Recently there has been increasing media pressure for people to wear a red poppy prior to, as well as on, Remembrance Day. The wearing of a poppy or none, the colour of poppy and the length of time it is worn, should all be a matter of personal choice.
Red poppies
are a fund raising item produced for the Royal British Legion. While this charity does much good work for ex-service personnel, there is an argument that if
politicians want war they must be prepared to pay for the consequences and not
leave it to charity.
A
spokesperson for the Royal British Legion says the poppy "honours all
those who have sacrificed their lives to protect the freedoms we enjoy today,
and so the decision to wear it must be a matter of personal choice. If the
poppy became compulsory it would lose its meaning and significance. We are
thankful for every poppy worn, but we never insist upon it, to do so would be
contrary to the spirit of Remembrance and all that the poppy stands for." The RBL red poppy is on sale from the beginning of November, but this does not mean that it must be worn from then on till Remembrance Day.
Broadcasters
are normally not allowed to wear symbols of other charities. Some therefore
feel it is wrong to wear the red poppy. Individual broadcasters may also not
believe in wearing anything which represents any kind of statement on air.
Some,
including ex-service personnel, do not wear a poppy as they believe it has been
mis-appropriated, even "hijacked" by latter-day politicians to
"sell dubious wars" in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Some don’t
wear a poppy because they believe its purpose of commemorating a "great
waste" of lives had been lost. People who had no idea what the trenches
were like are wearing them for "social or work-related reasons" or to
look patriotic.
There is now a
rather unpleasant breed of poppy fascism out there - 's/he damned well must wear
a poppy!’ The tabloid press and some folk on social media engage in bullying
tactics, misleadingly equating wearing a poppy with patriotism.
Some people
are pacifists and prefer to wear a white poppy. The white poppy is produced by
the Peace Pledge Union, an anti-war group founded in 1934. The PPU's website
says the red poppies have the effect of "reinforcing support and
acceptance of the military" and that many people are "concerned about
the poppy's association with military power and the justification of war".
The RBL says it has "no objection" to the white poppy and sees
"no conflict" in wearing it alongside the red poppy.
Some object
to actions of the British armed forces. As there is a growing association of
the red poppy with all conflicts Britain has engaged in, this is problematic
for those of Irish descent and those objecting to current engagements in
Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
Various sources
Various sources
