Hacker News Reader

Comment by lopmotr | Hacker News Reader

It is political. It glorifies war and being the aggressor in war. I my country, it's mainly used to represent the time we tried to invade what is now Turkey and killed a bunch of the locals defending their territory. Anti-war people don't like it.

View on HN

> It glorifies war and being the aggressor in war.

How were Canadians aggressors in WW1 and WW2?

I think you're ignorant.

I think lopmotr is from my country, and here people have attempted to politicise the poppy in exactly this way, transforming the meaning from a remembrance of the stupidity of war to a glorification. In small numbers Canadians were present at Gallipoli, the battle at the centre of the politicisation to which I believe lopmotr is correctly referrring

It glorifies war.

So putting a photo of my dead wife on my desk at work glorifies car crashes? Got it.

That analogy doesn't map by my logic. It would be more like putting up a plaque that says, "I'm proud of my brother for engaging in risk taking behavior until it caused him to crash his car and die."

Also, victims of car crashes aren't generally used in national pageantry aimed at causing more car crashes.

> It would be more like putting up a plaque that says, "I'm proud of my brother for engaging in risk taking behavior until it caused him to crash his car and die."

Are you comparing people fighting desperately for national survival, some of whom were conscripts and had no choice, to 'engaging in risk taking behavior' such as driving your car irresponsibly?

Conscripts no. Volunteers sort of. People in WWII less so than WWI less so than most recent conflicts.

But this is exactly my problem with veterans rarara. It's totallizing where we should have razor sharp nuance.

> we should have razor sharp nuance

How about on this day we just say 'it's sad anyone had to die, no matter which side they were on or how they ended up in that situation'? That's what a poppy is.

That begs the question that people "had" to die. That is exactly my problem.

I don't think that's what 'had' means in this context if you read it more charitably.

You can rephrase as 'it's sad anyone died, no matter which side they were on or how they ended up in that situation' if you find it confusing otherwise.

This context is very weird. I don't really have a problem with this tradition. But I do see how it can be political. In the U.S. there is memorial day and veterans day and they are very political.

My main issue is I do not get the analogy. Those two things are very different to me.

I am sorry for your loss

That's not at all what the poppy campaign or the Canadian Legion is all about.

I believe lompotor is from Australia, and is referring in particular to the landing at Gallipoli, in which the British empire was attempting to land in what is now Turkey with support of forces from Commonwealth countries, this certainly included people from Newfoundland. Over the last 25 years, conservative politicians in Australia have have politicised the remembrance of this battle.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com