Funny How? – Poppy Couture

Poppy Couture

It’s November again and that means one thing. No, not Christmas and no not the pain in your belly from all the Jolly Ranchers you ate, or the nightmares from the scary movies you watched on Halloween. November, or at least the first 11 days of it is dominated by one thing and one thing alone, Poppies. In Ireland we get a lot of British media. In the British broadcast media the trend is to wear Poppies. In Ireland the trend is to get our knickers in a twist about the British broadcast media wearing Poppies. The irony being that you have to be watching British Media to see it in the first place. ‘Oh jaysus sure isn’t it fecking woejus, the absolute hack of them. I just want to watch the X Factor in peace without being reminded that it’s British arghhhh’. Of course, I’m not saying that people shouldn’t watch British television shows, I mean if one were only to watch Irish made television then you’d be stuck watching Love/Hate on a loop because that’s probably the only watchable thing made in Ireland that doesn’t involve panel discussions, but there is an irony involved in watching British television and getting upset that it does British things. You’re only upsetting yourself.

As the Great Grandson of an Irishman who was (brace yourself) a British soldier in the First World War I personally would never wear a Poppy. I think it’s too political and the price of it goes to support things I don’t agree with however, having said that if someone does want to wear it then that’s their business. I don’t feel that wearing a little red piece of fabric makes me any more thankful or appreciative of what my Great Grandfather did. It makes me someone who wears a little red piece of fabric. That’s all. It’s a Livestrong bracelet. If you don’t wear a Livestrong bracelet it doesn’t mean you don’t want to find the cure for cancer. If you don’t wear a Poppy/Yellow Ribbon/ any tokenistic symbol you like it doesn’t mean you think war is good and the people who were there had the time of their lives.

Another reason I personally disagree with Irish people wearing a Poppy is it’s a British symbol. I don’t mean that in a little Irelander ‘anything but GAA and stew is West-British nonsense’ I mean it is a symbol used by the people of Britain to commemorate British people who died in wars that British people fought in. If there was an Irish symbol to commemorate Irish people who died in wars the Irish people fought in then I would, well, I probably wouldn’t wear that either but it would make more logical sense to see people wearing that, whatever it may be (something other than the Poppy or the Easter Lilly, which is a whole other kettle of fish). An Irish person wearing a Poppy makes as much sense as the American holiday of Thanksgiving being celebrated nationally. It’s another country’s party. Why should we crash it? We do have a day of our own for remembering Irish men and women who died in war (the Sunday nearest July 11^th, fyi) but no one is really interested in that because it’s not sexy or trendy and more importantly….there’s nothing to get upset about.

Irish people just like whinging. Which when you think about it is a great way to celebrate freedom, which I assume is what people want to be thankful for. That men and women fought for our right to say whatever we want so long as it’s not libellous or blasphemous and generally within the realms of social acceptability, I mean look at me, having a whinge about people whinging about something as inconsequential as wearing a red piece of fabric. The spirit of freedom, for lack of a better term is alive and well any time you complain, so when you think about it we really don’t need any day to remember at all. We remember every time we say ‘Ah here, I’ve a pain in me arse with __________’ and in the end isn’t that what people fought for? No? Oh right then. I don’t know, do whatever ye want, ye always do in anyways. You’re great and progressive if you wear one and you’re a wonderful bastion of all things Irish if you don’t.

 Make sure to follow Declan on Twitter here and many thanks to Declan for sending his post all the way from Canada!