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News

Why I No Longer Feel Comfortable Wearing a Poppy

1000 replies

Geckos48 · 31/10/2013 13:21

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/madeleine-fry/poppy-day_b_4169581.html

very eloquently put. Exactly how I feel about the whole debacle.

November 11th should be for those who selflessly gave their lives in the World Wars, not those who chose to fight dubious campaigns abroad.

OP posts:

Report

scarevola · 31/10/2013 15:53

"I support RBL because they do good work for all but you won't catch me wearing a H4H band/badge/t-shirt."

Agree!

Though I tend to support SSAFA year round, rather than RBL once a year.

chibi · 31/10/2013 15:57

indeed. i find many (most?) types of collective remembrance problematic for this reason, they often seem in part at least to contain an element of display

i should emphasise i have reasons beyond this for my poppy discomfort

it is difficult, i am in a public kind of job and wearing a poppy is expected. i do while working, but not in my own time. this is probably hypocritical but i do not want to share my reasons while being harangued and told i must love hitler/saddam/fascism because i don't like to wear one

scarevola · 31/10/2013 15:59

"I know it is no longer like that. But the poppy appeal's history is extremely classist.

The red poppy appeal started for the Haig Fund in 1921, and Lord again certainly spoke against 'class-based' welfare and I had thout he had veto'ed it from the outset for the Haig Fund. If it wasn't like that, I'm interested in finding our more. Any references?

trish5000 · 31/10/2013 16:00

Our nation was in peril in ww2. Hugely so.

skylerwhite · 31/10/2013 16:04

scarevola Niall Barr's The Lion and the Poppy is a good place to start: it has a chapter on comradeship and class in the British Legion.

kim147 · 31/10/2013 16:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

skylerwhite · 31/10/2013 16:06

The war in the East (ie the Soviet Union) is where WW2 was won and lost. And was always Hitler's priority.

chibi · 31/10/2013 16:07

i cannot imagine any situation in which you wouldn't lose your empire, it was only a matter of when

territt · 31/10/2013 16:14

empires rise and fall all the time. just looking at America now. I bet within a 100years some of the states will separate off.

But England can always be proud that we had the largest empire the world has ever seen :-)

Grennie · 31/10/2013 16:15

scare - I don't know anything about it. Just what my Grandad used to say. He was extremely vocal about it.

skylerwhite · 31/10/2013 16:16

England can always be proud that we had the largest empire the world has ever seen :-)

!!!

SatinSandals · 31/10/2013 16:22

Well said, MrsDeVere. If you don't feel comfortable wearing one then don't wear one, it is optional! I always hate the way one person makes up their mind about something and wants to apply it to everyone. I shall wear a red poppy, the way that I always do, but not until nearer the 11th. I hate the way they now appear on TV in October.
There is freedom of choice! Make up your own mind! Wear a poppy in October, wear a red one, wear a white one, wear both, wear none BUT do whatever quietly.

chibi · 31/10/2013 16:25

yes indeed

genocide slavery rape starvation concentration camps

loads to be proud of (spoiler: these thinfs are shitty enough to cancel out any good that may have arisen inadvertently. this system of empire was never intended to benifit the people crushed by it)

i do tend to find that those most proud of empire are those who have nothing personally to be proud of

chibi · 31/10/2013 16:26

but whatever, i don't want to derail what has largely been an interesting discussion, but i could not let that pass without comment

flatpackhamster · 31/10/2013 16:30

skylerwhite

The war in the East (ie the Soviet Union) is where WW2 was won and lost. And was always Hitler's priority.

Up to a point. The significance of the defeat of Hitler's airpower in the west and its consequences for the war in the east shouldn't be overlooked. The war was (IMO) destined to be lost by the Axis the moment Hitler failed to negotiate or bomb Britain out of it.

JohnnyBarthes · 31/10/2013 16:31

I'm wondering if the OP has confused the Falklands with Gibraltar

elfycat · 31/10/2013 16:31

If you don't want to wear one, then don't. It's one of the best bits about having freedom of choice.

I will be wearing my poppy (they do great wrist ones this year) and DH will, and my too-young-to-choose DDs will be have enamel pins on their coats.

But I won't worry about non-poppy wearers if you don't bother me i.e. shut up and do what you do without bashing us over the head about it

flatpackhamster · 31/10/2013 16:33

JohnnyBarthes

I'm wondering if the OP has confused the Falklands with Gibraltar

Because the OP doesn't know any history.

skylerwhite · 31/10/2013 16:34

The war was (IMO) destined to be lost by the Axis the moment Hitler failed to negotiate or bomb Britain out of it.

I'm afraid most historians of WW2 would disagree with that, flatpack.

SatinSandals · 31/10/2013 16:35

I think they were fighting for freedom of choice! Be thankful we aren't all forced to wear one, or not allowed to wear one! We are also allowed to talk about it, whatever our views.

morethanpotatoprints · 31/10/2013 16:37

I don't buy a Poppy because just like every other charity I have first hand experience on how they work.
For instance do people realise that all the BL clubs and societies that are run throughout the country work at premises where the charity give their name only? The main work is done by volunteers including all the maintenance, licensing, management etc, for which they have to fund raise. A general manager collects the money from the volunteers, this manager is 90k per year, from one locality He had a lovely new flash car, last time I saw him.
This is where the money from the poppies goes, and old joe and Ethel do all the work for newt. They don't mind they enjoy it, but at times they worry their club will close as they just can't fund raise for everything they need.

flatpackhamster · 31/10/2013 16:40

skylerwhite

The war was (IMO) destined to be lost by the Axis the moment Hitler failed to negotiate or bomb Britain out of it.

I'm afraid most historians of WW2 would disagree with that, flatpack.

Ahh, the appeal to the higher authority. Shame we can't ask them all.

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SatinSandals · 31/10/2013 16:41

I don't think that is just BL. I could name other charities that are similar.

SatinSandals · 31/10/2013 16:43

I love MN because of the sweeping statements, as if anyone can say what most historians of WW2 would say.

skylerwhite · 31/10/2013 16:45

Them's the breaks, flatpack. Richard Evans, Timothy Snyder, Ian Kershaw, to name a few, if you're interested in doing some reading.

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