Well, it's Remembrance Sunday tomorrow. I bought a poppy but I haven't worn it yet, I couldn't fit it on my clothes because they don't have pins anymore. I wonder though if I will bother at all next year. The red poppy symbol has become pro-military propaganda, part of the whole "every soldier is a hero" soldier worshiping bullshit in this country today. In Northern Ireland it has also been hijacked as a Loyalist symbol, causing great division in the province.
I heard a minister down in England had the temerity to criticise the song "I vow to thee my country", saying that to suggest that dying for your country is a good way of getting into heaven (basically) is absolutely disgusting. The song invokes "the old lie", dare I quote "dulce et decorum est pro patria mori". He's been completely slated for it as well, eaten alive by the soldier worshiping press and the tabloids. It's stuff like that that just turns me off the whole thing. I observe the minute silence but I'm wary of wearing a badge that commemorates the sacrifice of Commonwealth soldiers and nobody else. I'd rather commemorate
all victims of war, not just my own relatives who have been killed or ruined by both wars but also those they fought and possibly killed, along with the civilians, conscientious objectors and all the rest of them. Let's not forget the Americans, Soviets, Poles, French...
A political activist I know of said recently that the Red Poppy commemorates
"Marine A", while the White Poppy commemorates the POW he murdered. I find myself sympathising with that sentiment, I'm not sure if I could bring myself to wear a white poppy just yet though.