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Why would an Irish person wear a poppy ?

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Comments

  • #152
    Death and Taxes
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,775 ✭✭✭Death and Taxes


    partyguinness wrote: »
    While it may not be a British symbol in the strict sense of the word, it is certainly the symbol of the RBL to raise money for ex British Army servicemen i.e. the Poppy Appeal.

    With some considerable justification, it is inevitably linked and associated with British war commemorations. Perhaps one can argue that it has been hijacked by the RBL..!!

    Correct me if I am wrong but the Poppy Appeal collects only for ex British Army personal?
    The British don't have war commemorations, they do however commemorate ALL those who lost their lives at war, which is a very different thing.


  • #153
    getz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,255 ✭✭✭getz


    partyguinness wrote: »
    Ok...it collects for ex British army personal AND their families. Splitting hairs does not make any difference.
    www.rbl-limerick.webs.com/ the royal british legion of the republic of ireland has approved the striking of a special irish poppy badge,to honour and commemorate the memory of 60,000 dead and their families ect,


  • #154
    doopa
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 435 ✭✭doopa


    WileyCoyote wrote: »
    The British don't have war commemorations, they do however commemorate ALL those who lost their lives at war, which is a very different thing.

    Really? Rembrance Sunday is specifically and exclusively for soldiers.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day

    Similarly the Red Poppy as sold by the RBL is to support those who served in all British war campaigns: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_poppy


  • #155
    old hippy
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 9,441 ✭✭✭old hippy


    I have no problem with those who do wear them or those that don't it's a personal choice. I don't believe those who wear it are perpetuating hatreds or glorifying war. They are remembering the dead.

    I don't wear one, btw. And I live in London, where this time of year, it often feels everyone wears them.


  • #156
    Nodin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 46,938 ✭✭✭✭Nodin


    getz wrote: »
    www.rbl-limerick.webs.com/ the royal british legion of the republic of ireland has approved the striking of a special irish poppy badge,to honour and commemorate the memory of 60,000 dead and their families ect,

    "shoulder to shoulder with all who serve"
    What a lovely sentiment....

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/07/iraq-death-secret-detention-camp

    http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/cyprus-torture-victim-still-seeking-uk-apology


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  • #157
    doopa
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 435 ✭✭doopa


    getz wrote: »
    www.rbl-limerick.webs.com/ the royal british legion of the republic of ireland has approved the striking of a special irish poppy badge,to honour and commemorate the memory of 60,000 dead and their families ect,

    Very interesting - never seen that before. Good idea.


  • #158
    Jimoslimos
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,930 ✭✭✭Jimoslimos


    Guy:Incognito wrote: »
    Yep. they definately should have left Hitler to continue his good work in the continent, then handed over Britain (and Ireland) when he came knocking.
    So with that sentiment in mind, can you argue that the poppy isn't a political symbol?


  • #159
    partyguinness
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,202 ✭✭✭partyguinness


    WileyCoyote wrote: »
    The British don't have war commemorations, they do however commemorate ALL those who lost their lives at war, which is a very different thing.


    I live in the UK and there are war memorials in every town, in church yards, outside townhalls, schools and universities. Nothing wrong with that I hasten to add.

    The vast majority of them (well, in fact 100% of the ones I have seen) specifically commerorate and expressly refer to the "Great War" and with liberal use of the word "glorious". The plaque or centotaph will then contain a list of the local people who died "gloriously" in the "Great War" of 1914-18 and usually it will then refer to the 1939-1945 war.


  • #160
    partyguinness
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,202 ✭✭✭partyguinness


    getz wrote: »
    www.rbl-limerick.webs.com/ the royal british legion of the republic of ireland has approved the striking of a special irish poppy badge,to honour and commemorate the memory of 60,000 dead and their families ect,

    Thank you for posting that but I am not sure is it just a point of information or you trying to contradict something I have posted because it doesn't!


  • #161
    old hippy
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 9,441 ✭✭✭old hippy


    partyguinness wrote: »
    I live in the UK and there are war memorials in every town, in church yards, outside townhalls, schools and universities. Nothing wrong with that I hasten to add.

    The vast majority of them (well, in fact 100% of the ones I have seen) specifically commerorate and expressly refer to the "Great War" and with liberal use of the word "glorious". The plaque or centotaph will then contain a list of the local people who died "gloriously" in the "Great War" of 1914-18 and usually it will then refer to the 1939-1945 war.

    I guess the terminology used has to be respectful & seen as a sacrifice for the "greater good". Can't be having memorials with the legend "died pathetically" or "The Great Waste of Lives" :(


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  • #162
    Yamanoto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,489 ✭✭✭Yamanoto


    Father Damo wrote: »
    Doesnt the British army pay sh1te?

    I'd imagine it provides many privates with income and opportunities which may prove difficult to attain elsewhere. A financial imperative is also not the only factor.
    Father Damo wrote: »
    I would frankly dismiss any Irishman joining them as an idiot tbf.

