, writes PHILLIPPA BUTT

Photos like this popping up on Instagram under the hashtag #HappyAnzacDay show a complete lack of respect. Picture: INSTAGRAM
Photos like this popping up on Instagram under the hashtag #HappyAnzacDay show a complete lack of respect. Picture: INSTAGRAM

TWO days ago, the majority of Australians reflected on a day of commemoration for those who gave their lives in service to their country.

Anzac Day.

But two days ago, some self absorbed people decided to use what is arguably our nation’s biggest day of remembrance to further their social media game.

And that is disgusting.

While people, both military and not, rose early to attend dawn services all around the world, came out for marches, stood for Diggers both past and present, others were far less respectful.

There’s nothing wrong with a hashtag for an event — just because they didn’t have Twitter and Instagram in WWI, doesn’t mean we can’t use it to remember today.

And, in fact, many who did turn up to events used #AnzacDay to spread the message, with pictures of red poppies, war medals, dawn services.

But not everyone.

For some, a day of national commemoration became a day to show off their bodies, their dogs, their makeup skills.

Under the hashtag #HappyAnzacDay (which in itself is completely wrong. Happy? Better to just stick to #AnzacDay), posts began popping up.

There was a bikini-clad woman taking a selfie in her bathroom mirror.

There was a girl with “Pink Eye”, showing off her makeup tutorials.

A Dr Seuss quote even popped up.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

Hardly the sentiment of reflection on a war where million died.

Of course, it’s not the first time people have used big events to promote themselves.

In 2017, Darwin nightclub Monsoons was promoting its “Anzac Day wet T-shirt competition and beach party”.

A prize of $1000 was up for grabs.

At the time, Darwin RSL president Don Milford said the idea of a wet T-shirt contest connected to Anzac Day was “the crassest thing (he’d) heard”.

Too right.

The club ended up cancelling the event and donating the prize money to veterans’ charity Soldier On, but to think it was appropriate in the first place?

That’s a problem in a military town like Darwin.

The thing is, few people have a problem with a wet T-shirt contest on a normal day.

And few people have a problem with Dr Seuss quotes and bikini photos on a normal day.

But Anzac Day is not a normal day.

It’s a day that demands a respect that we should be giving.

Share your makeup tutorials whenever you want. Just don’t use a hashtag that’s meant for remembrance.

A few years back I travelled to the Western Front in France and last year I visited the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey.

Many of the trenches are still there, search the sandy soil and you’ll still find bullet fragments.

It’s disturbingly real, seeing the sheer cliffs in front of Anzac Cove, visiting fields where the fighting was so vicious neither side won, where men hid in trenches less than 100m apart, and where thousands died in just hours.

There, on that peninsula, the horror of the war is remembered.

There, on that peninsula, there is no place for bikini-clad selfies.

There, on that peninsula, there is respect.

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Original URL: https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/opinion/anzac-day-hashtag-shows-lack-of-respect/news-story/380287de55c2f0cc728691fccca4e55d