And so it is November. The annual pomp and
ceremony of Remembrance bears down upon us, and the Royal British
Legion's annual Poppy Appeal takes centre stage. Public figures –
especially those who don't look properly “British” or who have
ever expressed political views deemed not sufficiently patriotic –
face the poppy test, as self-appointed arbiters of appropriate
remembrance-related behaviour take aim over social media, letters
pages, forums, and even broadcast media.
I don't know if I was just shielded from this as a
child, or whether it has changed. When I was growing up, in the 80s
and 90s, in the south-east of England, poppies were ubiquitous,
certainly. There was a clear expectation that they be worn. What
there wasn't, that I could see, was the vitriolic attacks on those
who weren't wearing one, even without knowing the reason. There
wasn't the association of the poppy, whatever the stated significance
from the RBL, with support for current troops, and generic
patriotism. It didn't have the connection, apparently despite the
intentions of the RBL, with positive attitudes towards war now. To
the best of my recollection, the meaning they seemed to signify was
simply the honourable remembrance of the fallen, or at least the
military fallen, in all wars, while being agnostic as to whether the
wars were good or not.
