This year, I will wear a poppy for the last time

[evewithanapple]

Over the last 10 years the sepia tone of November has become blood-soaked with paper poppies festooning the lapels of our politicians, newsreaders and business leaders. The most fortunate in our society have turned the solemnity of remembrance for fallen soldiers in ancient wars into a justification for our most recent armed conflicts. The American

Comments

[tabaqui]

Is it really necessary that we get *two* 'poppies = agreeing with the industrial war machine!!!'?

I will wear my poppy, in honor of my father, Navy vet of WWII and Korea. And i will hold my 'support the troops - bring them home' sign proudly. These things do not conflict.

[sobota]

I was just thinking this. And I agree. :)

[lamardeuse]

One was about the situation in Canada, this one's about the UK. In both countries, the Tory-dominated governments have co-opted the narrative around remembrance to the point where even some of those who remember the legacy of WWII are sickened by it, as you can see above. I know _p is pretty US-centric but surely a couple of articles about the thinking in other countries aren't that big a deal?

[moonshaz]

I'm from the US, and I found it very interesting to learn about how the whole poppy thing is conducted and viewed in these 2 other countries.

As asrana said, there do seem to be be some major differences in what the poppies are thought to signify in Canada and the UK as opposed to how we view them in the US. I think it's good to know these things. It has really made me stop and think, and that can only be a good thing, afaic.

[lamardeuse]

Fucking this. This is exactly what Harper is doing in Canada too and it makes me sick.

[apostle_of_eris]

"If they ask why we died, tell them because our fathers lied."
-- Rudyard Kipling on his son's death in World War I