The James McClean Sponsored Poppy Thread

[Booker-T]

5 minutes ago, chomp my root said:

The winner taking some sort of prize or reparations from the loser was how wars were fought, it wasn't exactly a novel approach. Arguably the world wide financial crisis led to WW2, at least in Europe, Japan was flexing their muscles in the East anyway.

True this, but i think there was always going to be a German reaction at some point, maybe not directly by the state itself, but at least by those living outside it's borders. 

[chomp my root]

5 minutes ago, Booker-T said:

True this, but i think there was always going to be a German reaction at some point, maybe not directly by the state itself, but at least by those living outside it's borders. 

Quite possibly, the world was changing and if I mind right it was the French that were most insistent that the Germans pay 'what they owed', maybe understandable as it was France that was chewed up. All speculation though really, it went the way it did....

None of it was supposed to be what the poppy was about though, although that ship has sailed too I guess.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

2 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

I think I read that, too, although that might just have been for the UK (including the whole of Ireland which was part of the UK then).

No, it was definitely Scotland.

My dad had a wee book I remember called The Scottish War Dead or similar, and it was absolutely frightening, reading the bald numbers alone, without even considering the horrific circumstances.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

3 hours ago, Booker-T said:

I think a lot of that is due to the percentage of population in relative poverty (in both living standards, narrow views of the world and education) at the time  - so when reliant on vounteers, our towns and cities were just emptied of young working class males looking to escape or even adventure.

All true, although the tendency of the British Army to toss Scottish soldiers' lives away like confetti didn't help!

[Granny Danger]

Has anyone made the link to Theresa May using the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration to congratulate Israel to the fact that Pro Zionist terrorists killed lots of British soldiers?

 

[Black Dug]

I find the whole poppy 'industry' now a bit cringy.
The massive overacting on both sides of the poppy divide is also very strange behaviour.

If you want to wear a poppy fine, throw a couple of quid in the tin and wear one.
If you don't, also fine - just don't feel the need to go on and on about your reasons. It has become a political argument which has muddied the original sentiment with idiots on both sides using it as a rod to beat the other with.

I'm approaching 20 years in the military and have lost friends in that time. I'll wear a poppy, donate a few quid; but buy a t-shirt? Paint an hgv??
Nah mate, yer alright thanks.

Edited November 25, 2017 by Tynieness

[Glenconner]

The poppy gig will die a death once the old Queen goes.

[milhouse]

I remember a couple of years ago visiting (in Dublin) the “Shot at Dawn” exhibition, a collection of photographs taken (at what had been the appointed firing squad time 100 years previously) of sites where UK soldiers had been executed for “cowardice” in WW1. 

If you were so terrified of being ordered to run head first into a horror that none of us can ever imagine (or you had “shell-shock” - PTSD, not understood at that time, or “combat fatigue” - see the photos of soldiers with the “thousand yard stare”) that you ran in the opposite direction or deserted, then you were executed.

 

I just don’t feel in 2017 that the poppy functions as an anti-war symbol which gives justice to victims like those who were shot at dawn, or would help to prevent future conflicts, so I don’t buy one.

[Hedgecutter]

General observation on Union St in Aberdeen on way to station was that there were very few poppies on show, and that's including the older generation. Quite surprised by the latter tbh.

[Co.Down Hibee]

5 minutes ago, Glenconner said:

The poppy gig will die a death once the old Queen goes.

Celebrity culture will keep it going

[chomp my root]

16 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

 

This is precisely how I feel about it. As the veterans all eventually go, this poppy phenomemon is going to get worse as there is no one left to check all the bullshit. Its going to become fully Americanised in terms of cringe level.

WW2 veterans seem to be the only type of veterans who neither want or expect the levels of reverance we see, yet they are the ones who unquestionably deserve it. Can I honestly say I feel a debt of gratitude to someone who signed up to the Army and subsequently fought in Afghanistan.... Well no, I cant.

 

Not sure that's the case. 

[DA Baracus]

34 minutes ago, Glenconner said:

The poppy gig will die a death once the old Queen goes.

Eh? How do you figure that? Especially since it's massively driven by the right wing media who have 'enlisted' literally millions of absolute morons to the 'cause'

[welshbairn]

10 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

 

Maybe iv been lucky. All the old folk I know/have known never really wanted to talk about it. Best example of this being my grandad. He used to occassionally make some daft joke about it but otherwise it was just something he had to do then he moved on.

 

My Dad was happy that he never met an angry German. Used POW's as bodyguards in Cairo and took them to a pub. Spent most of the war in India expecting the Japanese to invade.

[Donathan]

39 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

General observation on Union St in Aberdeen on way to station was that there were very few poppies on show, and that's including the older generation. Quite surprised by the latter tbh.

 

Early days yet mind. I used to only wear mine for a couple of days either side of the 11th and remembrance Sunday, although now I'm in an office job I'd feel quite judged by more senior people for not having one on from late October.

[Jacksgranda]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

My Dad was happy that he never met an angry German. Used POW's as bodyguards in Cairo and took them to a pub. Spent most of the war in India expecting the Japanese to invade.

As far as I'm aware, and it's too late to ask him now as he's dead, my father never fired a shot in anger, spent the war guarding the Forth Bridge. That's not to say he didn't see casualties, I think he lost comrades killed on exercises.

His brother served on the submarines, something I wouldn't fancy doing, and I don't think his war service did him a lot of good.

I'd another uncle in the 8th Army. So I wear a poppy for them, and for others I've known who were rescued at Dunkirk, were Japanese PoWs, etc.

[welshbairn]

1 hour ago, Jacksgranda said:

As far as I'm aware, and it's too late to ask him now as he's dead, my father never fired a shot in anger, spent the war guarding the Forth Bridge. That's not to say he didn't see casualties, I think he lost comrades killed on exercises.

His brother served on the submarines, something I wouldn't fancy doing, and I don't think his war service did him a lot of good.

I'd another uncle in the 8th Army. So I wear a poppy for them, and for others I've known who were rescued at Dunkirk, were Japanese PoWs, etc.

Both my Grandads fought at Gallipoli, and returned bald. My uncle flew spitfires in North Africa which he said was horrific until they kicked the Germans out, after which he flew officers around the Med and had a great time.  I buy a poppy to help survivors of more recent wars though. As someone said before it should be about sorrow for the madness of war, not glorification.

[chomp my root]

4 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

Eh? How do you figure that? Especially since it's massively driven by the right wing media who have 'enlisted' literally millions of absolute morons to the 'cause'

The rhetoric that turns a charity into a political  issue.

Anyone who see's it differently to you must be classified a "moron".  Yup very helpful.

[Swordfishtrombone]

I saw a knuckledragger in the chippy the other night that had a really tacky 'last we forget' tattoo with 2 poppy tattoos either sie of it. It  was on his forearm, I guess so it could always be on show.  That struck me as somebody using a poppy emblem as a part of their identity in a tribal way the same way people get football badge tattoos.

[BFTD]

Served someone at work this week who was posting a padded envelope full of paper poppies down to a friend in England, as apparently Scottish poppies are different. She claimed to do this every year, at her friend's request.

Wasn't really sure what to say to that. My confused silence didn't seem to go down well.

[glassnahalf]

On 29/10/2015 at 13:26, P45 said:

Why would you wear a poppy unless you're a total narcissistic?

I give to charity. I don't feel the need to tell everyone I meet about it.

What about the charities that give you a wee sticker after you donate to show your support, do you tell them to eff off as you're not a narcissist and you've done your bit? These emblems and stickers all help promote their causes, and I'm more than happy to wear them.