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Original poster

What are those little red Flowers!

144 replies

Angree · 29/10/2010 19:03

I was enjoying a rare coffee in Starbucks this morning and I heard a shocking conversation on the next table.

There were two girls about 19/20 and one said to the other "What are those little red flowers that everyone is wearing...is it a fashion thing?" The other one said "I think its something to do with Cancer".
Shock

I mean really W.T.F, how do you get to that age and not know about poppies?

OP posts:
bluesheep · 29/10/2010 23:14

www.ppu.org.uk/poppy/

White poppies symobolising peace.

penguin73 · 29/10/2010 23:15

'you can wear a white poppy' - which causes a great deal of pain amongst many currently serving and ex-serving personnel and their loved ones as they are seen as being very disrespectful and making a political statement a a time that is about recognising individual sacrifice, not criticising the reasons behind it.

The main issue behind the Poppy Appeal is to raise much needed money for anyone affected by war and conflict whether directly (serving/ex-service personnel) or indirectly (their families) - wearing the poppy shows that you have contributed to the British Legion to support their valuable work and is not a statement of support for war.

bluesheep · 29/10/2010 23:15

www.ppu.org.uk/poppy/

Helps if I do it properly! Blush

Diziet · 29/10/2010 23:17

penguin73 - what about wearing both?

HeadlessPrinceBilly · 29/10/2010 23:20

My kids don't know what the poppies are for, not the done thing here. You can buy them but I wouldn't wear one.

penguin73 · 29/10/2010 23:22

Still an insult to many - there are a lot of days in the year to make political statements without causing pain to people who already find it an emotional time of the year. For a short space of time it should just be about remembering, not criticising.

Kbear · 29/10/2010 23:23

memorialwall.celebratebritain.com/

The Royal Mint will donate £1 for every tribute left on the Memorial Wall....

Lest we forget.

Kbear · 29/10/2010 23:25

www.britishlegion.org.uk/support-us/poppy-products

Buy your poppy online!

Diziet · 29/10/2010 23:30

Hmmm... DH has just made additional VG point about white poppies maybe NOT being a good idea, along same lines as you, penguin73.
He also points out bearing in mind the area of the UK in which we live it would be positively inflammatory to wear one...
I will stick to my red one as usual.

taintedpaint · 29/10/2010 23:31

Headless, why don't your children know and why wouldn't you wear one?

Just curious.

taintedpaint · 29/10/2010 23:33

Oh, and I agree on the issue of the white poppy. If you don't know the story behind them, you may think they are a good idea, but they are all about making a statement for the wrong reasons. Poppies are not pro-war, they are about remembrance, and it seems that the white poppy campaign misses or ignores that.

HeadlessPrinceBilly · 29/10/2010 23:34

I live in Ireland, they have a rather different symbolism here than the UK. There was a bit of a to-do when Google put a BL poppy symbol on the google.ie homepage.

LittleRedPumpkin · 29/10/2010 23:43

''you can wear a white poppy' - which causes a great deal of pain amongst many currently serving and ex-serving personnel and their loved ones as they are seen as being very disrespectful and making a political statement a a time that is about recognising individual sacrifice, not criticising the reasons behind it.'

What if I want to criticize the reasons behind it?

LittleRedPumpkin · 29/10/2010 23:46

I know people who have died in these wars. I am not being glib. I am furious that we have not moved on from the ethos behind WWI. It seems to me incredibly disrespectful to the memories of millions of dead, to take a motif that originally testified to the futility of conflict, and apply it to sanctify the proliferation of such conflicts.

penguin73 · 29/10/2010 23:48

That's your choice. Far too many people buy white poppies without being aware of the hurt they cause - at least you are now aware of the impact that choice will have on many and if you choose to go ahead regardless then so be it.

DioneTheDiabolist · 29/10/2010 23:50

Maybe it's because they are being worn so early?

LittleRedPumpkin · 29/10/2010 23:59

I'm sorry, penguin, I still don't really understand why they cause hurt? There was a link that didn't work earlier in the thread.

It is important to know that red poppies also upset some people.

taintedpaint · 29/10/2010 23:59

Sorry, another question Headless! What is the symbolism in Ireland? Is it something really bad?

Rannaldini · 30/10/2010 00:01

I'm Irish and proudly wear a poppy

maxybrown · 30/10/2010 00:04

Jee whiz. My 3 year old knows what they are for - well so far as a 3 year old can anyway!

My DH is a History teacher and recently returned from a Battlefields trip with year 11's.

He overheard two of the girls on the trip (bearing in mind they will have done all about WW1 in school obviously - and this IS the battlefields trip after all!!) saying, "God, what was this trip about? All we've done is seen cemeteries and heard about dead people" I kid you not....... FWIW they aren't in my DH's class in school Wink

maxybrown · 30/10/2010 00:06

I have a lovely lovely crocheted (sp?!) poppy - made by my Mum's friend. They are making a couple of hundred and selling them and sending money to British Legion

penguin73 · 30/10/2010 00:16

Wearing the red poppy is to show support for all those injured in war or conflict, and to remember and honour those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. The white poppy is anti-war so is seen as direct criticism of their actions. Whilst many service people respect others rights to disagree with the idea of war there is a time and place to express it and Remembrance Day isn't it. The drive by PPU to undermine the idea of Remembrance and the valuable fund-raising opportunity for the British Legion is a controversial subject that politicises something that was never intended to have a political slant.

DioneTheDiabolist · 30/10/2010 00:17

The symbolism in Ireland is that members of the British army were responsible for murders, cover-up of murders and assaults of innocent citizens (most of them Catholic) in Northern Ireland.

LittleRedPumpkin · 30/10/2010 00:29

Penguin ... the white poppy is for peace. People are anti-war because they don't want soldiers to die.

I know we need to raise funds. But the red poppies grew on the graves of all of the WWI dead: that was the point, that life springs eternal and doesn't care about the different sides.

I always think of it like this: if you know someone dying of cancer, you know how brave they can be. Cancer is horrible and worth fighting. But, that does not mean at all that we should not seek a cure for cancer that will mean that brave people no longer have to fight and die. To admit that is not to disrespect those who did fight and die: only to suggest that their deaths should be remembered individually, just as they lived as individuals.

This analogy is why I find red poppies disrespectful. I understood that while WWI troops were still alive, the most important thing was to commemorate these men in the way that had been established by their generation - with the symbol they'd seen and known. But now, we should respect the fact that they sacrificed themselves in order to preserve us, and change.

taintedpaint · 30/10/2010 00:30

Oh right. I get what you mean, I wouldn't personally think of that as a reason to not honour good men and women, but I do get what you're saying. Thanks Dione.

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