Poppy Watch

[EC Unique]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24851450

"We shall remember"

And what, pray tell, does that have to do with the ones that were sent into the grinder in Flanders?

Why should his post be about Flanders?

There's a clue in the title of this thread.

Jez! You really don't understand do you?

[Tony Baloney]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24851450

"We shall remember"

And what, pray tell, does that have to do with the ones that were sent into the grinder in Flanders?

Why should his post be about Flanders?

There's a clue in the title of this thread.

From poppy.org.uk...

Each year the nation shows its support for our work through the Poppy Appeal.Every poppy helps us to support the British Armed Forces past and present, and their families. Please give generously and wear your poppy with pride.

[BennyCake]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24851450

"We shall remember"

And what, pray tell, does that have to do with the ones that were sent into the grinder in Flanders?

Why should his post be about Flanders?

There's a clue in the title of this thread.

From poppy.org.uk...

Each year the nation shows its support for our work through the Poppy Appeal.Every poppy helps us to support the British Armed Forces past and present, and their families. Please give generously and wear your poppy with pride.

So, if you buy a poppy, you're supporting war. And an illegal war at that.

[Dougal Maguire]

Yes. If it was only to support the dead of the 2 world wars I'd buy one. I wouldn't wear it but I'd buy one

[Tonto]

I was in France and Belgium over the summer and visited the war graves for the first time.  These are maintained beautifully by the CWGC who visit each and every cemetery once a week in order to maintain the graves.  If that's not worth supporting (or at the VERY least, not opposing), then I don't know what is.

The graves I saw contained the remains of people from our own parishes... And that goes for all of us, whether we live in Castlereagh, the Falls, Strabane, Dublin or Cork.

This thread is bloody depressing.

[gallsman]

I was in France and Belgium over the summer and visited the war graves for the first time.  These are maintained beautifully by the CWGC who visit each and every cemetery once a week in order to maintain the graves.  If that's not worth supporting (or at the VERY least, not opposing), then I don't know what is.

The graves I saw contained the remains of people from our own parishes... And that goes for all of us, whether we live in Castlereagh, the Falls, Strabane, Dublin or Cork.

This thread is bloody depressing.

What's your point? I mentioned this a few pages back. Unionist attitude frequently appears to be that because Catholics and Irish nationalists fought in the World Wars, Catholics and nationalists today should have no issue with the poppy. That we should forget about Bloody Sunday or Aidan McAnespie or UDR collusion because some of our own died under Britain's flag.

What you'll find is that most people here have absolutely no issue with anyone wearing or purchasing a poppy - it's the overt politicisation of it compared to, say, ten years ago. The irony of David Cameron telling FIFA that the poppy isn't a political symbol. Mike Nesbitt on Let's Talk last year actually saying it made him angry, when he saw people not wearing poppies.

Jon Snow has it right - it's poppy fascism. Everybody has a right to choose.

[LeoMc]

I was in France and Belgium over the summer and visited the war graves for the first time.  These are maintained beautifully by the CWGC who visit each and every cemetery once a week in order to maintain the graves.  If that's not worth supporting (or at the VERY least, not opposing), then I don't know what is.

The graves I saw contained the remains of people from our own parishes... And that goes for all of us, whether we live in Castlereagh, the Falls, Strabane, Dublin or Cork.

This thread is bloody depressing.

I don't think anyone is opposing it. However the wearing of the poppy is about more than that.

Would you see an equivalence between support if the Irish Graves Association and the IRA?

[gallsman]

It's nothing to do with bitterness either. Forgive me as a can't remember the name but there's a young lad from somewhere in East Belfast who had his legs blown off in either Iraq or Afghanistan. I've seen him on a number of tv shows and he is courage and dignity personified. He's not angry, he's not filled with despair - he has accepted what has happened and now simply wants to move on with his life and, I imagine, needs all the support he can get.

I have no issue with funds from poppy sales helping people like this out, providing whatever care and assistance may be required. What angers me is the likes of Blair, Brown and Cameron who sent the poor bastards their in the first place having the temerity to encourage and pressure the wider population to give generously while they wash their hands of everything because they stick a poppy on their lapel for six weeks of the year.

[Canalman]

Very good article (and fair imo) in today's Daily Mail about the wearing of the poppy in Ireland. Written by Tom McGurk  and well worth a read.