    Your prerogative.

    How others choose to make their living is none of my concern.


  • #163
    getz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,255 ✭✭✭getz


    partyguinness wrote: »
    Thank you for posting that but I am not sure is it just a point of information or you trying to contradict something I have posted because it doesn't!
    i am pointing out to you where the monies from the poppy appeal goes to,none of it has anything to do with politics,much to the dismay of those repubicaians who killed many old men and woman and maimed dozens of others by bombing a memorial service in enniskillen on poppy day,all they were doing was remembering their dead,


  • #164
    My name is URL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,548 ✭✭✭✭My name is URL


    So I wonder how many of the 135 people that say they would wear a poppy, will actually bother their holes to do so. Or is making it known to others that you would merely hypothetically wear one; a strong enough political statement on its own? So much commitment to the cause... brings a tear to the eye. lmao


  • #165
    LordSutch
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,069 ✭✭✭✭LordSutch


    getz wrote: »
    no it also collects for those families of british service men and woman in need,all money raised in ireland stays in ireland and helps a lot of people,

    Correct, the procedes of "The Irish Poppy Appeal" stay within the ROI for ex Irish servicemen and their families in the ROI . . .

    The UK Poppy Appeal is a massive machine that collects for British & Commonwealth servicemen and their families (seperate to the ROI Appeal),
    however, if there is a shortfall in funds raised by the ROI Poppy appeal then the UK fund 'tops up' the Irish fund to the benefit of Irish families.


  • #166
    Cedrus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,429 ✭✭✭Cedrus


    wendell borton wrote: »
    But their lonely graves are by Suvla's waves
    On the fringe of the gray North Sea.
    But had they died by Pearse's side
    Or fought with Cathal Brugha,
    Their names we'd keep where the Fenians sleep.

    Suvla is nowhere near the North Sea!
    Crap poem, crap sentiment.


  • #167
    partyguinness
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,202 ✭✭✭partyguinness


    old hippy wrote: »
    I guess the terminology used has to be respectful & seen as a sacrifice for the "greater good". Can't be having memorials with the legend "died pathetically" or "The Great Waste of Lives" :(


    LOL....that's true. May have an adverse effect on recruitment for the lastest foreign adventures.

    Was listening to BBC4 about two weeks ago and there was an Amercian author (may have been a social scientist) talking about a nations national psyche and naturally enough she was asked about the UK.

    What struck her about the UK was it's obsession with WWI and WWII. Britain is constantly banging on about the "Great War" and there is no other nation with the same obsession in Europe.

    Pretty much every other country in Europe wants to forget about them and looks back with horror and pain but not the UK. The UK is in a permanent nostalgic trip about the good old days of King and Empire. Of course the UK was not invaded (I am aware of the aerial bombings etc) and was spared much of the brutal land battles and trench warfare. Similar in the US, save for Pearl Harbour (which was a military base), the US mainland saw no action.

    Whereas in mainland Europe the general population suffered a hell of a lot more.

    Basically if the British and US populations had suffered as much as say the French, Dutch or German populations they would not be so romantic about WWI or WWII.


  • #168
    phasers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,159 ✭✭✭✭phasers


    Lapin wrote: »
    I'm willing to bet that you have never been 'pestered' by anyone selling a poppy.

    There is no in your face exposure to advertising and marketing campaigns for the poppy, unlike hundreds of other goods that you willingly purchase each year without moaning about being pestered by those you gladly buy them from.

    I'm sick of this same old shítstirring tripe beong regurgitated every year by people who know little or fúckall about what they're talking about.

    No one forces anyone to wear a poppy. If people want to wear one, let them off. Its their business.

    Live and let live - And STFU.

    When I was in London around this time a few years ago an old lady selling poppies tried to force me to buy one and when I refused she looked at me like I was some sort of monster. This happened with different sellers on a few occasions.

    I have no issue with the poppy thing, live and let live etc, but there are a few people who do pester and who do think that everyone should wear one.


  • #169
    GAAman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,370 ✭✭✭GAAman


    Anyone else read that first as "Why would an Irish person wear a puppy"?


  • #170
    partyguinness
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,202 ✭✭✭partyguinness


    LordSutch wrote: »
    Correct, the procedes of "The Irish Poppy Appeal" stay within the ROI for ex Irish servicemen and their families in the ROI . . .

    The UK Poppy Appeal is a massive machine that collects for British & Commonwealth servicemen and their families (seperate to the ROI Appeal),
    however, if there is a shortfall in funds raised by the ROI Poppy appeal then the UK fund 'tops up' the Irish fund to the benefit of Irish families.


    Is it collecting for ex Irish servicemen who were in the British Army?


  • #171
    LordSutch
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,069 ✭✭✭✭LordSutch


    I think you already know the answer to that^


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  • #172
    Sound of Silence
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,192 ✭✭✭Sound of Silence


    bluecode wrote: »
    I don't wear any charity badge which is what it is. But like most Irish people I never even saw one for sale. I'd probably buy one if I did. But I wouldn't wear it much because as I said I don't wear badges of any sort. Nothing political.

