White Poppy

song and dance and political point. Yes. Exactly. Well said, niggly.

One gets tired of political points all the bloody time from some posters

FHS, no one is warmongering!! I can't for the life of me understand why anyone should even begin to think that, whatever anyone is or isn't wearing. I've never seen white poppies either, but if people want to wear them, then do it, but FGS, stop making a song and dance about it, and what's worse, don't make a political point about it. The people who gave their mostly very young lives for this country are worth reverence and respect and should never be used as a platform for political squabbling.

The white poppy may be for peace. Does that mean the red poppy is for war? Of course it doesn't. I get very cross at the muddled thinking that suggests that honouring the dead and caring for the living survivors is somehow war-mongering. thatbags, Elegran

BTW, I don't like the Kellogs advert that appears to the right of the page, showing red soft fruit drifting down into a cereal bowl, like poppy petals at the service of remembrance.

Echoes too of Diana-itis - "If you are not making a big show of your emotions, you are a cold fish and don't have any"

Yes, it is badges and labels, and if worn "in opposition" to those wearing a different badge on a specific day it does feel like the Montagues meeting someone wearing a Capulet badge. One day for each is fair - mourn the dead on one day and proclaim your wish for peace on another. i would include the second in the wearing of a mourning red, but if you wish to separate them, that is fine.

And, as I have said on another thread (maybe it was this one) echoes of handing white feathers to young men not in WW1 uniform, symbolising "You are not demonstrating that you are for it, so you must be against it"

I pondered about white poppies as I fell asleep last night (don't worry, it didn't keep me awake) and after wracking my memory shelves came to the conclusion that in fact I have never seen a white poppy for sale or being worn. This suggests that I had not noticed, because how could I, that it had the word 'peace' in the centre. So there's your answer, dj, although why that's important I'm not sure because even though I've never seen a white poppy worn or for sale, I have known since I was in my teens what the white poppy symbolised. Seeing a word doesn't seem terrible important in this instance; it's understanding the concept and the symbolism that's important.

I shall not be wearing any poppy on Remembrance Sunday. I do think that support for injured military personnel is a national duty.

I agree with lily's comment about white poppies being gesture politics. It's another way of saying what I said earlier about badges and labels. I don't need to endorse my views with badges and labels.

I absolutely agree, the white poppy has its own day which is absolutely fine, but I wouldn't dream of wearing a red one on that day, I would consider it provocative and in bad taste. If I'm honest this is exactly what I think the other way round, and feel that wearing white on what used to be known many years ago as 'red poppy day' is only done to make a political, moral high ground point. I didn't know about blood and bandages! In a macabre way that is very interesting!! I shall stick to red as I've always done, and folornly hope for better things,

I really can't understand why, when the white poppy has its own designated day, some people feel that it is acceptable to try and hijack another day to make a statement.

Thanks for telling me, rose. I will have to wear just a white poppy.

That sounds really stupid, of course it never worried me when I didn't know, what I mean is it would still not worry a lot of people even after they heard it, but now I know I wouldn't put red and white flowers together.

It must be like the barber's pole - red and white stripes for the blood and bandages, from when the barbers were also the surgeons (they could handle sharp razors)

That is also the origin of surgeons being just Mr while physicians are Dr.

It never worried me before I heard that, but once I've heard something I get superstitious.

I do remember a nurse going quite frantic because someone was given red and white flowers

Red and white together symbolizes death, doesn't it?

I heard that on a tv programme, was it Ladette to Lady, where one of the girls arranged a beautiful display of flowers in red and white, only to have one of the tutors say it meant death (blood and bandages apparently).

Someone once gave me a lovely hanging basket of red and white flowers and DH wondered what I was doing at 10 o'clock at night, standing on a stepladder outside - I was stuffing blue flowers in amongst them.

And the red poppy means that we remember that war spills blood.

But red blood spilled means war, not peace. We are talking about this country, Elegran. White means peace here.

When I see a red poppy, I think of the shed blood of those defending, and of new growth springing from the disturbed earth of a war zone giving a chance of starting again.

White is the colour of a white dove, but in many countries it is the colour of death. No colour, no life. Nothingness.

All symbols hold their meaning from what they reference in the mind of the viewer.

Further military escalation in Syria will only lead to more deaths and destruction. More deaths of innocent civilians will create more resentment potentially leading to more terrorism. The results too can be catastrophic for the whole region. As former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan put it, "Syria is not Libya, it will not implode, it will explode beyond it's borders."

I presume you read the rest of my post?
Cameron is sending more drones in. That is not the action of someone who wants peace.
They do not want peace because they sell weapons.

When most people see red, they do not automatically think peace.

Wear a red one, wear a white one, don't wear one at all. But realise that it is not just the people wearing white poppies who want peace, it's just about everyone who wants peace.

In case anyone wondered what the hell the white poppy was for, when we already have a perfectly good red one?
who DOES want war? I have never met anyone who relishes the idea of it,
It's always a last resort.

I quite like the idea of the white poppy being for peace, like the white dove.

I thought that was the whole point of it being white, durhamjen - had you only just thought of that?

Which is why I wondered what the point of having 'peace' stuck in the middle was...

Well, it's a bit sad that "nobody" had noticed. I had, and I assume FarNorth had, and others who wear it.
Just a shame that others did not, and are not interested.
This thread is about the white poppy, by the way.
I quite like the idea of the white poppy being for peace, like the white dove.
I appreciate the idea that there are lots of people who do not want war and are prepared to stand up and say so.
Cameron has now said he is sending more drones, to kill more people in Syria. That will help, won't it, to bring about peace?

stopwar.org.uk/index.php/events/stop-the-war-events-national/06-oct-manchester-public-meeting-don-t-bomb-syria-stop-the-spread-of-war

Nobody has ever noticed Djen because we are not interested in looking and will never be interested in looking.Let it drop!