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Forces sweethearts

If you have a family member in the Royal Navy, RAF or army, find support from other Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

white poppys?

139 replies

fluffles · 29/10/2009 22:47

i like the idea of a white poppy for peace but i want to check - does the british legion or service soldiers find them offensive?

i would like to remember all victims of war and make a statement for peace but i don't want to offend the current or past forces.

can somebody let me know?

thanks.

p.s. see www.whitepoppy.org.uk/ for more info...

OP posts:
undervalued · 31/10/2009 21:28

Right bach atcha nightbynight.

stuffitllllama · 31/10/2009 21:28

Studying politics. And it taught you that the sacrifice of servicemen shouldn't be remembered and respected.

One good reason not to study politics, as if there weren't enough.

nighbynight · 31/10/2009 21:29

studying political philosophy is the start of understanding life. But sneering is easy.

hf128219 · 31/10/2009 21:30

It's a book published in 2006 about Musharraf - the then president of Pakistan. It's a good starting point on understanding the 'War on Terror'

stuffitllllama · 31/10/2009 21:32

Nbyn you have not lived if you think studying political philosophy is the start of understanding life.

hf128219 · 31/10/2009 21:34

nighbynight - shut the door on your way out, there's a dear.

undervalued · 31/10/2009 21:34

The one thing I did learn when I had completed my politics degree is that politicians don't always do the right thing for the country - wearing a poppy is not about politics nightbynight, it is about respecting people who, disregarding your 'educated' opinion, died in the belief that they were protecting the lives of their loved ones and their countrymen.

nighbynight · 31/10/2009 21:34

Oh, I have a load of life experience on top of the philosophy, stuffit!

nighbynight · 31/10/2009 21:36

Well if you feel happy wearing a poppy for that reason undervalued, wear it!

nighbynight · 31/10/2009 21:38

Oi - first you were sneering at me because you said I was uneducated, now you are sneering at me for being "educated!"

stuffitllllama · 31/10/2009 21:41

Not enough.

I would recommend studying this site before studying political philosophy as a way of understanding life.

The respect, rage, sympathy, irrationality, understanding, depth of emotion, reason and empathy here tell you more about how humans function individually and as a group than political philosophy.

And yes, I have a module of political philosophy under my belt from many years ago. And anti-nuclear demos, and picket lines, and multiple countries and cultures, and if there were a demonstration tomorrow against sending troops into Iraq I would be on it. I would be wearing a red poppy.

NbyN you are good hearted I am sure. But most people are: everyone is anti-war, as a "philosophy"; everyone is for peace, as an ideal. Sometimes you need to take your nose out of the book.

hf128219 · 31/10/2009 21:42

Once again dear - don't make a noise when you shut that door.

undervalued · 31/10/2009 21:48

No, I'm sneering at you for clearly not listening in the education you have had. Fancy believing that a degree makes you capable of understanding the consequences of war! I doff my cap at your utter ignorancand can only think you fit the Pope quote - 'a little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain and drinking largely sobers us again'
(google it, dear)

stuffitllllama · 31/10/2009 21:50

Undervalued: your post is more pithy. I don't mean at all that mn is a way of understanding the consequences of war, but the human condition.

nighbynight · 31/10/2009 21:57

I have been on mn since 2000, stuffit, so have read what's here. Real life? yes and no. I am not going to give a potted cv - yours is interesting - mine is similar. Yet we come to different conclusions about the red poppy, and the whole war remembrance thing.

h and undervalued - your insults aren't worth engaging with, sorry.

undervalued · 31/10/2009 21:59

sorry - love irony. {And for patronising if you 'got it.'}

stuffitllllama · 31/10/2009 22:03

You gave your reasons nbyn: I gave mine. Yours is mn since 2000 and political philosophy, and for the rest, the same as me. You have given me a potted cv.

People fought for you to have the freedom to wear a white poppy.

I disagree with your view but would not stop you wearing one.

You would do well to remember that there are people who will fight today, tomorrow and in years to come for your right to wear that white poppy. A relative of one of them is on this thread.

nighbynight · 31/10/2009 22:04

Anyway, I think we agree about white poppies - I find them a little too overtly political and showoff - but I don't criticise other people who wear them for their beliefs.

nighbynight · 31/10/2009 22:04

er stuffit, posts xed - I said further down that I have never worn a white poppy...

undervalued · 31/10/2009 22:05

ROLF nightbynight- Bless ya.Maybe you would sound more intelligent on Netmums.....

hf128219 · 31/10/2009 22:06

Just take a long walk lovey.

stuffitllllama · 31/10/2009 22:06

I criticise them. Why not? Wearing a white poppy is an act of criticism and disapproval. If you can't take it, don't dish it out.

nighbynight · 31/10/2009 22:10

Well, they are effectively saying "I'm anti war." But we're all anti war (apart from a few nutters), so I dont feel the need to wear the white poppy to say so.
But I am not going to criticise someone else for being anti-war. (Maybe in WW2 they would have been conscientious objectors, who also don't deserve scorn.)

stuffitllllama · 31/10/2009 22:11

They are effectively saying "I'm anti-war and you aren't."

nighbynight · 31/10/2009 22:12

I don't see that. I think that's too defensive a view. "if you dont agree with me you must be agin me"