Is popping wearing and remembrance fading with younger generarions?

[mids2019]

At my daughter's school teachers were heavily suggesting that they observe remembrance and it goes in with WA1 and WW2 history.

However it seems at least some think the poppy is outdated or overly political so tend not to wear poppies.

Is remembrance going to diminish with the passing of time and do young people have a point that is has misappropriated by certain factions?

Many who fought in the world wars were from various parts of the commonwealth
eg. India. It wasn’t only British people.

Not with our young people.

I don’t wear one because a few years ago it got political. You either wore a poppy, and were a patriot, or you didn’t and were branded a terrorist or terrorist sympathiser. There’s still outrage if people in the public eye don’t wear one (such as the Irish footballer James McLean this weekend) and when it gets to the point a bloody puppet can’t be on the BBC without one you know it’s gone too far.

As a leader with my local rainbows group I discuss remembrance every year and my unit and I take part in the local parade every year. I do have a poppy for that but it’s the only hour of the year I wear one.

Only wore one for my sons cub parade this year. Tbh the service was focused on all those who lost their lives in war...and with a focus on calling for peace which sat more comfortably with me. I used to find that in the past it felt too much like it was saying war and fighting was heroic. Personally the military sits very uncomfortably with me...the idea that anyone would chose a job where you might be required to take another's life or harm people, for whatever reason really appalls me. In the ww's there was no choice but today... choosing violence as a career

It never stopped happening. War is perpetual. Since 1945 there is an argument that there have been as many as 26 days of peace.
Currently Ukraine and the occupation of Gaza are getting the headlines but last year there were 15800 war deaths in Myanmar, 13000 in Sudan, about 8000 in each of Nigeria, Burkina Faso and DRC.

DH served 35yrs in the RAF. He was an aircraft electrician and avionics technician, there’s not much violence in that. There’s so much more to the military than “killing people”.

My child plays for a sports club and all the matches over the weekend were preceeded by a minutes silence. We weren't involved with the sport last year and I wasn't expecting that.

It's still a huge thing where I live. Our town has a proud heritage as it provided many of the little ships for the Dunkirk evacuation and a group of local fisherman were killed during the operation. Local schools and youth organisations go big on remembrance.

Personally I don't wear a poppy but I put money in the bucket. My DD16 was out collecting money with her college class on Monday and took part in a parade as part of the remembrance day events.

I do see it being used as a political thing these days. There were multiple remembrance events all over our town but a local councillor Facebook shamed another group of councillors for not attended the small ceremony he was at even though the others were all laying wreaths elsewhere at the big main town event.I thought that was bad form.

The extreme right wing do seem to be attempting to hijack Remembrance Day to further their own cause and this is one of the reasons why I now feel uncomfortable wearing a poppy.

I would say it has definitely become less noticeable. I only saw one seller this year.

However, I also hate the judgement around whether you wear a poppy or not. The British Legion is a charity like any other and we should all be free to support any charity through choice not by jury. We dont get the same judgement if we choose or dont choose a red ribbon for AIDS awareness day so why is a poppy so very different? You can still mark it without a poppy.

I think there has been a lot of "forced" wearing of late... fake news about not being able to wear them in rightwing propaganda etc
Basically taking an anti-Muslim stance (while conveniently forgetting how many Muslims served in the wars)

I no longer wear one as I feel it has been hijacked by those certain groups along with the National Jack

Nobody I know wears a poppy: only 20 of us at my office but none there, none that I could see at the businesses either side etc. I think the ghoulish Halloweenifying of it - I've seen giant whole house displays covered in plastic tat and cars with giant plastic poppies on the bumpers and all sorts - by a very particular type of person where I live makes it feel like something that now stands, in some cases, as a 'taking our country back' type symbolism (and is used in that way on our local facebook groups etc). Which makes it distinctly unappealing to a lot of people.

I think it’s slightly disingenuous to suggest there are roles which don’t involve violence in the armed forces.

