The Poppy Charade

By James Forrest on CQN:

I posted a couple of times on the poppies and said I thought everyone should keep silent, and observe that silence for their own reasons. Some chose not to do that. I want to be clear on this; I am not conflicted in any way about how I feel about it. I think what they did was decided their views and their feelings were more important than the club, than their fellow fans and they simply swapped one version of extremism for another. It was disrespectful to Celtic, to people everywhere and I don't think any of them should be proud of it. They acted like daft wee boys, and that's how they'll be viewed.

I see one online "writer" has already chosen to label them scum, and has been very careful in his headline to label ALL Celtic fans scum, although he claims to BE one of us.

What is pathetic about this joker, and what is pathetic about all the assorted trash who come after him, is that they COULD NOT WAIT to gloat, to puff out their chests and point their fat keyboard punching fingers. They could care LESS about the dead, about the memory of those who fought and died - they have narrow agendas and that is ALL they gave a toss about, and they are no different to the fools outside who "protested" and about whom they are going to rant and rave for days, maybe weeks, to come, and who will pull this out of the hat every chance they get.

Let me tell you right now that the poppy thing, the whole of it, everything it's been allowed to become, makes me want to throw up. Far from being a memorial to those who died, it has become an excuse for jingoism, for drum banging, for rallying round the Butchers Apron. And they call it "the best of British."

It's the WORST of British, but it sums this nation up very well.

The Germans commemorate World War II, as do the French, the Japanese and others. The French didn't emerge from WWII with any glory; they were invaded and liberated. The Germans kicked it off, along with their Italian and Japanese allies ....

Three "major powers" emerged from that conflict, and ALONE of EVERYONE IN IT, they never looked back, but jumped into one theatre of combat after another. The French, you have to DRAG into combat, the Italians can't be made fight anywhere. The Germans became the leaders of the European Union movement and are determined - as a point of NATIONAL POLICY - never to fight on any side in another war again unless attacked. Japan is the most pacifist nation on EARTH.

I make no apology for saying this, but in Britain the hoopla around all this more and more reminds me that in this country we LOVE war. We do. It's undisputed. At Ibrox, for the last couple of years, they've blared out the Damn Busters. In England, the whole country salivates at the prospect of "beating the Germans", and if it's not them it's the "hated" Argentines. It APPALLS me at times how much we REVEL in the glory, in triumphalism, in continued HATE.

Rememberence Days has become about remembering WHO WON. World War I was called "the War to End all Wars", and let me tell you, if there was EVER a cause worth dying for then that was it. World War II was about ending fascism, but the venom being poured on guys who sang songs today proves that isn't ended yet, whether you think they were stupid or scum as some have said.

The best way I know to honour the dead is to make sure it never happens again, and on the day in which grown men are wetting themselves with fury at other grown men who's egos are bigger than their brains and who's personal agenda takes precedence over all common sense, let alone decency, another young guy was killed in a country we shouldn't be in, fighting in a war we can't win whilst politicians talk crap about duty, honour and sacrifice. It makes me absolutely sick.

This country has learned nothing. Let the drums bang. Let the hate rise. To Hell with it. There are days when I feel that if the Guy Upstairs isn't sitting down with a good book that he must be wondering if maybe the time hasn't come to push a chunk of intergalactic rock in our direction. Rip it all up and start again. We just never get over ourselves.

To those on either side of the "debate". Stop kidding yourselves that this is about those who've died. This is now about greviances between those of us who're still living, and if one thing is true above all else it's this; far from being horrified by the experiences of those who fought, far from looking at the world and the times in which they lived and saying NEVER AGAIN ...... some people genuinely CAN'T WAIT for the next excuse to polish off the guns and get down to business.

Today's not about the "best of British", but the worst traits this nation has. Little Englander drum banging and triumphalism. That's what it's become. We're a nation of little George Patton's, who could not believe World War II was going to pass him by. "History will NOT ALLOW IT ....." he is reputed to have said. Certainly, it's taught this island nothing.