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It's not political. It's done to remember those who died in combat. Many people have a relative or loved one who died in combat.
by maxk42 6y ago
It's not political. It's done to remember those who died in combat.
Many people have a relative or loved one who died in combat.
- robertfw 6y agoI would argue that focusing solely on the nobility of those who died in combat while ignoring what led to them being forced into combat in the first place, is political. I think the poppy, and Remembrance Day in general, spends far too little time examining _why_ these people were sent to die.
- bigbubba 6y agoSounds like you're saying it's political for being insufficiently political.
- Spivak 6y agoI’m not about to wade into Canadian culture because I know just enough to be very wrong so I hope it’s fine to use a US parallel. If Memorial Day was “celebrate the individual personal lives and accomplishments of all these people who died at war” then it’s apolitical. But that isn’t really how it goes unfortunately — I wish it did. Instead it’s about celebrating and glorifying our troops and our military which is super political.
- goatinaboat 6y agoInstead it’s about celebrating and glorifying our troops and our military which is super political. How is it political - what party do you think it supports?
- JumpCrisscross 6y ago> How is it political - what party do you think it supports? Partisan != political. (Though everything is in my opinion political.)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Gibbon1 6y agoI think the general cultural consensus is WWI is the fault of Europe's leaders, particularly but not completely that of Germany. And was characterized by a callous disregard for soldiers lives on all sides.
- vkou 6y agoThat's not the impression I get from the Canadian Remembrance day posts I see on Facebook ever year. Without fail, all of them describe WWI as a stalwart selfless sacrifice for freedom and the motherland. Then I ask 'exactly what freedoms were at risk', and the authors of those posts start hemming and hawing and tut-tutting. I wouldn't go as far as to claim that wearing a poppy is a statement for any of the possible interpretations of Remembrance day in particular, though.
- drewcoo 6y agoWar is the continuation of politics by other means. - Carl von Clausewitz
- lopmotr 6y agoIt is political. It glorifies war and being the aggressor in war. I my country, it's mainly used to represent the time we tried to invade what is now Turkey and killed a bunch of the locals defending their territory. Anti-war people don't like it.
- criddell 6y agoThat's not at all what the poppy campaign or the Canadian Legion is all about.
- monkeycantype 6y agoI believe lompotor is from Australia, and is referring in particular to the landing at Gallipoli, in which the British empire was attempting to land in what is now Turkey with support of forces from Commonwealth countries, this certainly included people from Newfoundland. Over the last 25 years, conservative politicians in Australia have have politicised the remembrance of this battle.
- reaperducer 6y agoIt glorifies war. So putting a photo of my dead wife on my desk at work glorifies car crashes? Got it.
- pueblito 6y agoI am sorry for your loss
- DubiousPusher 6y agoThat analogy doesn't map by my logic. It would be more like putting up a plaque that says, "I'm proud of my brother for engaging in risk taking behavior until it caused him to crash his car and die." Also, victims of car crashes aren't generally used in national pageantry aimed at causing more car crashes.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
- tclancy 6y agoPerhaps in Canada, but James McLean may feel differently about the poppy being political. https://deadspin.com/james-mccleans-refusal-to-wear-the-poppy-has-made-him-t-1830233186 https://deadspin.com/james-mccleans-refusal-to-wear-the-popp...