Saturday, November 6, 2010

Help control the red poppylation--Should news journalists and people in general wear the red poppy?

A British television viewer criticized a news presenter for not wearing a red poppy to honour fallen soldiers.  The news presenter, Jon Snow of Channel 4 News, blasted back by stating that he will honour the soldiers in his own way at church and not on the telly.
"When you wish to wear yours is your business. Compelling people to wear poppies because YOU think they OUGHT to is precisely the Poppy fascism, or intolerance, that I have complained of in the past."


Anyone may choose to wear a poppy or not.  I choose not to wear one.  It's not because I do not wish to honour those soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for Canada.  I have attended several Remembrance Day ceremonies throughout Ontario.  I have observed them on television.  I choose not to wear a poppy because the red poppy is a trademarked symbol or the Royal Canadian Legion.  The current red poppy does not belong to all Canadians, but to an incorporated entity.  I refuse to wear a trademarked logo on my jacket or shirt (if it not already imprinted).  It doesn't matter if it is the Royal Canadian Legion's poppy, McDonald's M or some other corporate logo.

Yes, I will remember the dead and injured Canadian soldiers who participated in World War I to the current Afghanistan War.  I just refuse to wear a trademarked logo.