![]() My great-great-grandfather was a World War 1 veteran, fighting the Ottoman Empire in the Indian Expeditionary Force. The pointlessness of WW1 is not a particularly disputed fact, yet the poppy plays a particular role in erasing that truth in favor of empty, uncritical troop worship. It was a crime that our nation’s military and political elite never faced any consequences for. World War 1 was equivalent to a game of Risk played with millions of people sent to die for resources and territory. Remembrance means remembering all of it, not just the glories, and having a critical relationship with it. Canada hasn’t been the good guy, and the wars Canada fought in, both domestic and foreign, have often been senseless. No one even really wants to take it away from you, despite what the pundits and politicians tell us every autumn.īut what the poppy represents, what the idea of “Remembrance” entails, can’t just be the perceived upsides of Canada’s involvement in war. ![]() If you want to wear a poppy, if you’re proud of what it represents, that is your prerogative, and no one can take that away from you. I won’t denigrate people for choosing to wear the poppy, or declare it a weapon of white supremacy. But this is a role that must be questioned. The poppy’s sacred status makes frank conversations about the historical and current role of our military impossible. It’s not just political suicide to question the poppy-fighting back against a largely fictional ‘war on poppies’ has become a way for the right to reap the rewards of virtue signaling patriotism and score easy points among their constituents. The poppy is now mostly just a cultural lightning rod that obscures deeper questions about war, peace and remembrance in favor of troop worship. Nevertheless, they continue to be courted by municipalities all over the country to build warehouses and open new, gentrifying grocery stores, without much, if any, government backlash. Whole Foods’ owner Amazon is an incredibly powerful force that busts unions, abuses workers and racks up obscene wealth. The upscale grocery chain banning poppies for not conforming to dress code was met with a near immediate backlash and withdrawal. Every year the poppy is at the centre of a cyclical, empty, culture war debate.
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