Will you be wearing a poppy?

[thingsthatmakeyougohmmmmmmmm]

To support the work that the Royal British Legion do.

Nobody around here seems to be wearing one.

My great uncle was at all the Passchendale battles and was the only survivor. I remember him going on about how much he hated poppies in the 70’s when l was little.

I won’t be wearing one. I kind of feel they’ve become the property of flag shaggers who’ve sort of bullied their way in. Which is wrong. But l sort of don’t want to be aligned with Britain First.

Ditto

I've got better history qualifications than that. I assume you didn't study WW1 . Or maybe were partying too hard that term

successfully studied History in 1st year in uni!!!

Oooooh 😂

🤣

When did WW3 to WW110 happen?

(Sorry, couldn't help myself)

Whose freedom?

@JayAlfredPrufrock its not now thing. this is established history. the treaty of versailles was extremely punitive towards Germany which pushed it into poverty and allowed the rise of nazism. plenty of literature out there, this is not a recent discovery! and tbh the Allies do not come out well when studying the beginning of the first world war!

Same.

Wearing a poppy used to be a choice, and meant something. Now it's become some kind of obligation and I have no idea why that changed. But now, if you don't wear one you're judged, and there's a kind of virtue signalling/shaming thing going on. If you have to wear one simply to avoid being judged, it means nothing. I just don't want to be prt of that any more.

So no. I'm not prepared to be guilted into wearing one by the poppy police.

All of our freedom Colleen, and I know you are an Irish Catholic, but plenty of your compatriots fought too!!!

Some points on our Military and why we will always need a military force.

The need for a military force is deeply ingrained in the history of humanity, driven by the imperative to protect and secure our existence. As we extend our reach into outer space, the challenges and potential threats multiply, necessitating a continued reliance on a military force to safeguard our interests, preserve peace, and ensure the survival of humanity in the vast and unknown expanse of the cosmos. The lessons learned from our terrestrial history underscore the importance of maintaining a vigilant and adaptive defense to confront the challenges that lie ahead, both on Earth and among the stars.

The history of humanity's reliance on a military force finds renewed significance as we extend our reach into the cosmic tapestry. It is not merely a matter of preserving our terrestrial interests but an acknowledgment of the inseparable connection between security and the continued exploration of the cosmos. The proactive commitment to a vigilant and adaptive defense strategy serves as a testament to our determination to confront the challenges that lie ahead, both within the familiar bounds of Earth and the awe-inspiring expanses among the stars.

You sound like a very measured intellectual.

Oh go and have a word with yourself. Pathetic.

I expect I am way more intellectual than you are.

I kind of feel they’ve become the property of flag shaggers

That. And there was a scarily right wing element to the local social media stuff around 'having to' wear a poppy, over the last couple of years. I just don't want to be part of that.

I'm not Catholic, but yes I'm Irish. I don't think you'll find many Irish people who believe the British army fought for our freedom. Especially not those from NI.

You may well be. You're leaving scant evidence on this thread though.

I don't have to.

I don't wear a red poppy to support the Royal British Legion. The poppy as a remembrance symbol pre-dates them. I have felt red poppies that say Never Again, made some years back by a local veterans' charity that I'm more happy to support, designed similar to ones made after WW1 used by veterans to protest the government's treatments of those that returned.

I stopped considering supporting the RBL after they had that advertising campaign involving children wearing 'future soldier' shirts. When we discuss WW1, or most wars, we have to include the children who were forced into it and I found the RBL's choice with that and similar troubling - it reminded me of other conversations of organisations that forget that the end goal should be their not being needed.

I likely will wear mine after the 2nd, (the 1st and 2nd in my family is for all ancestors, so we don't do remembrance activities specifically for veterans until after that). My family has veterans and it also has conscientious objectors, including those who refused after WW1 and instead did things like fire watch during bombings and they all deserve remembering.

I buy one, I misplace it, I buy another and wear it off and on. For me it is remembering the dead and wounded of wars. If I find a misplaced / set aside one I'll wear one on May 8th too and tell anyone who asks me why.

Ой по горах сніги лежать,
По долинах води стоять,
А по шляхах маки цвітуть.
То ж не маки червоненькі –
То козаки молоденькі
Битим шляхом у Крим ідуть...

The young Cossacks are heading south from Ukraine and the poppies bloom along the paths they take through the mountains. They are not normal red poppies but the blood of the young men off to fight the Tatars and Turks for Moscow. It's a complex song, as sung in the YouTube at bottom of first link.

https://folklore.com.ua/pisni/epichni-pisni/istorychni-pisni/oi-po-horakh-snihy-lezhat/

Ukraine embraces poppy as war remembrance symbol (kyivpost.com)

I'll be wearing one, in memory of my great grandfathers, one crippled in the trenches, one killed on the Somme. And of my great uncle, shot down & killed over Berlin in 1943,. And of my schoolfriend, killed in Afghanistan.
I'll also be volunteering at London Poppy Day on Thursday, raising funds for the RBL.
I believe in the remembrance of those who sacrificed, & continue to sacrifice, so much for our freedom.
I profoundly disagree with those who sneer & go on the poppy about glorifying war. Likewise I profoundly disagree with those who seek to take a neutral symbol & distort it for right wing purposes.
I understand that there are people who find wearing a poppy problematic & I despise those who judge them for it - the whole point of the sacrifice was to secure our right to decide for ourselves.
Finally, I'd just ask you all to remember that every day is Remembrance Day for somebody...

Wow, just found this thread and it has really disintegrated into mud-slinging.

Bit shocked how many people on this thread are, "nah, the wars were ages ago, who cares any more?"

Personally I wear a poppy from 1st November until Remembrance day in memory of my great-grandfather who died in WW1 when his ship was sunk. I didn't know him but I very much loved my grandad who was a small child when his dad died. He always wore a poppy in his dad's memory so now I do it.

Speak for yourself. I've not met anything who thinks that wearing a poppy is 'blindly supporting the British military'. It's about honouring the sacrifices our forebears made in the world wars, and their lasting legacy of peace and freedom.