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?

Oh I fucking LOVE war, me. Just covered in red poppies so everyone knows how absolutely pro was I am.

@user1473878824
😂

I’m pretty anti war too OP, but I’n proud to wear my red poppy and give them to my children at this time of year. We talk about remembrance and how the lives we live today are indebted to the sacrifice made by ordinary people. The casualties of war often have no say at all in the matter. I also feel that as time passes we are getting further from those atrocious wars. My children don’t see the Chelsea Pensioners that I encountered as a child, barely anyone around remembers either war now. It’s becoming completely abstract for them. So the poppy must endure.

I’m no BoJo fan……but he’s not fucking Hitler!!!! This thread is bonkers

@Prattypitel

No other country in the world is doing this poppy thing.However,Britain is a country that is quite ready to involve itself in a war.I find the whole thing totally baffling.And why do we have a populist government now,when we are proud to have fought off a populist leader in the 2,world war???

This has to be one of the most stupid comments I've ever seen on MN and I've been around here a long time

If you don't want your children to wear a red poppy, then fine.
But don't make them a pawn by giving them white ones to stand out before they really understand it.

I don't think anyone likes war. Just sometimes it is considered the 'least bad' thing to do. From DD's GCSE RE, iirc the concept of a 'just war' is

• in a good cause
• winnable
• proportionate

I wear a poppy to honour and remember all the people who have died fighting for our country, including my mother's uncle who died in Gallipoli and my grandfather's cousins who died on the Somme.

If you 'don't agree with the concept of war', then you'd be happy for a foreign power to invade our country, bring in restrictive rules like women can't work and girls can't go to school, and for no one else to 'stand up for us'?

I don't buy the poppies from the Roysl British Legion because as a charity they do sponsorship deals with weapons manufacturers which sell weapons to oppressive regimes that use those weapons against civilians. They are happy to keep the machines of war going and ensuring there will be an ongoing supply of war wounded and bereaved. It's hypocritical to do lip service to mourning the dead of past wars whilst actively promoting ways to ensure that there will be more in future.

The white poppies are produced by the Peace Pledge Union, an educational charity that works towards building a future where power and control isn't decided on the basus of who can deal out death most effectively.

The red poppy is a reminder of what war costs. If you think it's a pro war symbol, you've missed the point completely.

Some people wear red and white poppies both together. They're not mutually exclusive.

@Prattypitel

No other country in the world is doing this poppy thing.However,Britain is a country that is quite ready to involve itself in a war.I find the whole thing totally baffling.And why do we have a populist government now,when we are proud to have fought off a populist leader in the 2,world war???

The United States has Memorial Day on May 28th. It honors the men and women who have died in service during war or peace times. We wear the red poppy on that day.

If you don't believe in war would you have been okay with the Germans coming here (because they did) trying to capture us, kill us and claim our land?! Of course no-one WANTS a war, but when a group attacks us, surely we have to defend our people?!

I wear both. The red poppy is to remember and honour those who died in service to their country. I think it symbolises the futility of war and the resultant pointless loss of life. I oppose war but I support our military and I find it upsetting when people claim the poppy glorifies war. Please read about its origins, the number of young men who lost their lives in the mud of the battlefield in WW1 is heartbreaking.

The poppy is a visual reminder of the scale and impact of war and why we must never let death and destruction on that scale happen again. It’s particularly relevant now more than ever because we’re losing those generations who lived through ww2 (and ww1 already) and so their legacy and impact will dim from living memory. ‘We will remember them’ says it all really for the reason we wear them.

The UK constantly goes to war @ProudMaiasaura, far more often than most countries. I think that "keen for war" is a fair description. Nothing to do with red poppies though.

Poppies don’t represent being pro-war or glorify war, as many PP have said they are a reminder of the sacrifices made by many people so that we can live in a free and democratic society. Its only by virtue of those sacrifices that we have the luxury of being pacifist or anti war today.

It’s true that there are few people around ho remember WW2 and almost none that remember WW1 but remembering the victims of newer conflicts is just as important, regardless of what you think about the politics of them.

I’ve gone right off poppies the last few years, it’s become a weird obligation and list it’s meaning in my opinion. Too political

@Palavah

Yabu to think that people wear red poppies because they 'agree with the concept of war'

So true.

I wear a red poppy in remembrance of those lost. Men, women and children whose loss was felt by families, communities and society.

@ProudMaiasaura

The red poppy is a symbol of respect and gratitude. It is not a pro-war symbol and to claim such a thing is crass and distasteful.

The origins of the red poppy were to provide much needed money to veterans and families of veterans who desperately needed help after a war none of them asked for, but many paid a bitter price.

It's evolved somewhat but the RBL and the Earl Haig still support veterans and their family's.

YABVU and rather insulting.

Exactly

YABU and completely missing the point of red poppies and the Remembrance!!

I did our key stage 1 assembly on Remembrance Day. I showed the Poppy Scotland info thing about the history of why poppies are worn. I also told the children how people where different colour poppies according to what they believe and showed examples of them including the purple one. I just made sure the children went away with the thought that whatever you wear or don't you think about how we need to make sure our behaviour is positive and we treat people with respect as that is the best way to honour the people of the past.

contemplating sending them in wearing white poppies but wonder if they'll get picked on for standing out?

Do you mean 'picked on' in the same sense that those who wear 'all lives matter' T-shirts to black lives matter events are picked on?

It is true to say the red poppy has at times been a contraversial symbol, at the moment it is enjoying pretty much universal popularity but that's not always been the case. After the 1st World War especially, the whole idea of remembrance was pretty contrabersial. A lot of people who had served or lost family members felt that putting up war memorials was a sop fr the ruling classes to keep the working class in line and continue the ideas that their sacrifice had somehow been "noble". This was seen as an extension of the social control that had made people feel compelled to enlist in a war that a lot of people saw as perpetuating power for the rich, at the expense of a generation of poor. There is a strong argument for the second World War being more of a noble cause, you really can't say that for the first World War. A lot of service men and families refused to participate in remembrance and memorials and so on were vanadalised in some cases.
Weirdly, there is an episode of Downton Abbey which covers this topic and is pretty much the only place I've seen it reflected in popular culture!

@Prattypitel

No other country in the world is doing this poppy thing.However,Britain is a country that is quite ready to involve itself in a war.I find the whole thing totally baffling.And why do we have a populist government now,when we are proud to have fought off a populist leader in the 2,world war???

Are you seriously comparing the stupidity of Boris to the atrocities committed by Hitler? OP, you are being utterly ridiculous. I don't buy poppies because I want to raise funds because I support war, I buy poppies to support veterans of war.

Wear a poppy. Dont wear one.
Red, white, purple, pink, black...

The important bit is remembering that war has cost countless lives over the decades and we all need to work towards a world without war.

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

I'd be unimpressed but are you sure this is the case? I'd have thought most schools would have an assembly or a lesson about remembrance day? It's a very important day. If they are just going round saying "do you want to buy a pretty flower" then yes I'd be annoyed. But I seriously doubt they aren't educating or if your kids are old enough they might assume they already know what they are I guess.