Re: Remembrance Day and the Poppy Mafia : Sun Nov 11, 2012 9:21 pm  

cod'ead wrote:

Like gay marriage for example?

Sorry, are you talking about advocates of gay marriage or those who oppose it? Or are you simply intent on following me around the forum trying to disrupt the discussion?

[Durham Giant]

Re: Remembrance Day and the Poppy Mafia : Sun Nov 11, 2012 9:22 pm  

rover49 wrote:

Its his right, but perhaps someone might like to sit him down and explain what remembrance day is actually about, there are many a dead Irishman lying in foreign fields after fighting against genuine tyranny over the last hundred years or so.

and many ex servicemen being supported for helping to maintain tyranny around the World by stopping countries having IndependenceIndonesia, Kenya, Malaya, Aden etc etc.

The issue about poppy day and why it is now de rigeur to have one is that 10 years ago it was very much about WW1 and WW2.

It was about the evils of war.

Now it is about , " our troops", , " our brave heroes in Afghanistan". The wearing of the poppy is now not about remembering those who have died but about those who are fighting and is used to drum up nationalistic support for much less popular wars than WW2 was.

Re: Remembrance Day and the Poppy Mafia : Sun Nov 11, 2012 9:48 pm  

rover49 wrote:

Your right, the modern soldier does enlist out of choice. However, we would be totally f'cked if nobody volunteered, like it or not we need the armed forces, we might not agree with whatever conflict they are engaged in at any given time but without them we would be bolloxed and a target for anyone who fancied a pop at us. ,

We'd also be f***ed if we didn't have nurses/doctors/teachers/bus drivers/train drivers/etc volunteering too.....The fact is that the modern day soldier volunteers and while they do an admirable job, they shouldn't be hoisted onto some pedestal as some sort of martyr.

By all means, remember the fallen of ALL wars, but don't make the general public feel guilty for being cynical about some of the conflicts that our forces are embroiled in.

Re: Remembrance Day and the Poppy Mafia : Sun Nov 11, 2012 10:28 pm  

Diavolo Rosso wrote:

Unfortunately post-Diana Britain seems to have picked up a certain scouse quality of grief culture, be it overly aggressively supporting charitable causes or being keen to be seen as being most upset at whatever event (it says a lot that all three England RL internationals have been preceded by a minutes silence including one for a woman who got run over ffs).
.

Seconded.

Re: Remembrance Day and the Poppy Mafia : Sun Nov 11, 2012 11:05 pm  

I do not often wear a poppy. I have always seen it as something that has been hijacked by the establishment to glorify war. I know that's not what it is supposed to be about but that's how it has usually seemed to me.

Re: Remembrance Day and the Poppy Mafia : Sun Nov 11, 2012 11:30 pm  

kirkstaller wrote:

Yesterday I took my children into Leeds city centre to do a bit of Christmas shopping. When I got there I noticed an unusual amount of military personnel milling around - sea cadets, TA volunteers etc - selling poppies for Remembrance Day.

As my eldest has been learning about WWII at school, I gave him 50p to go a buy one from a stand. As he was having his poppy pinned to the lapel of his coat, the two squaddies manning the stand asked me in an accusatory manner, "and where is your poppy, Sir?" I said that I didn’t have one. They responded by telling me about their colleagues in Afghanistan who were dying to save me. It got really quite intimidating and I ended up walking away before my son had managed to give his donation.

I was quite taken aback by this...What happened yesterday was really quite wrong.

Find out which unit they were from and ping the CO an e mail. It will probably achieve more than moaning on RL Fans.

Further, go and post the same complaint on the Army Rumours Service. Be sure to link us to the thread.

Re: Remembrance Day and the Poppy Mafia : Mon Nov 12, 2012 6:59 am  

Dally wrote:

I do not often wear a poppy. I have always seen it as something that has been hijacked by the establishment to glorify war. I know that's not what it is supposed to be about but that's how it has usually seemed to me.

It doesn't matter what idiots try and hijack it, the poppy is about remembering fallen servicemen and women (and for the other emergency services as well) and those who choose to wear it should try and remember this, rather than not wear one for any other reason.

Re: Remembrance Day and the Poppy Mafia : Mon Nov 12, 2012 7:39 am  

Whilst it is personal choice to wear or not wear a poppy, I don't think doing something for a few days a year in support of those who give their lives so that we have said personal choice is such a hard ship.

Most of those claiming it as personal choice would be the first to moan if we were governed like places such as China and Korea.

Re: Remembrance Day and the Poppy Mafia : Mon Nov 12, 2012 9:32 am  

100% Wire wrote: Holy sh*t i could have sworn you'd have been with the sanctimonious poppy brigade Well ya learns something new every day. Personally, I dislike a lot of aspects about how it's presented these days – the seeming competitiveness to wear one earlier than ever or bigger than anyone else; launching appeals with pop stars seems at odds with remembering war dead ... etc. So while I do choose to buy and wear one, it is done late and only for a day or two. And while I don't personally choose to buy a white poppy because I do not personally believe that, however nice, pacifism is always possible (see 1939), I do personally think of the red poppy as representing all the war dead, and not simply those from one side. But those are my choices. Just seen: there's a good piece here.

100% Wire wrote: Holy sh*t i could have sworn you'd have been with the sanctimonious poppy brigade Well ya learns something new every day. Personally, I dislike a lot of aspects about how it's presented these days – the seeming competitiveness to wear one earlier than ever or bigger than anyone else; launching appeals with pop stars seems at odds with remembering war dead ... etc. So while I do choose to buy and wear one, it is done late and only for a day or two. And while I don't personally choose to buy a white poppy because I do not personally believe that, however nice, pacifism is always possible (see 1939), I do personally think of the red poppy as representing all the war dead, and not simply those from one side. But those are my choices. Just seen: there's a good piece here.

Re: Remembrance Day and the Poppy Mafia : Mon Nov 12, 2012 9:58 am  

Oh, and now seen this. Man arrested for posting image of burning poppy (a paper one) online.

Oh, and now seen this. Man arrested for posting image of burning poppy (a paper one) online.