[deiseach]

I was in France and Belgium over the summer and visited the war graves for the first time.  These are maintained beautifully by the CWGC who visit each and every cemetery once a week in order to maintain the graves.  If that's not worth supporting (or at the VERY least, not opposing), then I don't know what is.

The graves I saw contained the remains of people from our own parishes... And that goes for all of us, whether we live in Castlereagh, the Falls, Strabane, Dublin or Cork.

This thread is bloody depressing.

Then don't read it. Scratch that, you clearly don't read it or you'd see that most people don't object to people wearing the poppy, it's the saturation coverage of it laden with passive-aggressive behaviour towards those who refuse to conform. But you carry on telling yourself that we're all pissing on the graves of the dead.

[seafoid]

I was in France and Belgium over the summer and visited the war graves for the first time.  These are maintained beautifully by the CWGC who visit each and every cemetery once a week in order to maintain the graves.  If that's not worth supporting (or at the VERY least, not opposing), then I don't know what is.

The graves I saw contained the remains of people from our own parishes... And that goes for all of us, whether we live in Castlereagh, the Falls, Strabane, Dublin or Cork.

This thread is bloody depressing.

I went to the German cemetery in El Alamein once. The Germans have the right attitude to war- it's madness.
There are 3 million Germans buried somewhere in the East. There is no such thing as a good war. 
The poppy is all about 'oh how unfortunate our soldiers were'.
All this bollocks about bravery and service.   
PTSD comes as standard. And many ex squaddies end up homeless.
The next wave of recruits get the jingoism.
And so it continues.
God save the Queen.

And the Unionists with their identity issues.

[Dougal Maguire]

It's nothing to do with bitterness either. Forgive me as a can't remember the name but there's a young lad from somewhere in East Belfast who had his legs blown off in either Iraq or Afghanistan. I've seen him on a number of tv shows and he is courage and dignity personified. He's not angry, he's not filled with despair - he has accepted what has happened and now simply wants to move on with his life and, I imagine, needs all the support he can get.

I have no issue with funds from poppy sales helping people like this out, providing whatever care and assistance may be required. What angers me is the likes of Blair, Brown and Cameron who sent the poor b**tards their in the first place having the temerity to encourage and pressure the wider population to give generously while they wash their hands of everything because they stick a poppy on their lapel for six weeks of the year.

God be with the Middle Ages when the King led his country into battle. Methinks that if that tradition was about today there'd be far less wars

[Wildweasel74]

we getting too worried about the poppy lads, it shouldn't bother us, was in ballymoney the day and there was alot of poppies all round, tesco staff, selling alot in tesco,shop owners and alot of customers, doesnt worry me, if they want to wear one so be it, i dont give out to those who do, i probably know more about the origins of the poppy than alot of the people who may wear it to feel british and not necessary to support what the poppy was originally intended to fund.

[michaelg]

we getting too worried about the poppy lads, it shouldn't bother us, was in ballymoney the day and there was alot of poppies all round, tesco staff, selling alot in tesco,shop owners and alot of customers, doesnt worry me, if they want to wear one so be it, i dont give out to those who do, i probably know more about the origins of the poppy than alot of the people who may wear it to feel british and not necessary to support what the poppy was originally intended to fund.

I love the casual assumptions made about why people wear poppies.  If as you say, most simply wear a poppy to feel British, do you not think that this may in part be a reaction to Nationalists' long-standing opposition to them?

[red hander]

we getting too worried about the poppy lads, it shouldn't bother us, was in ballymoney the day and there was alot of poppies all round, tesco staff, selling alot in tesco,shop owners and alot of customers, doesnt worry me, if they want to wear one so be it, i dont give out to those who do, i probably know more about the origins of the poppy than alot of the people who may wear it to feel british and not necessary to support what the poppy was originally intended to fund.

I love the casual assumptions made about why people wear poppies.  If as you say, most simply wear a poppy to feel British, do you not think that this may in part be a reaction to Nationalists' long-standing opposition to them?

That long-standing opposition might have something to do with the fact this divisive symbol also encompasses Black N Tans and Auxilliaries (murdering thugs sanctioned by central government), UDR and RUC members (colluding bastards sanctioned by central government), members of the Parachute Regiment (more murdering bastards sanctioned by central government). A huge amount of unionists in the statelet rushed to join reserved occupations the second Adolf set foot in Poland, don't forget. And those nationalists that did volunteer got absolutely no thanks for it after the war by being denied employment and housing ... do you want me to paint you a picture? Idiot