Jump to content

The James McClean Sponsored Poppy Thread


Recommended Posts

Like a lot of others, I 'used' to wear a poppy but gave up when it became a "Look at me, I support our troops" jizz-fest. ("Support our troops" of course, being a euphemism for "Support our wars.")

All it will take is another Thatcher, Blair or Bush to announce "We're having a war to defend freedom" and those "Lest we forget those who gave their all" hypocrites will be wrapping themselves in the flag and cheerfully waving the troops off to battle. And they'll continue to brag about how much they "support" them right up to the point where the tax bill comes due. Then the sniveling starts.

One good thing to come out of the Lance Armstrong debacle was that you rarely see people wearing rubber bracelets and the world is a better place for that. It would be nice to see the poppy go the same way but given the way attention whoring is encouraged by our society, I don't see it happening.

If you want to donate to charity, donate to charity. Stop trying to make sure everyone knows you donated to charity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wear a poppy in memory of the stupidity of both my grandfathers who volunteered for WW1, managed to survive Gallipoli without getting in to major fights with Australians or Turks, and got back in time to fcuk my grannies while they were still in the mood. Without them I would be nothing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wedding anniversary is on the 11th :lol:

Some fortune teller told the wife (not wife then) that we should get married at

09:08 on 11/11/10 as she was told this is our lucky numbers. I had to question her as Thailand is not on Jesus years but Bhudda and the dates would look like 11/08/53. I was told to shut it. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All it will take is another Thatcher, Blair or Bush to announce "We're having a war to defend freedom" and those "Lest we forget those who gave their all" hypocrites will be wrapping themselves in the flag and cheerfully waving the troops off to battle. And they'll continue to brag about how much they "support" them right up to the point where the tax bill comes due. Then the sniveling starts.

I think you've got that bit wrong.

The modern fad of supporting our troops stems from public opposition of recent wars - folk felt it was important to show that they still supported the young men and women doing the fighting despite not supporting the actual cause.

It's grown arms and legs since of course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you've got that bit wrong.

The modern fad of supporting our troops stems from public opposition of recent wars - folk felt it was important to show that they still supported the young men and women doing the fighting despite not supporting the actual cause.

It's grown arms and legs since of course.

I'm not so sure.

The first I can remember of this "Our Boys" shite was when the likes of The Sun were whipping up a load of jingoistic bollocks around the time of the Second Gulf War, lapped up by thick cabbies, white van men, Rangers fans and the like. It's now grown arms and legs with social media virtually unusable a few days either side of Remembrance Sunday and armed-forces jizz-fests at the likes of Ibrox. Awful.

Poppies on a car though :lol:

Edited by jupe1407
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wear a poppy in memory of the stupidity of both my grandfathers who volunteered for WW1,.

A 100 years on the volunteering part seems odd.

And the strange part about singing and dancing in the streets when war was declared.

Can only think the public had been wound up for years regarding hating Germany.

Probably have saved millions long term had they fought with Germany.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fails to answer Orwell's point.

Thanks for playing dear boy.

If I cared for Orwell's contribution, I'd have consulted some of his published works. I don't though. Not sure what you were hoping to achieve then, other than gaining a laughably thin veneer of relevance. Which predictably failed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you've got that bit wrong.

The modern fad of supporting our troops stems from public opposition of recent wars - folk felt it was important to show that they still supported the young men and women doing the fighting despite not supporting the actual cause.

It's grown arms and legs since of course.

Well, I was coming at it from a USA perspective admittedly, but from what I was reading, I had thought things were becoming the same in Britain. In this country, not supporting a war = wanting to see American troops dead and a lot of people feel the need to trip over themselves to prove otherwise. Glad to hear it's not that bad over there yet.

It's truly stomach-churning here though. Even sensible, normally level-headed people make embarrassing FB Statuses like "On this special day, I want to give thanks to those who are protecting my freedom" and cheer during the "Salute to the men and women of our armed forced" tribute before every sporting event. The veterans in turn, never miss an opportunity to point out their status in the expectation (usually correct) that everyone will fawn over them. Openly disagreeing with a serving member of the military online or otherwise, on any topic, will have you denounced as a traitor.

Opposing the war became a lot more acceptable once Obama took office because after all, it was his fault. However, it's still pretty much mandatory that "The Troops" be treated as deities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...