The Modernist wrote:I might watch it. I have major problems with the whole WW1 remembrances. Is it simply something we do as a society to make us feel good about ourselves? It doesn't stop us getting involved in wars does it?
Feel good about ourselves? Hmmmm, I dunno about that.
Clearly some groups we all dislike have tried to co-opt the poppy and some, especially on the left - have naturally reacted against that. Some appear to view it as a symbol of Britishness and, by extension, military subjugation, racism, imperialism etc. Some people have a similar reaction to the union flag/English flag too and view it with similar suspicion.
I can understand some people feeling unease but some of the reasons people give for not wearing one strike me as a bit silly too (what the hell was Matic on about?) and the proliferation of poppies (white, purple) is a bit odd to me as well; I don’t think the red poppy precludes a pacifist position but some obviously want to emphasise this, fair enough, whatever. My basic point of view is that those who have tried to co-opt it and use it as some kind of nationalist symbol or whatever don’t get to “own” it in that way and in doing so spoil it for the rest of us who see it differently and as it was intended. It doesn’t belong to them, you know. It strikes me that the wearing of the poppy is largely a benign gesture, one of simple remembrance and thanks. A collective communion. On that basis I will continue to wear one.
I watched the documentary. I thought the technology really did succeed in making these people come to life in a way that hadn’t quite existed before due to the quality of film and the technology of the time. One thing that struck me was the relationship between those who survived and the civilians they came home to. I’ve always had a strong sense of their Otherness and how alien that must have felt for those who were lucky enough to return partly because the old man used to tell me stories of the veterans in his home town and he always emphasised this quality. It’s clear that those who didn’t serve often view those who did very differently to how they viewed themselves. Naturally this will rub up some veterans the wrong way but that’s just how it is I guess. They were different, they had experienced things nobody else could ever understand and they had to live with this the rest of their lives. The silence too. Nobody seemed to talk about it, which make sense but it must have created a strange....tension.
The old man used to tell me a story about a local man called George Ingram who survived the Great War. I’m not sure how many Germans George had killed but I got the impression it was quite a lot. When the old man was a boy he would go into pubs (bear in mind he wasn’t a young man by this point) and challenge anybody to a fight. He’d walk in and declare, “I am George Ingram and I will challenge anybody to a fight”. I doubt many took him up on his offer but he used to go round all the local pubs doing this. He used to do sit ups with men on his back too. A real local character. There must have been tonnes of stories. One thing he mentioned was they all had an incredibly dark and brutal sense of humour. They’d laugh at funerals. Shout out “good riddance to the bastard”, that sorta thing. I’m not sure what the civilians thought but they weren’t like other men. Another thing he said was that many of them "enjoyed" the war which seems such an odd thing to say but there you go. Real life was dull in comparison. I suspect George Ingram thought it was a great adventure!
