The Irish And The Poppy
November 8, 2014 / 2 Comments
Another year, another opportunity to hear the lame excuses of poppy bashers and Wigan player James McClean’s very warped and deeply disturbing reasons why he should not conform to his club’s policy and be uniform with his teammates in wearing a poppy.
I couldn’t care less if McClean wears a poppy and have no interest in his ill-informed reasons for not wearing one. What I care about is that we give this character the privilege of sharing his numb nut rationale for snubbing our servicemen.
McClean not only dishonours the British war dead but his nationalist forebears who formed the two Irish Divisions in World War One.
His rambling nonsense about Bloody Sunday will receive short shrift from decent people, of that there is no doubt.
Speaking of Irishmen wearing poppies, it was good to see Bolton apparently have a far stricter policy on the wearing of a poppy by their manager than Celtic…
I am fed up of the blatant propaganda trick used by many to try and equate commemorating the fallen with the glorification of war and jingoistic imperialism. I have never met anybody who wears a poppy to celebrate the crushing of Britain’s enemies in battle but those who hate Britain constantly attempt to smear us with this nonsense.
Much of this anti-British poison stems from Irish Republicanism, of course. The irony being that the cream of those who took up arms to fight for Home Rule in Ireland set aside their own fervent desires for a separate Ireland to turn their rifles against a foe they perceived to be a more imminent threat, that of Kaiser Wilhelm’s German-Prussian Empire. These men, the Redmond Volunteers, formed the vast part of the 10th and 16th Irish Divisions.
No other Division in the Great War suffered as heavy casualties as the 16th, who fought alongside the 36th Ulster Division of the UVF. The bravery of these Irish Volunteers became legendary and thousands of them died fighting for king and country. They were Roman Catholic and staunch Nationalists to a man but gave their all for freedom. Of all the volunteers in the War, their allegiance was the most striking because they didn’t have to give it. 142,000 men enlisted in the 10th and 16th Irish, leaving under 10,000 who were too bitter or cowardly to sign up. Of this small band, the IRA was formed.
There is no doubt the real men died in the muddy fields of battle, decimated by the enemy.
When I wear a poppy, I think of these men as much as those from Scotland and the rest of the UK who took the King’s shilling. They didn’t have to be there so their sacrifice was ultimate.
We are often treated to a condescending lecture from both Scottish and Irish Nationalists about the evil British Imperial drive to colonise and conquer and how Britain is a warmongering state. These nationalists think we cannot see the folly of British foreign policy and the sickening addiction successive UK governments have had to be America’s wingman in conflicts we should have nothing to do with.
Yes, we do see this, particularly in recent years when Britain has lost any notion of morality and wisdom in its military endeavours. But opposing the bad policies of our politicians in engaging in military conflicts we should not does not mean we cannot honour and respect the sacrifice made by our service personnel in these conflicts.
I personally deplore our military interventions in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. But I would never take my disgust with these interventions out on our troops. I was in London the day well over a million people expressed their outrage at Britain’s military role in Iraq. These were ordinary people who neither hated our troops nor the UK – just the backing of our politicians for a senseless war.
War is a sad reality in this planet’s history. Sometimes it is necessary. Sometimes it isn’t and all kinds of wars are fought for stupid reasons including selfishness, greed and ego.
But we should never disrespect the people who have to do the actual fighting.
The politicians will go on whoring themselves and the brass will go on smoking their cigars in the safety of their bunkers. But it is the men and women who enlist to serve their nation and their fellow citizens who will have to brave the sniper’s bullet and the landmine and the hellish rain of heavy artillery in the fires of battle.
They will leave behind grieving fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.
By disrespecting them, we disrespect ourselves.
Hopefully James McClean and others who think that not wearing a poppy gives them some kind of hero status among fellow curs will learn this.
The irony is that of all the peoples of the British Isles, no-one has a right to wear it with pride more than the Irish.
The interests of Ireland — of the whole of Ireland — are at stake in this war. This war is undertaken in the defence of the highest principles of religion and morality and right, and it would be a disgrace for ever to our country and a reproach to her manhood and a denial of the lessons of her history if young Ireland confined their efforts to remaining at home to defend the shores of Ireland from an unlikely invasion, and to shrinking from the duty of proving on the field of battle that gallantry and courage which has distinguished our race all through its history. I say to you, therefore, your duty is twofold. I am glad to see such magnificent material for soldiers around me, and I say to you: “Go on drilling and make yourself efficient for the Work, and then account yourselves as men, not only for Ireland itself, but wherever the fighting line extends, in defence of right, of freedom, and religion in this war”.
JAMES REDMOND’S SPEECH TO THE VOLUNTEERS SEPTEMBER 1914
Pretty sure that's what they fought for, ya *****.
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