Imperialism as the state religion

For the seventh year in a row, McClean, the Republic of Ireland and Stoke City midfielder, refused to wear a Remembrance poppy on his jersey to honor British military personnel who have died in war.

There should be a clear line between memorializing the victims of war, soldiers and civilians alike, and valorizing and mythologizing the soldiers.

Stoke posted a tweet with Rowett sitting at a mounted machine gun to promote something called Military Matchday. It was a jarring example of the militaristic malaise of critical thinking that has infected imperial societies such as the U.S. and Britain; support for armies and the wars they fight in are considered the default position, something so universal and inoffensive that posting your manager behind a death machine seems perfectly normal and not worth a second thought.

—Odrán Waldron, Deadspin[^1]