why do you wear a poppy?

[oiolehnvn]

Lots of red poppies around us at the moment. Disclaimer I am not British but come from a country that is currently waging a war, in fact technically two countries that have been in the news for waging wars and have always been uncomfortable with people supporting or celebrating our army. I am therefore puzzled as to why the Brits wear poppies ever year. If you choose to wear one, what's your rationale? Equally, if you do not - what's yours?

Sorry what on earth do you think is goady about asking people about their cultural celebrations that I dont really have a feel for. I could also ask about Christmas or Bonfire night. And i got naice from reading mumsnet which I do find really interesting because it is a little bit of a window into being British without constantly having to ask people on the street.

Well that's what I asked. You never know, she might reply. To be fair though, I think she meant any poppy at all was performative. She thought that people who wear reusable poppies weren't donating every year and therefore the RBL wasn't benefitting, so I felt the need to explain that's not the case. But in retrospect I should probably have given it the same amount of energy I initially intended to give the oh so puzzled OP.

Edited for clarity.

And here we have the politicisation of the poppy which I hate and which shits on the memory of those who have fallen. How dare you?
Im a raging leftie. I wear a poppy. I’ll be playing at a remembrance service in a concert band this weekend, as I do every year, to raise money for the poppy appeal. My late dad, also a raging leftie, was an RAF veteran of WW2 and read the guardian for the rest of his life. It doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable except when people like you use it to spread division in this way - and then it’s not the poppy making us uncomfortable, it’s the knowledge that people died and that’s all you can do with their sacrifice for your freedom.

im not sure what new identity you think you are having imposed though.

Nope. It’s offensive, political bollocks.

My view is that all war is very very messy

which is why we know many decent people on all sides end up being combatents and dying in armed conflict. They are sometimes idealists and sometimes victims of propaganda, but usually died in a situation where they thought they were risking their lives for good reasons. That is a noble and tragic sacrifice.

and whilst I would support a white poppy,...

I can't be arsed to deal with this "colour of your poppy" matters shit.
Amused that I've lived in this country 30+ yrs, my son serves in British Army, yet I don't know anything about poppy colour symbolism. Meanwhile, these poppy colour subtleties are so well understood by OP who just stepped off the boat (seemingly).

If poppy sales are an important income source to armed services then maybe we should allocate more money to the military out of taxation.

Pffffffffffftttt

I own red poppies with Never Again on them that I got from a local veteran's charity that makes them and custom poppies for organisations.

I don't tend to wear them. Some years it's because I forget, sometimes it's because by Remembrance Day, I've already been saturated in the poppies for several weeks on light posts, buses, pubs and so on that I don't feel my voice in this is wanted. We've seen on here how foreigner views on this can be treated.

I come from a family with both veterans and conscientious objectors. I was also raised in the US surrounded by Korean and Vietnam veterans, none who participated in Remembrance ceremonies. I had family and people I went to school with who were taken off to Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond who never came back - or did but not as they were. I value remembering the dead, but not specifically remembering wars or military dead.

The ideology that war is what gave us our freedoms, not the people who directly fought for them in this country against our own government and elites, is something that brings an unease for me.

If you or one of your relatives died fighting for their country against nazism wouldn’t you want people to remember that sacrifice? That’s what the poppy is. I never understand this increasing antagonism and watering down of it. Unless you’re a nazi or a fan of Hitler’s work, everyone should be remembering.

I'm pretty sure Neo Nazis remember WW2.

It's much prettier to make poppies about fighting Hitler 80 years ago, but poppies are from people remembering the deaths in World War 1 and arguing with governments on how they treated people during and after the war. It's watering down to erase that. Care to tell us who we must a fan of from WW1 to not wear poppies? Surely that's something everyone should be remembering...right?

It is a shame that some people try to make the poppies political.

WW1 veterans and widows made poppies political years before WW2 during protests against the government on how poorly they treated people during WW1 and those left behind. That it's moved from Never Again to Lest We Forget is political. That it's treated that people dying in wars is how we have the freedoms of today when it's far more complicated with a lot of conflict with our own government is a political choice.

