The White Poppy

[Bizud]

From the University of Alberta student paper. The site seems to be down, this is from the google cache.

 

White poppy honours dead without glamourizing war

 

Graham Lettner, Opinion Staff Wednesday, 7 November 2007

 

This November, I

[Moonlight_Graham]

War sucks, but fighting something like WWII was necessary. He's got a point about the Legion, but just wear the fucking poppy.

[Sparq]

So university students have nothing better to do?

 

Mostly agree with Moonlight on this one. War may be evil, sure, but it is a necessary evil at times. I don't think anyone can argue with the actions of the Allied forces in WWII, in particular.

 

Though admittedly the past few major wars have been total BS, the soldiers themselves are not at fault for that.

[Bizud]

I remember reading about soldiers who came back from the war, expecting to receive a hero's welcome, but instead returned to unemployment and poverty, essentially shit on by the government, while the government glorified the deaths of those who weren't fortunate enough to return. Some of them refused to wear the poppy and thought the idea of "national remembrance" was absurd and cheapened their personal remembrance. I'll leave the remembrance to those who lost friends and family.

 

The other thing about the white poppy is that it signifies remembrance of all the victims of war, not just the soldiers on our side. To tell the truth the nationalist aspect of the remembrance makes me as uncomfortable as the militarist aspect. I'll not associate with either national flags or military uniforms. When I wore a red poppy in the past it was because of pressure and orthodoxy ("just wear the fucking poppy"), and that's a bad reason to do anything. It has never felt right to me. And you'd think it would also cheapen the meaning of the symbol for those who actually do care if people are wearing it "just because."

[Sparq]

In the end, this is another one of those issues that is practically irrelevant. Do what you want. That's all.

[Bizud]

Yeah, pretty much. I've only been hassled once for mine.

[Moonlight_Graham]

I remember reading about soldiers who came back from the war, expecting to receive a hero's welcome, but instead returned to unemployment and poverty, essentially shit on by the government, while the government glorified the deaths of those who weren't fortunate enough to return. Some of them refused to wear the poppy and thought the idea of "national remembrance" was absurd and cheapened their personal remembrance. I'll leave the remembrance to those who lost friends and family.

 

The other thing about the white poppy is that it signifies remembrance of all the victims of war, not just the soldiers on our side. To tell the truth the nationalist aspect of the remembrance makes me as uncomfortable as the militarist aspect.

thats a great point.