Hotwater:

And even more so football.....especially as all us Brits can do is hark back to 1966! I really hate the stupid song sang at England football games about 2 world wars & 1 World Cup, pathetic really!

I'd rather celebrate us knocking ten shades of s**t out of the French over the centuries! (said in a very sarcastic tone of voice as I really like France & the French people)

xunliang:

The beginning of the freeing of Europe from Fascism is nothing to commemorate?  People giving their lives for a just cause should just be forgotten?

xinyuren:

If it is freedom you want to commemorate, then celebrate the day the war ended!  D-day was a violent, invasive act.  Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters were killed on both sides.  It was a bloodbath.  Humans killing humans for freedom is an oxymoron.  The only good day was the day it all ended.

ScotsAlan:

Well said xinyuren.

xunliang:

So you agree tons of people died and you want to ignore that day?  That doesn't make sense.  It's not a celebration.  The end of the war could be celebrated, this is a remembrance for the people that died.  God, some people on the internet are dumb. You obviously don't have any family member who served during the war, or you're just a keyboard warrior spouting crap from the safety of behind his monitor. I don't know why you're agree either ScotsAlan. I'm guessing your Scottish and would probably be speaking German now if it wasn't for the people who died that day.  You people disgust me. 

xinyuren:

Tons of people died every single day of that war, and every other war until now.  As far as carnage goes, this day isn't special.  I want to forget every day that men turn to savages and resort to killing one another.  The days of war are not days of honor but rather days of disgrace.  They are days that man has sunk down to its lowest point.  You are free to commemorate those atrocious moments in history.  As for me, I can't wait until they are forgotten. I will not honor them nor will i glorify them. They are among the darkest moments in our history.

xunliang:

Between the Chinese, wumaos, and idiots like you, there's not many sane people left.  I wouldn't be surprised if you were Chinese.

xinyuren:

if being an idiot means being a peace lover and refusing to give dignity to mass worldwide killing where people act more like animals than civilized humans, then yes (!), I am the king of idiots!

At least I don't need to resort to personal attacks to make my point.  My arguments stand on their own, without the schoolyard insults.

thefidu881:

@xin; I wish could up-vote your last reply a hundred times...

xinyuren:

thank you! It makes me laugh when people who can't even defend their point of view rationally, then try to insult me. As if profanity will win the argument. hilarious.

Hotwater:

As a non-nationalistic Brit I fully agree with you. WW2 ended 69 years ago, your country has atoned many times over for the actions of your forebears and "celebrating" the anniversaries of key dates in old conflicts just smells of petty nationalism to me. Though I'm sure many other Brits, French, etc will strongly disagree with me. I have no issues with the Remembrance day services on 11th November as long as people are paying their respects to the dead on all sides of military conflicts & remembering the futility of wars but really don't like the sort of jingoism that comes with these sort of celebrations. 

DrMonkey:

@Hotwater Very well said. French, same feeling. Remembering that day and why it happened, yes. Hard feelings, no. We are Europeans, it was 70 years ago those who fought were our grand-grand fathers/mothers, and we moved on together since then.

Hotwater:

Fully agree DrMonkey. 

(and please don't take my bit of stupid "humour" further down this topic the wrong way. I have a lot of time for France and French people but have a bit of a warped sense of humour sometimes).

mike695ca:

@scots i feel like my question is being misinterpreted. I wasnt talking about who won or lost the war. Nor do i believe that the french sort of celebrating it with WW2 boats and planes to mark the anniversary is appropriate. In fact i feel the opposite , which is why I asked. Like others have said this isnt a china japan situation. There are no hard feelings with Germany. So that really made.me wonder how Germans feel about these commemorative celebrations. Havent they done enough to have it left in the past? I apologize if anyone thoight i was being antagonistic. Wasnt my intention but perhaps well deserved. But i thought i was being clear enough when i said it was 70 years ago and should be left alone.

ScotsAlan:

I over reacted.

It just seems astounding to me that Government leaders stand in silence to honour the dead, then the next day sign an order to send troops off to another armed conflict somewhere in the world.

Hotwater:

But they've always acted this way Scots. Bloody hypocrites one and all (government leaders that is). They'll stand there on remembrance day, when the last post is being played, pledging never to forget the dead and the futility of war and then next minute shipping off the young cannon fodder to the next place where the government will get the so-called glory and the poor young lads get slaughtered.

And a lot of the time it will be on totally false pretenses. Remember the Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" and "45 minutes". Saddam might have been a twat to his own people (especially the Kurds) but Bush and Tony Bliar lied through their hind teeth to go to war there. Only a decade of two after both American and especially British politicians were quite happy to flog them weapons of almost mass destruction. If these politicians had to don uniforms and put themselves in the firing line there'd be far less wars in the world. Hypocrites and cowards the lot of them!