The ideology that war is what gave us our freedoms, not the people who directly fought for them in this country against our own government and elites, is something that brings an unease for me
Is anyone saying that @FellowSuffereroftheAbsurd ? Isn’t Remembrances all about the personal sacrifice? Obviously some freedoms have been fought for by unions etc, but fundamental ones come from not being subjugated in war.

Wrong
Unionists and loyalist want to keep the union
Hence the term "Unionist '
There are members of the Ulster Unionist Party who fought in Afghanistan for the Royal Irish Regiment, which is part of the British Army, Andy Allen and Doug Beattie.

It's republicans and nationalists who want a United Ireland
That said Northern Irelands Republican First Minister and member of Sinn Fein, Michelle O'Neil, will be laying a wreath at Belfast City Hall on Sunday.

You’ve that all mixed up!

Ireland (aka ROI) isn’t part of the UK as you said.
Northern Ireland is, that’s fine.

But the two communities in NI are, broadly speaking, Unionist and Nationalist.
Unionists, as the name implies, want to remain part of the union, part of the UK. Definitely not part of a united Ireland as you said! Usually see themselves as British, mostly Protestant. Often have GB heritage way back (the plantation of Ulster began in the early 17th century). Loyalists are more extreme or militant unionists if you like, they included loyalist paramilitaries.

The mostly Catholic nationalist community came from the native Irish population and generally identify as Irish. Their more extreme members are known as republicans and included republican paramilitaries.

Most of those in NI want peace above all else and thankfully things have improved a lot since the Good Friday agreement in 1998.

Everyone who immigrates here knows there is a class system. I doubt very much they genuinely understand it, but that’s a somewhat different thread. I think it’s legitimate to wonder just what class differences there are in most British traditions, tbh.

And all ‘naice ’ says to me is that someone has probably spent too much time on Mumsnet. Nobody, surely, uses that expression in real life. I wonder if the OP even understands that it’s more a piss-take of a certain attitude than a platform-specific but genuine use of nice.

edited because auto-correct is shit

@ReignOfError yes, exactly - class seems to be a much more prevalent thing that elsewhere. I might need clarification as naice - I use it instead of middle class? Is that wrong?

I don’t wear one and I’m a veteran. I hate the way it has been misappropriated and used by the right to spread hatred and division eg all the lies about how muslims/the left/ethnic minorities want it to be banned, anyone not wearing one is disrespecting our country etc.

I still donate, go to remembrance parade, observe the silence etc. but for me the wearing of the poppy has been politicised and no longer carries the same meaning.

Naice is a sarcastic comment and certainly doesn’t mean nice or middle class.

I do because my grandad served in WW1 , another relative was killed in the same war & most of these were volunteers or conscripts , it is about loss and sacrifice.

@BreakingBroken thanks, noted

None of the OP's British friends wear a poppy, yet almost everybody in her "naice" neighbourhood wears a poppy. I call BS. But I did love her view that all war is "very very messy".

Maybe you could set foot outside your naice little 'burb and see what the rest of the population are up to.

To support and respect veterans who are living with mental and physical Illness. Especially the youngish ones whose lives have been changed beyond all recognition and struggle to adapt back to normality and family life. There are young soldiers who have been so malnourished that they have lost their eye sight. Most of them have PTSD. Many struggle to stay employed. It’s not glorifying war. It’s acknowledging and supporting the huge effect this has on young men

Behave yourself. Buying a red poppy isn't funding future wars. Do you always make shit up? Funds raised from the sale of red poppies goes to support veterans.

I've no idea where white, black, purple etc poppy funds end up.

No I do not ‘always make shit up’.
you can read, I hope, the British legion say a percentage goes to veterans and the rest goes into the British legion- eg the military. Which of course contributes to future war.
it’s not difficult to understand, but perhaps it is for you.

@ropework I live in London and honestly don't have many truly English friends. It's a very international crowd.

We also don't tend to leave london very much because honestly as new migrants into the country we dont have any family or friends in the rest of the UK so I don't know much about what happens outside our bubble.

Out of respect for the people who have fought and died in wars so that I can live the life I live today.

None of these worthy sentiments preclude one from wearing a red poppy in remembrance of all the poor bastards who volunteered and were conscripted and died in hideous conditions in WW1 and subsequent conflicts.

The British Legion is not funding wars. It helps the veterans, it helps the families & children of those who are serving in the armed forces, it provides support. It is NOT funding wars.