On White Poppies

None of these thoughts are really original, but a few people asked me about it and so, a blog is born. I don’t wear a red poppy at this time of year. That’s the main reason you won’t see me hosting Have I Got News For You or Buzzcocks this series, coincidently – because the BBC mandate that everyone who appears on TV for most of October has to wear one. This annoys me. For an organisation that have to be entirely unbiased in everything political and social, that don’t let their newsreaders wear any other symbol, this yearly obsession with the British Legion is unseemly.

It annoys me. But that’s not why I don’t wear one. After all, anyone that knows me is quite aware that my non-conformism is limited at best, and a façade hiding a ridiculous truth at worst.

My problem with the red poppy is two-fold. Firstly, especially over the past few years, with the war in Iraq, it’s become a symbol representing a certain level of jingoism, nationalism and pro-war sentiment that I’m uncomfortable with. Now, that’s not the fault of the British Legion. Yeah, they’re a big organisation and some of them are bound to be a little warmongery, that’s just numbers. But the majority of them do good work. Alas, the symbol and the cause have been co-opted by certain elements to help with support for blowing up Iraq. Couple that with the fact that it’s pretty much compulsory for members of the media to wear one, as it is in some offices, and it all becomes a little icky: “You must support this charity, even if it represents something you’re hugely uncomfortable with”.

Which leads on to my second point: the British Legion do a brilliant job, they’re sorely needed, and the money raised each year by the poppy appeal goes a long way towards that.

And that’s why I fucking hate the British Legion.

I’m not entirely a pacifist, but I do feel war should be a very last resort. World War 2 was justified. The Iraq war wasn’t. It’s a dangerous road to go down and it should only be travelled in the most dire of circumstances. And the consequences of war on the government, and the country as a whole, should be huge.

Part of that consequence should be, that if we, as a country, are sending people off to be killed for our benefit, then we sure as fuck should be looking after their dependants financially for as long is necessary. If you’re not aware, that’s what the British Legion do. They look after, as much as they can, those families that have lost people in the war, or those brave men and women that have suffered so badly they’ve lost the ability to work. It’s an amazing charity. But it’s a charity. And it really fucking shouldn’t be. That sort of care, and indeed a lot more than the Legion can afford, should be provided for by the state. By us. Taxpayers.

“But that would be crippling on the economy and require massive tax rises,” shout the imaginary masses. “Exactly,” says I. Two million people marched against the war in Iraq. Can you even imagine how many more that would have been if a declaration of war came with a flat 10% income tax rise for the duration of the war? Can you imagine how many more people would be clamouring to get our troops out now it’s apparent to everyone that we’d can’t do any more to help?

In times of dire need and necessity people would accept it, on the whole. But the government would need to put a far more convincing arguement to the public than they did last time. And even after that they’d not be likely to get another term in office. The cost on all fronts would be huge.

As it is, most of us (my primarily middle and upper-working class readership) won’t even know anyone that died in the war. Those less politically inclined didn’t even have an opinion on if we should go to war or not. It didn’t effect them. The only place the war would really hit us (short of conscription) was in our pockets. But the government just borrowed more money and settled for giving the troops inferior equipment and passing it’s responsibility for the injured/killed and their families on to charities like the British Legion. Who through the poppy appeal do just enough good to take the edge off, to stop the treatment of troops and their families being a completely obvious travesty. And as long as they keep doing that good work there won’t be enough people left to get angry about the fact that they even have to. And so the government can go to war knowing that the final bill will be a lot less than it really should be.

Of course, you can’t fit all that on a white poppy. They just say “PEACE”.

You can buy white poppies here and if anyone local wants one I have a few spare, just give me a shout and throw a few quid towards those guys or any other charity you find worthwhile. There’s also a Facebook group for those so inclined here and for those so incensed by this they want to punch me there’s another one here .

Dean Love : 27 Oct 2009 21:16 |  Tags: Politics |  Comments (2) |  Report a problem