jawafour wrote:Moggy wrote:Because it’s impossible to ignore the actions of those idiots when the papers, online comments and people in real life continue to promote the Poppy as one of the ways to prove your Britishness.
I would never criticise anybody for wearing a Poppy, but I absolutely will not wear one while we still have people demanding others wear them.
Moggy, there will always be bands of people who will try and twist or contort things to suit their own beliefs and desires. Yes, some folk will present the poppy as a simple of racism and war. But, let’s face it, they’re stupid. We all know that. Try not to let a small proportion of people have a large impact on your own thoughts and actions.
It's not a small proportion of people. Every year since about 2014, the papers run a sensational story about James McClean's refusal to wear a poppy. A quick google tells me The Independent ran an updated version of the story twelve minutes ago. McClean is booed by supporters of
his own club for his choice. It's a particular issue amongst those affected by the Armed Forces in Northern Ireland* - The Green Brigade were the subjects of criticism for flying an admittedly quite crude protest banner before a match against St Mirren in 2010 against Celtic wearing poppies.
The abuse received by Charlene White in 2013 - racist and sexist - and the fallout from that event showed that
It isn't uncommon. An article in the Guardian from 2013 on this subject notes a Labour MP shaming google for not putting a "spectacular" enough banner on their homepage on Remembrance Sunday.
Until public shaming and criticisms like that stop, I don't feel comfortable wearing the poppy. Happy to support charities like the Erskine Care Homes, though.
*I have no stance on this personally, by the way. I don't know what it was like over there save from second and third hand stories that my uncle told about serving in NI.