A disgusting display
What bloodlust rang in our ears at the March 25 parade. What cannibalistic fervor. What do you expect when schoolchildren are sent marching to tunes of national glorification? How can the coast guard special forces not get all pumped up when this is what they’re fed day and night? This is the tradition of the Greek armed forces, such are its (much more toned down of course) broader «values» – xenophobia, nationalism and a sense of entitlement. Weren’t there also those who stood on the sidelines, who applauded and cheered at the marines’ tirade of hate against Albanians and other neighbors? The «lads» who committed this «verbal foolishness,» as their defenders from the far edges of the right like to describe this disgusting display, were not suddenly gripped by «nationalist pride.» The entire affair reeked of rehearsals, of prepared slogans and a delegation of roles. This was a well-planned provocation. Anyway, these marines are certainly not «lads.» They are professionals assigned with the protection of the country. So no minister (many of whom have reacted to the incident by looking for someone to blame rather than comprehending the depth of the problem) has the right to feign shock and horror. Where have they been? Don’t they see what’s going on in Athens and at migrant «reception» centers? So if pure-blooded Greeks are those who thirst for the blood of Albanian «pigs,» the most honest thing for the rest of us, for those who do not tolerate this kind of racism, would be to present ourselves as sullied Greeks or even non-Greeks. As far as the gung-ho Greeks are concerned, be they marine or otherwise, who like to believe that you are born Greek and cannot become a Greek, next time they get all pumped up when watching Leonidas march through Thermopylae in «300,» maybe they should remember that Sparta has just two great poets: One, Tyrtaeus, was not a Spartan and the other, Alcman, was not even a Greek. He was from Sardis, the capital of Lydia, a foreign «pig» that is.
