Every year, for as long as I can remember, I have bought a poppy. Most years I buy a second one as the first gets dishevelled and crumpled, or simply lost. I have never considered it as a political gesture, nor a controversial one, simply as a mark of respect for the members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty. Increasingly however, it seems that what began as a simple gesture after the Great War has become contentious, either because of matters of etiquette, or the increasing politicisation of wearing - or not wearing - a poppy.
As a matter of etiquette, there has frequently been debate as to when the poppy should be worn. Some say it ought not to be worn until 1st November, and there have in the past been complaints that TV presenters were wearing them in October. Personally, I don't wear a poppy before 1st November, and normally stop doing so after Remembrance Sunday, but that's my choice: if you want to wear yours from the day The Royal British Legion launch their appeal (this year it was 26th October) until some indeterminate day in the future, then I for one have no problem. Then there is the matter of whether one should wear one at all. Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow once decided not to wear a poppy on air, saying demands for him to wear one were "poppy fascism". A few years ago, ITV News presenter Charlene White decided not to wear a poppy on screen and received abuse and criticism on social media. Like Jon Snow, she said that she happily wore one on Armistice Day, but would not wear one on air, and her choice ought to be respected, this is after all, still a free country.
The problem has become that wearing a poppy or not wearing one has become politicised. Wear one and some people will claim that you are glorifying war. In my view that is akin to saying that those who lay floral tributes at the sites of people killed on the road are glorifying road traffic accidents, but - and this is key to where I am coming from - if your view is different, then, by all means, you are welcome to it. Just do not force it on others. There are zealots who believe that not wearing a poppy is unpatriotic, an act of sedition, of treason perhaps, and they are entitled to that belief. So long as they do not force it on others. Wear a poppy if you want; don't wear one if you don't, but whichever way you jump, respect the right of others to do the opposite. Some people have become uncomfortable wearing the poppy as there is a growing belief that it has been 'hijacked' by right-wing groups in much the same way as the Cross of St George has supposedly become a symbol of fascism the implication being that anyone wearing or displaying either is beyond the pale. While I can understand that, symbols like the poppy or the Cross of St George only get hijacked because people allow them to, because they become submissive in the face of an opinion that says that if you continue to do something you have done for over thirty years, like wearing a poppy, you have suddenly become an intolerant, anti-democratic, totalitarian, xenophobic racist - which you probably haven't.
Writing in The Independent recently, Otto English opined that it is time to ditch the poppy as its original meaning has been lost, that it is no longer relevant. I don't agree, but he is of course entitled to his opinion, one which he is free to hold and publish thanks in no small part to the men whose sacrifices the poppy represents. Anyway, his opinion is based largely on the basis that poppies commemorate only those who served in the Great War of 1914-18 and the Second World War (1939-1945) and that the last of the Great War veterans have died and those from the second conflict are now so few in number. However, Remembrance Sunday is a tribute to the "contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts (my italics)." So while he is entitled to his view, it is based on a false premise.
While we are on the subject of ditching things that are no longer relevant, may I suggest we do away with Bank Holidays, which made sense in the days when workers did not automatically receive holiday entitlements from their employers? Or perhaps we could do away with Christmas and Easter on the grounds that the majority of UK citizens do not identify with any religion.[1] There is a whole raft of things we do that are no longer relevant, that have lost their meaning - or perhaps I should say there are things that in some people's opinion are no longer relevant - but that does not automatically mean we need to stop doing them.
While we are on the subject of ditching things that are no longer relevant, may I suggest we do away with Bank Holidays, which made sense in the days when workers did not automatically receive holiday entitlements from their employers? Or perhaps we could do away with Christmas and Easter on the grounds that the majority of UK citizens do not identify with any religion.[1] There is a whole raft of things we do that are no longer relevant, that have lost their meaning - or perhaps I should say there are things that in some people's opinion are no longer relevant - but that does not automatically mean we need to stop doing them.
Were I serious about doing away with Bank Holidays, I've no doubt that many of you would be up in arms, but why, if it were simply my opinion? It is not as though it would actually happen, any more than the poppy and Remembrance Sunday are going to get dumped simply because a journalist his written a think piece deeming them no longer relevant. Half the problem today is that everyone has an opinion about everything, and thanks to social media, has the opportunity to inform the rest of the world of it. Equally, they have the opportunity to try to shoot down in flames anyone who has an opinion that does not conform to their own - on any subject and at any time. A civilised society has room for many different opinions, but sadly we are becoming increasingly intolerant of opinions which differ from our own. I am saddened by the number of posts that I read on social media which descend into slanging matches because one person holds a view that others disagree with, but which they find it impossible to argue with cogently, being able only to hurl invective at the poor unfortunate who dared express an unpopular opinion.
My last words on the subject of poppies:
If you want to wear one, that's great.
If you don't want to wear one, that's fine too.
If you wear one and see someone who isn't, accept it.
If you don't wear one and see someone who is, accept it.
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