white poppys?

[fluffles]

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...

I think the problem for those who disagree strongly with certain wars, is that which is perceived as the rank hypocrisy of politicians looking all sombre and sad at the official ceremonies when they were the ones to send those personnel out to fight an unjustified war. Which in some sense can be seen as 'legitimising' the war they initiated by hijacking the natural and justified grief of those loved ones who have been bereaved or those injured by using the mantra of " sacrifice and heroism in service of our country". When quite possibly it was a sacrifice they should never ever have been asked to make.

Does that make sense? I can list all the wars I think were 'justified| and those I think were "unjustified" and it sort of makes me feel ill so many brave men and women have sacrificed their lives in service of an agenda wholly unrelated to protecting our country, and that the very people who perpetrated those wars get to say it was all in a good cause...and look how much they mourn and regret that sacrifice...and that in some sense by wearing the red poppy they are appropriating both the grief and righteousness of those who have suffered, when they are fit to clean their boots.

I mean, not fit to clean their boots....

Watch out MadameDefarge, we might actually start agreeing on some of the points you made in your last post.

The armed forces are massively underfunded, yet expected to do more and more for less by our government.
They are not alone in having to make so called efficiency savings. The government does seem to think that they can get blood from a stone!

But that's a whole new discussion.

now, steady on there, Flappy! can't be having that!

What people may not realize that white poppies were first worn in the 1930s by women who had experienced one war and were hoping against hope that there would not be another. It is not a modern phenomenon or a "political" statement, and I don't see why anyone should be offended by a person wearing, as I do, a red poppy for remembrance and a white one for hope for the future.

Whilst they are not new, they were and still are a political statement. Rememberance is for the veterans and the people who have sacrificed the most for the rest of us. And on this one day it seems a very small thing to ask people to put there white poppies away whilst we honour the dead.

It seems reasonable that on one day of the year we stop and appreciate their sacrifice... and maybe... just maybe... teach our own children to say "thank you".

If I see white poppies in church on Sunday, you will all hear me scream.

I am happy to teach my children to say 'thank you". However I also want to teach them to work for, as the originators of the white poppy said, "No more war". I don't think these sentiments are contradictory.

That's fine, seeker. Of course it is. I just think that on remembrance/veterans day everyone should leave their white poppy at home. There are another 364 days to wear it. But, just this one I feel should be reserved for the red poppy.

Have you read Harry Patch on the subject of Remembrance Day?

I'll start another thread in "chat" on this subject - on reflection, this seems the wrong place for debate on this subject.

No.... but I have met Harry Patch.

PersonallyI'd rather people wear a white poppy than no poppy at all. At least it is showing that they are thinking of the people killed in wars rather than just ignoring it.

I wear my red poppy with pride and a mark of respect to the 97 year old men I work with who lost brothers and friends and cry when they remember what they saw for idiots who have no respect for our freedom of speech.

I agree with the white poppy. It's not any more political than a red one. It was worn by women who had in all likelihood had lost a son or husband in the first war and didn't want another generation to go though that pain.

I understand that the red poppy and 11/11 is an act of solemn remembrance but in our culture there is a trend towards a mawkish romanticisation of war which verges on the "dulce et decorum". The men who died in WW1 &2 were not "fallen heroes" but victims of power hungry expanionist policy. I feel angry on their behalf and the white poppy seems to be to represent the hopelessness felt by women like my great aunt who spent their lives childless and alone mourning the loss of their husbands and also a plea to the powers that be to prevent wars as much as they can so events like remembrance day will no longer be needed. I don't see how anyone can disagree with that.

So wear both if you want. They are not mutually exclusive.