To not wear a poppy?

[Notjustmesurely]

I just don’t like how it’s expected or assumed you will wear one.
A friend at work bought me a poppy bracelet type thing which was kind of her but I literally wore it for that one shift and haven’t worn it since.
I appreciate its symbolism but don’t appreciate the assumption that everyone is going to be wearing one or HAS
to wear one to appreciate the cause.
If I were to wear one it would be for the conscripts who had no choice in the matter during the world wars. Not for the “modern day” political wars that the UK has involved itself in. Help for heroes and all that. The charity should come from the politicians who vote for it imo?
Newsreaders and celebs slated for not wearing one as well, what’s that all about.
Dunno it just all seems a bit fascist these days.
I always have and always will observe the two minutes silence tho.

(That was in response to the message above which has now been deleted.)

Some people wear a poppy as symbol of remembrance to family members who lost their lives in the armed forces.

Remembrance, and donating to current members of the armed forces are two entirely separate things

Besides, the people who fought in the world wars are mostly long gone now. The money doesn't help them.

You're still not getting it. Likely deliberately.

Its about the people who died. Irishmen. Their sacrifice. I respect them more than than I dislike any political history. It's not celebrating anything, to suggest that is in and of itself is disrespectful so the only one insulting their sacrifice is you by saying that.

It's about their deaths. That's it. To overlook that in attempts to score political points or to air (often valid) grievances is to dismiss their sacrifice. Again, it's priorities.

I am sickened by Martin Mcguinness crimes but I can support his peace foundation. These things aren't mutually exclusive.

We will never agree so there is little point in continuing. Feel free to have the last word. I will wear my poppy as a small gesture of remembrance to those brave souls. Its the least I can do. You get the choice, thanks to them.

I wear a poppy, if you don’t want to wear one, that’s fine. No-one cares.

Firstly, celebrate was a typo. It should have said commemorate. No idea how I mistyped.

Secondly, I very much get it. It is you who seems not to get it. There are multiple ways to commemorate and respect people. Choosing an approach that is insulting and disrespectful to Irish people is not one I choose.

The Poppy was first worn as an act of remembrance so that future generations would not forget the horrors of war - not so war would be glorified. I do fear politicians use it as the latter. That said those who die or are wounded in war should be remembered and helped where possible so for that reason I'll buy and wear a poopy.

As an Irish person I consider it pure ignorance when Irish footballers etc have been booed for not wearing a poppy. They aren’t doing out of disrespect towards the British but out of respect towards Irish history and the many who lost their lives at hands of British soldiers.

We don’t tend to wear them here. There are ceremonies etc to remember the soldiers who never came home. Many Irish men did fight in the world wars.

Plus the Black and Tans were comprised mostly of world war 1 veterans. British people might not know who they were but Irish people do.

I dont need a poppy to remember the horrors of war, because i am still seeing children being pulled out of bombed rubble, of young women being slaughtered and spat on by baying crowds etc.

War is still raging across the globe.

Especially hilarious given the UKs approach to not giving a shiny shit about older folks who do actually remember war in this country being exposed to Covid,

I wear one , mainly for my departed grandparents, for their personal losses and the fact it was so important to them , I also observe the two minutes silence. I don't like the way it has been hijacked by some groups though .

The Quakers suggest wearing both the red and white poppy together in case the white one alone may cause upset, so that’s another option for pacifists to consider.

rampagingrobot · Today 11:02

I think wearing a red poppy is for virtue signalling war mongering cunts but each to their own”

I wear one in memory of my grandfather and others of his generation who gave you and I the freedoms we have in the UK today.

It doesn't bother me that you think that of me as I choose to remember my dad who was just 22 when he took part in the DDay landings. I'm proud that he gave you the freedom to think in such a way even if it's a pretty offensive thing to say.

It is important to mark the sacrifice of those who have died or been injured in the course of duty to your country. Wearing a symbol to mark that however should be entirely voluntary and people shouldn't be made feel they have to wear it.

I'm really struggling to see how a white poppy is so apparently divisive or offensive to some. A red poppy is "only" for the British and ally military lives lost, a white one is for -all- lives lost due to war. Yet the white poppy is being received by some in this thread as if it were "only" for non-military lives, as if in some active insult to soldiers. That is not what it is about, and it has many decades of history beginning in part with those who lost loved ones who were soldiers.

I feel that if it's being construed as anything else, that more likely reflects a chip on the shoulder of the beholder rather than the actual nature of the symbol or its meaning.

I don't understand why not wearing a poppy is disrespectful. I observe the silence (including a non British one for the WW2 fallen). Remembering and educating is far more important and meaningful than wearing a poppy.

‘Remembering and educating is far more important and meaningful than wearing a poppy.’

agreed. And don’t get me started on people who put big poppies on their car or doors etc. FFS.

The Poppy means different things to different people. But personally, having been to Aushwitz, I would respect it. Countless men (and boys) died to rid the world of that evil. The poppy is just an acknowledgement of that.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06j49gb/testament-of-youth

Vera didn't think a white poppy was 'virtue signalling'. She lived it, and was never afraid to say what a bloody and terrible waste war is.

In modern wars, like Gaza and elsewhere, the dead and wounded are 90% civilians.

I'm proud to wear a white poppy, it's a symbol of mourning for all the dead, past and present. And the hope that as human beings, we can work to solve difficulties without blowing each other to kingdom come.

My grandad, coming back from Germany at the end of WW2, was haunted by the devastation he witnessed. Women and children, living in cellars, starving, in cities that had been flattened. He rarely spoke of it, but he did once say to my gran 'no people should have to suffer like that', and obviously he would have known the atrocities of Nazi Germany, and of the bombing of British cities.

It's not just the death, and the suffering, but the trauma it creates down the generations.

I don't think there was any way out but through for WWII, it had to be fought, but not most wars. Greed, revenge, ego, power. Take your pick.

I respect other people wearing the red poppy but I can't do it, it just feels too linked to validating war. I know none of this is simple.

And there's no need for name calling, whether you wear a poppy of not, or what colour. Beyond some of the mudslinging on this thread, I suspect most of us agree on a lot more than we differ.

How come it’s okay to not wear a poppy but if you say you don’t vote the whole “people died for you to be able to vote” gets trotted out?

I dont donate or wear a poppy....partly because I dont want to be told I should. I also get irritated by the minutes silence or perhaps more the expectation that you abide by this social rule.
I might wear a poppy this year, but for very different reasons.

@DonnaBanana some people can only see the world in simple terms, right or wrong. And they like to trot out a platitude to prove it.

Your ability to exercise choice on whether to vote or which of the wankers to vote for is what is the important thing . I've sometimes spoiled papers where none of the parties represented what I felt society was in need of. People forget its the freedom to exercise your conscience that is what WWII achieved.
And let's not even get into PR/first past the post flaws in voting system. Never mind the lack of diversity between the 2 main parties.

I will be voting next time, as I can't bear the Tories being in, but with no great spring in my step. I think things may be marginally less shit.

This 👏👏
Well said
Can't stand the poppy police and forced patriotism
'Lest we forget' on buses. What does that achieve?

When I wear my poppy I'm not 'validating war'. I'm remembering my dad who was just 20 years old when he had to go to war and was shit scared. He never talked about it afterwards.

I respect the right to choose but I think many people nowadays have forgotten what young men went through so that we have the freedoms that we do.