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White Poppy Controversy

Your stance on the white poppy:

  • For

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Against

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Okay if worn with a red poppy

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Neutral

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • Total voters
    1

Mark of Zorro

先輩
4 Oct 2012
2,427
316
98
Some of you may not know, but November 11 is Remembrance Day in Britain, Canada and elsewhere. It began to be celebrated one year after the end of WWI as: " a day of remembrance for members of the armed forces who were killed during World War I. "

People started to wear red poppies about 1921 to commemorate soldiers who died in WWI. But as new wars have come, both the day and poppy are used to commemorate soldiers who died in each new war.

But some people, including myself, see a back handed militarism in all this. On Remembrance Day we see military uniforms and it is emphasized how war and sacrifice has "preserved our freedoms". Also some feel that the red poppy was only meant to commemorate the deaths of British soldiers in WWI. Thus:



In 1926, a few years after the introduction of the red poppy in the UK, the idea of pacifists making their own poppies was put forward by a member of the No More War Movement (and that the black centre of the British Legion's red poppies should be imprinted with "No More War"). Their intention was to remember casualties of all wars, with the added meaning of a hope for the end of all wars; the red poppy, they felt, signified only the British military dead. However they did not pursue the idea. The first white poppies were sold by the Co-operative Women's Guild in 1933. The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) took part in their distribution from 1934, and white poppy wreaths were laid from 1937 as a pledge to peace that war must not happen again. Anti-war organisations such as the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship now support the White Poppy Movement.

Those who promote the wearing of white poppies argue that the red poppy also conveys a specific political standpoint, and point to the divisive nature of the red poppy in Northern Ireland, where it is worn mainly by the Unionist community. They choose the white poppy over the red often because they wish to disassociate themselves from the militaristic aspects of Remembrance Day, rather than the commemoration itself.[1]

White poppy (symbol) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But there is a huge controversy over this. Some take the white poppy as an insult, such as that battle ax Margaret Thatcher. I have read comments suggesting that anyone wearing a white poppy should have their faces kicked in.

But the way I see it, anytime anyone gets angry and threatening over a white poppy, they prove that to them the red poppy is a symbol of war. They prove they are pro-war, nationalist and pro-violence. If not, they would appreciate the all-inclusive nature for all war dead of the white poppy and its demand for peace, which is a state of affairs that will ensure no more dead veterans.

Seriously, anyone getting mad over a peace symbol exposes themselves as a war lover IMHO.

What are your feelings about the white poppy?
 
I wasn't aware of the controversy over the white and the red poppy symbol. However, we have to accept the fact that symbols can be misused, abused, or that their meaning can change to some over long periods of time, due to political or social change. Take the swastika, Germanic runes or the hammer and sickle as examples. Not the best, I admit.

Why not take a pragmatic approach and use a symbols not laden with controversy and conflict? If someone really wants to express their desire for world peace and antimilitarism, why not resort to the olive branch or the white dove? Just asking innocently...
 
why not resort to the olive branch or the white dove? Just asking innocently...

Interesting suggestions! I guess the only thing is that they don't commemorate the war dead. So red poppy worn with an olive branch/ white dove then?

I guess that just leaves the question of if the red poppy commemorates only allied solider war dead.

My personal feeling is that WWI was just as stupid on all sides. It just never should have happened and would not have happened if the major powers had had any wits or, of course, if people had just flat out refused to fight (like they did during the Christmas truce). WWII is the only war in recent history involving my country that I can call legit. Korea I am somewhat on the fence about and that is the end of any doubt I have. As such, I cannot support any symbol of allied soldier war dead only. It MUST commemorate all war dead or I am simply not having it.
 
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