Whether you’re feeding the troops, patching them up afterwards or readying the machinery, you are enabling the pulling of a trigger, or at least the threat of doing so.

I’m not saying your DH should be castigated for his job, I’m just trying to say that the point you responded to isn’t unreasonable in my opinion.

Yes I agree with this. The end product is the sum of its parts.

A cleaner in a hospital doesn’t operate but they are still in the business of saving lives and it is disingenuous to disconnect yourself with the end product.

You can remember those who lost their lives to war without buying or wearing a poppy.

ds secondary school made it clear it was about those lost in all conflicts not just the world wars.

This is our experience. DD is 18, at uni, and proudly donated and wore her poppy. It's not just about the WWs - it's to remember all those that served.

The he school I work in had a whole school outdoor assembly, a student from a local band who played the last post on a bugle (yup, lump in my throat) and one of our faculty sang a beautiful piece of gospel music.

Every single student in our deprived, rough school who 10 minutes earlier were giving the world and their dog attitude, stood quietly and respectfully throughout and all wanted to be there.

I was so proud of them x

I volunteer with a youth organisation and we sell poppies annually and also attend the parade.

It is so important to me as my grandfather took part in D day and Dunkirk and also was in the liberation of Belsen.

The RBL supported my grandfather and gran when they left the army to furnish their house.

They also supported my husbands grandad when he had a stroke x

This made me cry a little bit x

Zimunya I did have a little quiet weep! It really was beautiful and that everyone of those kids, many of who so far have had a crap hand dealt them, wanted to be there and even when dismissed walked quietly back to lessons did make me feel quite** emotional.

I will add that 10 minutes later it was business as usual and many were back in gob shite mode

The point I responded to absolutely is unreasonable. No, DH shouldn’t be castigated for his service, neither should DS1 who is a soldier (not infantry). I’m so sick of people spouting off on these boards about how they’re “appalled” by others who choose the military as a career, or that they can’t support the act of remembrance because today’s military chose that path. It’s just as well they do otherwise there would be conscription again. And considering more people left the military than joined last year, we could be heading that way again should anything major happen.

All these people who don’t support our military wouldn’t turn them away if their homes were flooded, or the emergency services went on strike or they were standing between them and a terrorist would they? .

This baffles me.I have no family in the forces, and my grandparents were miners so they didn’t fight in the wars when conscription was happening, but I know that it’s so easy to sit there being ‘appalled’ by those choosing to sign up and defend our nation, whilst being in the privilege of a safe country, thanks to those who do work for the forces and have given their lives in the past, both in ww1 and 2, and in more recent conflicts. Do you think you would be so safe to sit in judgment if we didn’t have the military?

Very much a thing round here. Dd is a cadet so we went to see the service on Sunday and I was surprised by the numbers and mix of ages.

I was thinking the same about the former Yugoslavia. Sadly it has never stopped happening really.

I do think poppy wearing is in decline, probably for the various reasons outlined by previous posters.

The point you responded to wasn’t those things though, was it? The point that you responded to was someone feeling uneasy about the choice to actively participate in the machine that ends up killing people (on both sides!)

It’s now doubly disingenuous to read that remark and bring it back to building flood defences - which actually doesn’t require an army like ours at all. I’m sick of the cognitive dissonance you appear to be experiencing.

We had someone call from the states this week asking if we had a day off.

I suspect the poppy and remembrance day will be with us forever. I wonder if the way of marking it will move from somber black to celebration. Much like many funerals I have been to recently. Though that doesn't help with the message of avoiding war in future to avoid the loss of life.

pp had a problem with people choosing violence as a career. Unfortunately animal nature means there will always be a challenge for power, which means you will always need a military, for defense if you are lucky enough to live in a non-aggressive country. I am grateful to the highly trained professionals who are willing to do the job. I wouldn't want to, but I do want to know that someone is out there trained and ready to defend those in need.