I don’t wear a poppy.
It is not a sign of disrespect. I just don’t wear anything ever as an indicator of how wonderful I have been at putting money into some old soldier’s collecting box.
To be honest, it’s been a while, but there have been many times I have given money when different causes and organisations have rattled their tins next to me and tried to get me to exchange a few coins for their flag or sticker or ribbon which I am then supposed to wear. These have included those selling the poppies. However, for as long as I can remember I have refused to take and wear whatever it is they are ‘selling’ in exchange for my donation.
It seems to me that as long as I know that I have ‘given’, I don’t have to wear anything to show off to others about how good or wonderful I am. It is a private communing between my conscience and my actions, and it shouldn’t be a public statement.
Maybe, in the case of poppies I am missing the point, and the public statement should be more one of solidarity and respect than one of, “Hey look everybody, I have given.” I do get that, yet I historically remain without a poppy for the increasingly long period one is supposed to wear one each year.
By not wearing a poppy I mean no disrespect. I’m not one of those awful people who wears white poppies in order to make a stupid and shamefully ignorant gesture at those who served on the battlefields of old or the battlefields of today. White poppy wearers disgust any and all rational thinking person.
I do actually respect those who go to war on ‘our’ behalf. In modern times, maybe they are being sent to war for things they shouldn’t be sent to war for. Maybe it really is a long way off from defending ‘our shores’ from invasion. There can be no dispute about the validity of repelling Hitler and any invasion of our country, but us still fighting Tony Blair’s crusades in far off lands? Yep, open to question.
However, that question should be for the politicians and the leaders and the people on the top who make the decisions. It should not be for those who are following orders and doing the job they’ve been instructed to.
These are the ordinary men and women, the ordinary folk who just happen to be loyal to whatever their politicians demand of them. These are the ordinary people we should remember and respect, when pointlessly they are killed or maimed for just doing as they are told.
Without wearing a poppy, I do pause and think about them.
England's England 
I think you miss the point of white poppies…. they are not opposed to red poppies, in fact i have on more than one occasion seen people wearing both a white poppy and a red poppy at the same time. A white poppy symbolises peace, it just means that the person wearing it wants peace. wearing a poppy or flag or ribbon or whatever isn't about showing off that you have given, it's just a way of expressing that you support whatever cause without having to go round telling people about it. a bit like how wearing a band t-shirt shows the people around you that you like said band.
the bit about doing as you are told… if what you're being told is to kill others, saying you were told to do it is no excuse. If a murderer killed someone and said '______ told me to kill them' that doesn't make what they've done any less bad.
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When you buy a red poppy, you are contributing to the helping of somebody who was killed's family and dependants left behind, or to the attempted rehabilitation of somebody who was maimed.
When you buy a white poppy, you dilute that contribution, and your money goes to bunches of god-botherers and their exceedingly wealthy organisations designed to spread population control and indoctrination.
There is no such thing as 'murder' in a battle between two sides in a war as long as certain rules are adhered to. A 'murder' only occurs when killing somebody who you'd already neutralised as a threat. Therefore a soldier operating under instructions is not a murderer.
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get your facts right – white poppies are from the Peace Pledge Union. they are mainly about awareness, but any profit made is used to fund their education work.
on murder, let's call it 'killing' then if you want to be a pedant. and what about all of the innocent civilians who were killed and/or had their homes destroyed as a result of a war that didn't need to happen?
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PPU is a god-bothering organisation, started by a god-botherer of the Christian flavour in 1934. It's underlying purpose is to promote god-bothering, paradoxically even though it is born of one of the cruellest and most warmongering god-bothering organisations ever invented, Christianity.
If a person is 'killed' by a car, we don't blame the car, we blame its driver.
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i'll take your word for it on the ppu being started by a god-botherer. what reasons do you have for saying their underlying purpose is to promote god-bothering? not that i have any evidence against this, although a quick look at their website finds no quotations from the bible. for the record, i've only ever once bought a white poppy… as it says on the ppu website, they are not sold with the purpose of making a profit.
a car is a machine, not a person, so cannot be blamed for a killing. the government are mainly to blame for deaths at war, but the soldier has a choice not to follow orders. the only way a car could stop following orders would be if it was damaged.
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The PPU was founded in 1934 by the canon of St Paul's Cathedral. I'd guess such a job counts as god-bothering. As with most god-bothering organisations, at first the PPU was not open for women to join. It had close links with the British Union of Fascists, and openly was completely supportive of the Nazi Germany invasion of various countries in Europe, publishing that Europe would be better subjugated and run as part of Germany, even if this was against their will. Such was the PPU dedication to 'peace' it actually suggested the various countries should roll over and not resist occupation. However, they did resist and hence we got the second World War.
A soldier is a machine. He/she is not designed to think but to follow orders. If those orders include kill or be killed during a battle, then so be it. When they go rogue and kill for no reason, that is when they stop following orders and are eventually prosecuted.
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