Red v white poppies

[Malhao]

AIBU to be unimpressed that the staff at school are trying to sell my kids red poppies without explaining the symbolism behind them?

I don't agree with the concept of war and am contemplating sending them in wearing white poppies (I've explained the difference to them and they both agree with the principles behind the white poppies) but wonder if they'll get picked on for standing out?

Well said MrsSkylerWhite

I know it's natural for British people to want to support their army, but there are many people living in the UK from places where British soldiers were the invaders, a colonial power, and a destructive force. They have absolutely no wish to support the British army

Why can't we wear a poppy in our own country? Because other people have decided to come and live here and benefit from everything that it entails?

Ridiculous beyond belief.

@mustlovegin

I know it's natural for British people to want to support their army, but there are many people living in the UK from places where British soldiers were the invaders, a colonial power, and a destructive force. They have absolutely no wish to support the British army

Why can't we wear a poppy in our own country? Because other people have decided to come and live here and benefit from everything that it entails?

Ridiculous beyond belief.

I know, Britain is so fucking awful isn’t it, yet these people all come to live here and better their lives, benefitting off all this colonial wealth. So hypocritical.

We wear red poppies in Canada. I have never seen a white one.

I have worn a poppy and participated in Remembrance Day my whole life.

To me, the poppy is indeed a symbol of peace, its importance, and the awful cost of war.

It is not a symbol of British colonialism to me, at all.

Yesterday a number of rude and disrespectful antivaxers disrupted Remembrance Day ceremonies in a number of places.

It makes me despair.

Are people really suggesting that a charity whose purpose is to support veterans stops supporting veterans because they served after 1945?
A few years ago DH was facing potential posting to either help with ebola crisis or to be dealing with refugees in an area where ISIS were highly operational and would have loved to get ahold of British service personnel to behead. Fortunately on that role of the dice he got a UK backfill post while some other poor buggers got to risk life and limb doing humanitarian work. Presumably they wouldn't be deemed worthy of RBL support (even though they had never set foot in Ireland or Iraq). Even in this country there are spells when DH isn't allowed to drive home in uniform because there are creditable threats to military personnel but he is still expected to wear it when helping with covid logistics or flooding.

@MrsSkylerWhite
My post upset you and I'm sorry for that. If you read my other comments here you will see that I absolutely understand and respect why people want to honour the dead of the world wars.

I have two problems with the red poppy though.
Firstly, it supports the British military (I do not). I am Irish. The poppies are sold here too, though there is much less demand for them. Irish people died in the world wars and we would wish to honour and remember them and the others. However, supporting the British army, that side of the poppy campaign, is different. My grandad fought the British in the Irish War of Independence. My grandmother was terrorised as a child by English soldiers searching their house on numerous occasions, bayonets through the ceiling, you can imagine.

I think, for an Irish person (and remember NI is part of the UK, I think that gets forgotten sometimes), buying a poppy is a little like a British person being asked to buy a charity flower in memory of the dead of the world wars, when that charity supports German military personnel. I suspect many British people would be in complete agreement with honouring the dead and their sacrifice, while wondering why on earth they should support the German army? Maybe I'm wrong about that.

Secondly, it has become a requirement to wear them, you are judged in the UK (at least in some settings) if you do not. The Northern Irish footballer James McClean has repeatedly received abuse and death threats for refusing to wear the poppy, for example. He's originally from Derry where the British Army opened fire on civilians on Bloody Sunday in the 1970's. Again he has said if it were just about remembering the dead of the world wars he would wear one. But to him, and me, and many others it's about more than that.

People see the poppy differently, it symbolises more than one thing, and as a pp said, its meaning has changed over time too and how it's read can depend on where in the UK you live.
.
Again, I'm sorry for upsetting you by not supporting the poppy. I genuinely mean no disrespect to your grandfather and gradfather-in-law. If it only meant supporting those who sacrificed so much in the world wars I would buy it without question.

@BessieFinknottle
Give the respect you expect to be shown

Again, Northern Ireland is part of the UK @dropitslikeitsloth. I think it gets forgotten.

I can see where you are coming from BessieFinknottle, being from Northern Ireland, but it's likely not every single poster tantrumming over a poppy upthread is.

@mustlovegin

I can see where you are coming from BessieFinknottle, being from Northern Ireland, but it's likely not every single poster tantrumming over a poppy upthread is.

Tantrumming is a very insulting way of putting it. Many posters have a different view to yours. That's allowed, even if it's not for a reason you deem acceptable.

BessieFinknottle

I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t considered Northern Ireland when I posted my personal comment.

That’s a whole, different and incredibly complicated story that I have no personal knowledge of. I have no understanding of what the red poppy means to people there. To me, it represents World Wars One and Two but to you, clearly something very different.

Thank you for your understanding of my feelings.

I hope we can both agree that this world will be a much better place if we could all, finally, come together. We’re all human and approaching a time when nationality, allegiances and religion will mean nothing. If COP has shown us nothing else, hopefully it’s shown us that.

Sincere thanks for your post and for your understanding too MrsSkylerWhite. I do agree, very much so.

I thought some of you may appreciate the news story about poppies in Canada.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/centennial-anniversary-remembrance-day-poppy-1.6243950

@Runningupthecurtains

Are people really suggesting that a charity whose purpose is to support veterans stops supporting veterans because they served after 1945? A few years ago DH was facing potential posting to either help with ebola crisis or to be dealing with refugees in an area where ISIS were highly operational and would have loved to get ahold of British service personnel to behead. Fortunately on that role of the dice he got a UK backfill post while some other poor buggers got to risk life and limb doing humanitarian work. Presumably they wouldn't be deemed worthy of RBL support (even though they had never set foot in Ireland or Iraq). Even in this country there are spells when DH isn't allowed to drive home in uniform because there are creditable threats to military personnel but he is still expected to wear it when helping with covid logistics or flooding.

It is a national disgrace that members of the Armed Forces cannot wear their uniforms in public with pride. What have we come to?