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War
Pissing on the poppies
The wearing of poppies, or not, becomes an increasingly politicized choice
by Matt Hogan
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A couple of weeks ago at my usual place of study, Bon’s Off Broadway, I picked up a poppy at the counter and made the prerequisite donation. A little later I noticed something disturbing, at least symbolically. While using the washroom, I noticed a poppy in the urinal. I’m fairly sure it got there by accident (those straight pins fall out pretty easily), but it didn’t make me feel any better about peeing on a symbol of peace, gratitude and respect.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about this if not for a few subsequent incidences which has made me wonder about how much respect ordinary people, and even politicians, give to those who risked or actually laid down their lives.
In a recent Georgia Straight article, Verne McDonald, a former signalman and Seaforth Highlander who now serves as sergeant at arms for the Billy Bishop (No. 176) branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, gave his thoughts on how we commemorate (or don’t commemorate) Remembrance Day. War mongers?
McDonald pointed out how the Cambie Street Remembrance march of 2001, just a couple months after 9/11, had the largest public turnout he’d seen in decades. He said he was “suspicious that they had come as a gesture of solidarity with politicians' callous plans for a new generation of soldiers” and “were expressing their wish that another generation would go and put on the uniform in order to die or be wounded in horrible ways.”
Perhaps it strikes McDonald as hypocritical and shallow that the crowd should have showed up in that year’s atmosphere of patriotic militarism due to the then-recent terrorist attacks. That patriot militarism, even in Canada, has yet to wear off, with the war in Afghanistan entering its sixth year this month and no end in sight.
McDonald also accused local city officials of conveniently using the veterans to make themselves look good in the media spotlight, claiming “politicians generally see veterans as a symbol to exploit.” He cited the parade of 2005 when “several veterans who paraded at Victory Square were afterward admitted to local hospitals to be treated for hypothermia and respiratory complications after being left in driving rain at 2ºC for more than an hour.” This, in stark contrast to the local officials who “stayed dry under their marquees and never even considered the idea of shortening the ceremony for the sake of the people it is supposed to honour.”
The only concession McDonald was able to grant the politicians was the “free parking for veterans' plates begrudgingly allowed by city council this year.” He’s quite right when he says, “Cannon fodder then, and now a different kind of fodder.” No poppy for you?
But it’s not just the politicians who seem to be paying less than the respect owed to veterans. And here’s where I come to my “subsequent incidences.” On hippie-infested Commercial Drive, where I live, I was surprised at how few poppies I saw on people my age. Granted, people are forgetful (I myself didn’t remember to wear one everyday). But I actually spoke to a couple at Café Deux Soleils who argued that wearing the poppy glorified war, and that they were making a statement by not wearing one.
Of course, this begs the question, “How do you distinguish someone making a statement by not wearing the poppy from someone who just forgot about the whole thing?” For this couple it didn’t really matter: I was promoting war by romanticizing veterans. Fair enough. Soldiers are sometimes victimizers. But are they not also, and primarily, the frontline victims of war? Is it not usually the poorest and least well-off that are sent to fight and to be killed or wounded, physically and mentally? Isn’t this why we respect their sacrifice?
The other incident, again at Deux Soleils, a true hippie-haven, was when I was pointed out among the crowd by a performing “slam” poet as he uttered a line about wearing the poppy, because I had one on and performed earlier during the open-mic part of the show. His slam poem ended with a snide reference to voting.
I couldn’t help myself. As the crowd cheered his self-righteous, anti-establishment poem, I yelled at the top of my lungs, sarcastically, “Yeah man, fuck voting! Fuck democracy, man! Fuck the establishment! Down with all that shit, man!” And when the whole room was silent and staring at me, I abruptly shut up.
Hopefully they all got my point, which was this: We humans have a tendency to throw away our freedom, which the veterans fought for, and if we either casually or self-righteously refuse to remember and respect them, then we will have truly lost that freedom. Whether you’re a politician or an ordinary citizen, I think there is a tremendous need to appreciate our admittedly flawed, but precious and fragile, legacy of democracy. Symbolically, we should stop pissing on our democratic system. Because if we don’t, we’ll lose it altogether. Not symbolically, but for real.
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