To ask if anyone in rl has ever actually met anyone who is 'offended by a poppy?

[Whatsername17]

My Facebook feed is full of memes declaring that people are going to 'wear their poppy with pride and they don't care who they offend'. My nan is the latest culprit and I've called her out on it. Cue lots of her friends spouting racist bollocks about people not being able to sell them blah blah. My nan spouting shit about what a good heart I have because I can't see the bad in people. I'm 34. I'm not a fucking child. And breathe!

Yes, I know several people. When I was at school (Irish Catholic) a lot of of people didn't buy or wear a poppy.

It should be a personal choice. You shouldn't feel obliged to either wear or not wear a poppy. Nor should anyone criticise you either.

There was an incident reported in the nation press this week, of a Christian from Pakistan who was severely beaten up for having 2 poppies displayed on the front of his delivery van.

I know someone who is highly involved in a pacifist organisation and he wears a white poppy and puts lots on Facebook about why but I've never known him to say anything about being offended by the red poppies.

Yes, my grandad was from NI.

I hate the fact that if someone with high profile e.g. BBC. doesn't wear one, they are dragged over hot coals. Nobody should be forced to support a specific charity. I never buy one as I don't agree with the cause, but if someone else wants to that is up to them.

I'm Irish and know lots of people who have big issues with poppies.

I generally choose not to wear a red poppy (I have worn white in the past), but I have no problems with other people wearing them and do not find them offensive as such. I have heard some pretty offensive reactions towards people who do not wear red poppies though, particularly towards people on TV or in politics. Nobody should be insulted because they make a choice not to wear a poppy.

I remember getting the email years ago about how secondary school children weren't going to be taught about the holaucast because it offended Muslims. Did some research and it was actually that teachers had expressed concerns that the information was too harrowing to be taught in year 8 and perhaps should be postponed until the GCSE syllabus because children had reported being distressed by it.

I have never met anyone offended by the red poppy.

I do feel uncomfortable how synonymous the love of our troops and therefore approval of foreign policy has become with being proud to be of nationality. I would hate to end up like the US where public figures questioning the ethics of a particular conflict are accused of being disloyal to the troops and the country.

The biggest threat to the poppy is that the far right continue to use it to promote their agenda and it becomes a symbol of something it was never meant to be, like the swastika was used by the Nazis and can now not be used by the mainstream.

To the poster about the crescent. If you go to the British legion website you can and have been able for some time to purchase the following symbols:

Poppy Remembrance Cross
Poppy Muslim Crescent
Poppy Star of David
Poppy Sikh Khanda
Poppy Tribute.

I would suggest the reason it was just the cross and crescent where you were was to cater to the predominant religions of the local population.

I personally don't wear a poppy, not because I'm 'offended' by it, not by any stretch but I am uncomfortable with how it has become less and less a means of remembering our war dead and reflecting on the realities of war and more and more about approval of the military in general. I don't want to say it's glorifying war but it's getting pretty close and that makes me uncomfortable. My Grandad fought in WW2 and there were things he saw that stayed with him his whole life and he lived to be 92. He saw no glory in it.

Some people do not like the poppy and think it glorifies war. But I have never ever heard of anyone been banned from selling them or criticised for wearing the,
Faux victimhood.

Of course not. It's the same mythical people who demand CHristmas be rebranded as Winterfest. People who don't exist.

Many years ago, our open day at school (I was a newly qualified teacher, circa 2005 I think) coincided with the start of the poppy appeal and we were told as staff we had to wear one which did annoy me as generally I choose not to.

I choose not to wear a poppy but am not offended by those who do.

Yes I have.

I wear a red poppy. It still is only about remembrance. The RBL do, and always have, support the armed forces. That doesn't mean that the poppy glorifies war. The RBL does a lot for veterans, those still serving and their families.

I used to wear a poppy, but as the rhetoric around it has amped up I’m not confident that I’m saying what I thought I was by wearing it. Basically like @kmc says, it seems to have been co-opted for unquestioning support for military institutions rather than remembering the cost to individuals.

I would now wear a white poppy. I’m not offended by red poppies, I am offended by how some people have co-opted them...

I am also in NI. Not offended by the poppy, but I am offended by those who think it's their place to tell others whether they can or cannot wear them.

That's a fairly sweeping statement @RavenWings
"l'm Irish so would never wear a poppy."

Are you saying that your nationality explains your reason?

I'm Irish and wear a poppy.

My Irish grand uncles fought and died in the Great War.
Lots of people from my town fought in both world wars. Poppies are sold here.
I think you may mean your are an Irish nationalist or Irish republican and would not wear one for that reason. Is that right?

All Irish do not share your views. My part of Ireland (very south) is populated with people from all types of background, cultures and opinions. Thankfully.

A couple of years ago I crocheted myself a red and a white poppy while on mat leave waiting for the baby to arrive and wore them again last year. I like the sentiment behind each - red to honour those that have given their lives that I can live in freedom, and white as a statement in support of pacifism and a hope that one day wars may be a thing of the past. A hope that is sadly fading with each passing year. But I am not offended by either.

Met lots of people irritated by the culture of mandatory poppy wearing eg on the BBC.

By actual poppies - no.

I haven't, but, I have been in a situation that a "popular" meme did the rounds on that I thought was bollocks that actually turned out to happen.

I’m Irish (from the Republic, not NI), and I live in England. I’m offended by the poppy.

Well, surely you can see why it might be an issue in mainland Britain then, given the Irish diaspora?

No, because the members of the Irish diaspora in Britain are, well, you know, in Britain. If you are in Britain and your Town Hall flies the Union Jack you have to live with it. Same with the poppy. Don't buy one if you don't want one but if people you come into contact with in the street or at work do, that's their business and their choice.

I've never met anyone who's been offended by the red poppy.

Met quite a few frothers who describe the white poppy as some trendy left-wing liberal pc 'protest'. Erm, it's been in existence since 1933 you ignorant twats.