    As for people raking up Bloody Sunday. Well that's all very well but I do think the IRA more than got their revenge. The Brits finally admitted and apologised for it even if it took them years.

    Let's see Poppy day Enniskillen: 11 dead.
    Warrenpoint: 16 Paratroopers dead and two others. Not to mention the Queen's uncle the same day. I would have thought that's pretty comphrensive revenge right there.
    Then there was Bloody Friday, Omagh, Warrington, Birmingham, Guildford a long bloody litany of murder.

    Not much of a moral high ground there for the Republicans. They brought a lot of shame to this country. Haven't seen them apologise just yet.

    Of course another reason not to wear a poppy is fear of intimdation from our local friendly Republicans.

    This is the most uneducated tripe I've read so far on this forum. And that's saying something.


  • #173
    Madam
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,501 ✭✭✭Madam


    LordSutch wrote: »
    Correct, the procedes of "The Irish Poppy Appeal" stay within the ROI for ex Irish servicemen and their families in the ROI . . .

    The UK Poppy Appeal is a massive machine that collects for British & Commonwealth servicemen and their families (seperate to the ROI Appeal),
    however, if there is a shortfall in funds raised by the ROI Poppy appeal then the UK fund 'tops up' the Irish fund to the benefit of Irish families.

    I wouldn't imagine there'd be much of a 'top up' as there can't be that many Irishmen or women who have served in the British forces in recent years - least not in the last 40 or 50 years.


  • #174
    Nodin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 46,938 ✭✭✭✭Nodin


    LordSutch wrote: »
    I think you already know the answer to that^


    ...and the answer to that is this
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=81476145&postcount=151


  • #175
    partyguinness
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,202 ✭✭✭partyguinness


    phasers wrote: »
    When I was in London around this time a few years ago an old lady selling poppies tried to force me to buy one and when I refused she looked at me like I was some sort of monster. This happened with different sellers on a few occasions.

    I have no issue with the poppy thing, live and let live etc, but there are a few people who do pester and who do think that everyone should wear one.


    I am of the same school...live and let live. I have no issues with people wearing them. Quite frankly, it's nothing to do with me. My wife wears one!!!:o

    It's the constant in your face approach by the BBC, the Poppy Fascists and watch next weekend, all sports players will be forced to wear one.

    While I have not been pestered, poppy sellers will stand strategically at shops exits and stare at you (or at least it feels like it...lol). Last year my workplace made us all stop what we were doing for a 2 minute silence.


  • #176
    Jimoslimos
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,930 ✭✭✭Jimoslimos


    partyguinness wrote: »
    Is it collecting for ex Irish servicemen who were in the British Army?
    LordSutch wrote: »
    I think you already know the answer to that^
    It's a fair question, I wonder if they are being purposefully vague in not explicitly indicating what army the ex-servicepeople belonged to.


  • #177
    R P McMurphy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,129 ✭✭✭R P McMurphy


    Cedrus wrote: »

    Suvla is nowhere near the North Sea!
    Crap poem, crap sentiment.
    Is misquoted and is not a poem but a song 'the foggy dew'. Have never heard anyone refer to it as crap before but I guess there is someone for every role


  • #178
    Galwayguy35
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,455 ✭✭✭✭Galwayguy35


    People say they wear the poppy here for Irishmen who fought in the war but it was mostly British soldiers who fought in WW1 and some of these soldiers came here a few years later as the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries and murdered many innocent people including a member of my own family who they tied to the back of a truck until he was dead.


    I wouldn't tell anyone else what to do but personally the poppy still represents the long history of British opression in Ireland.


  • #179
    getz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,255 ✭✭✭getz


    partyguinness wrote: »
    I am of the same school...live and let live. I have no issues with people wearing them. Quite frankly, it's nothing to do with me. My wife wears one!!!:o

    It's the constant in your face approach by the BBC, the Poppy Fascists and watch next weekend, all sports players will be forced to wear one.

    While I have not been pestered, poppy sellers will stand strategically at shops exits and stare at you (or at least it feels like it...lol). Last year my workplace made us all stop what we were doing for a 2 minute silence.
    if you take the kings shilling,


  • #180
    partyguinness
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,202 ✭✭✭partyguinness


    getz wrote: »
    if you take the kings shilling,


    Believe me, I earn every penny..;)


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  • #181
    Yamanoto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,489 ✭✭✭Yamanoto


    My name is URL wrote: »
    So I wonder how many of the 135 people that say they would wear a poppy, will actually bother their holes to do so. Or is making it known to others that you would merely hypothetically wear one; a strong enough political statement on its own? So much commitment to the cause... brings a tear to the eye. lmao

    As we're playing silly buggers, how many of the AH rabble who expressed an objection to the Queen's visit actually formed or attended a protest in opposition to it? Commitment to the cause etc.


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