Does The Poppy Glorify War?

I've read a lot of nonsense in the press this week from individuals who believe the poppy glorifies war. Well to those people I say no, the poppy does not glorify war. It glorifies honour.

Honour for those that fell fighting wars that governments started.
Honour for those men and women who sat and are still sitting on the front lines. Honour for the mum's of fallen sons.
Honour for the dad's of fallen daughters.

Honour for our fallen enemies because it is the honourable thing to do.
Honour for those who never died, who live with the scars of battle both mental and physical.
Honour for the old war heroes who cannot afford to heat their homes.
Honour for the horse, dogs and pigeons because animals have honour too.

So no the poppy doe's not glorify war, it glorifies honour. And there is honour in remembrance.

ALS

reply to post by ALOSTSOUL


I regard the the poppy as a reminder of the many many lives lost in the futility that war always is....that we should learn from past mistakes and not repeat them. There is a movement that distributes white poppies at this time of year to promote the idea that peace should prevail (without idealists we have no aspiration).

(Slightly off topic) I am aghast at the abuse of our armed services since the millennium and find the 'help for heroes' charity leaves a bad taste in my mouth. In my view our armed services have supported aggressive governments' policies - our soldiers have acted as invaders NOT heroes.

reply to post by ALOSTSOUL


I have equal respect for all those that have died in wars not just the side of my country. I prefer to wear the white poppy. It represents peace..

reply to post by ALOSTSOUL

And there is honour in remembrance.

Lest we forget

Well said ALS

Cody

reply to post by ALOSTSOUL


It so happens that Monday 11/11 is Armistice or Remembrance Day.

It's common here in Australia to wear a red poppy on this day... it's symbolic of the initial growth of plants to emerge through the decimated battlefields of France.

Perhaps
It's common here in Australia to wear a red poppy on this day... it's symbolic of the initial growth of plants to emerge through the decimated battlefields of France.

The red poppy is used across the Commonwealth. Wearing one is respectful to honour the memory.

Incidentally, seen yesterday on the jerseys of the Springboks (South African rugby union team, for the uninitiated). Nice touch by the South Africans, even though I was cheering for Wales, who lost! Also worn by the England team in their victory over the Argentineans in the test yesterday. I am sure many people are remembering the Falklands war at this time of remembrance, as it s still in memory. Many would have remembered the deaths and harm on both sides and that is the point of the poppy.

White poppies are silly, sorry.

Regards

I sometimes wear a poppy, but only for all the victims of war, young soldiers, and especially the children and families in war torn countries and as a reminder that all the PTB need to be cosmically arrested and blue beamed into pyschiatric holding cells, and SOS, any time now. Why wait. SOS. Blue Beam them up now please! That is what poppy's mean to me.

Agree with the majority sentiment here, poppies are to honour the sacrifice and loss in war. It is most definitely not pro war.

In a democracy the forces don't get to pick and choose the wars they are thrown into, the blame for that lies elsewhere. Our current crop of politicians, none of whom ever had to fight, absolutely love war. They also love cutting the support for those they send off to fight. Thats where help for heroes comes in. Trying to make life bearable for those who sacrifice their health for the nation and then get tossed aside and forgotten. Its a source of national shame that its necessary.

The Poppy simply remembers fallen comrades that fought and died for our very freedom and way of life!

I don't condone war by any manner or means however i do feel the need to honour our fallen heroes and show they did not die in vane.

Its called respect!

purplemer
reply to post by ALOSTSOUL

 

I have equal respect for all those that have died in wars not just the side of my country. I prefer to wear the white poppy. It represents peace..

Why am I not surprised?

reply to post by purplemer

I have equal respect for all those that have died in wars not just the side of my country. I prefer to wear the white poppy. It represents peace.

To me the red poppy also signifies peace. After all;

"The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."

ALSr

Celebrating the bravery of our soldiers distracts us from the way they were brutally thrown at the cannons by the governments of both sides.

Few expected to die, so talk of sacrifice, and laying down their lives, would have elicited a hollow laugh from most of them, I think.

By wearing a poppy of any sort, I feel I would give tacit support to the idea that war, rather than heroism, can be glorious, or even just acceptable.

mistersmith

mistersmith

Celebrating the bravery of our soldiers distracts us from the way they were brutally thrown at the cannons by the governments of both sides.

Few expected to die, so talk of sacrifice, and laying down their lives, would have elicited a hollow laugh from most of them, I think.

By wearing a poppy of any sort, I feel I would give tacit support to the idea that war, rather than heroism, can be glorious, or even just acceptable.

mistersmith

Were YOU there? No? Yeah. That's what I thought.

Claims that the poppy glorifies war are nothing but leftist propaganda. They conflate it with nationalism in their war against the nation state and national cultures.

Double post. My bad.

reply to post by purplemer


The Red poppy represents the blood spilled for our nation!

White may well signify peace but you have to remember peace has its price, and that price is often bloody!

In Afghan fields the poppies grow.
Between the crosses.
Row on row.
~Michael Rivero





whatreallyhappened.com...

Everything in context...

Rosinitiate
In Afghan fields the poppies grow.
Between the crosses.
Row on row.
~Michael Rivero

Everything in context...

The poppies in this sense are the ones that sprang up on WW1 battlefields following the slaughter.

reply to post by Act1Scene1




It's from a poem written by a Canadian World War I vet:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

- John McCrae

reply to post by mistersmith

Celebrating the bravery of our soldiers distracts us from the way they were brutally thrown at the cannons by the governments of both sides.

No. We remember because we all as human know the brutality of war. We know the governments start these wars. It is not a distraction. To me remembrance day is an apology, it is a duty. A duty to all the war dead that we acknowledge their sacrifice whether they thought of it as one or not.

ALS