(no subject)

[slemslempike]

I’m quite confused by this story. Basically, Ekklesia, a Christian think tank has said that wearing a red poppy is not as Christian as wearing a white poppy. What’s really puzzling is the British Legion response:
The Royal British Legion, which runs the annual Poppy Appeal, said his views were misguided and a white poppy would only confuse the public.
"The colour has become an internationally recognised symbol," said Brigadier David Wills, the Legion's director general.
"If you start to dilute that recognition by bringing in other colours, I don't think people will fully understand what they are buying the poppy for."
But there’s already a white poppy appeal to commemorate the victims of war while affirming pacifism. So it’s not bringing in other colours, it’s using another one (which has been going since the 1930s). Ekklesia (the think tank) also have a different take on the symbolism of the colour: the red poppy implies redemption can come through war, whereas a white poppy would suggest redemption through Christian belief. That’s not what the existing white poppy means. The PPU (who run the white poppy campaign) were quite strongly linked with Christianity, but (from their website) “Although Sheppard always argued from deep Christian conviction, he insisted that all were welcome who signed the pledge, whether from a religious or humanist standpoint”. I do realise that yahoo news is hardly the best way to read a story, but still. Confusing.

I have just had the conversation that I generally end up with in places of work, about drinking. Not alcohol, although that does crop up, but tea. I don’t drink tea. At all, as I can’t stand the taste. I also don’t drink coffee very often, and it never occurs to me to have some. Not drinking hot drinks at work is a source of great anxiety for people, and one of my officemates is puzzled by it. Interestingly, I am English and she is Korean, so while I often feel like it’s a national character thing, this wasn’t so much. I had to reassure her that I drink water because I feel like it. Then she asked if I hated chocolate, because I seemed very healthy. I looked at my “chocoholic” mug. Then I explained that I liked chocolate very much, and I wasn’t on a diet, or avoiding caffeine, and I wasn’t “being good”, I was just drinking water. Because I like it. And I also liked chocolate, a great deal.

Comments

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I hate it when someone archly asks me whether I'm 'being good' when I don't eat something I didn't want to eat in the first place. Ugh.

I am a bit dismayed by Ekklesia's trying to co-opt the already existing white poppy movement - how hard is it to google 'white poppy' before shooting your mouth off? I also think that the Royal British Legion's views on white poppies are, to say the least, the product of another era.

Then again, I generally wear no poppy at all, because I worry that wearing a white poppy will lead to confrontations with strangers.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

It happens a lot when I don't like butter/marg/mayonnaise on sandwiches. I'm not good, I'm fussy.

I couldn't find the Church Times article it came from, so perhaps they didn't mean to do that and it's bad reporting? But yes, co-opting a humanist/areligious movement for religious purposes is disturbing.

I generally have my head in the sand so much I forget all about poppies. I might try to get a white one though, but I'm not sure if I'd wear it.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Also, considering the number of people out there who are willing to assume a lugubrious expression and talk at length about their particular food allergies / the new diet book that's going to change their life / their internal troubles at the drop of a hat, why are people going round inviting that kind of thing?

'Are you being good?' could let you in for a forty-five minute tour of someone's intestines, and not in the slashy way, either.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it's like table manners in school stories - you can't take the salt yourself, so you have to offer it to people in the hope that they'll reciprocate. Sadly for them, I never do.

Ugh

[tabouli.livejournal.com]

I hate it when someone archly asks me whether I'm 'being good' when I don't eat something I didn't want to eat in the first place

You and me both. My personal favorite is the people who assume that I must be a tight-lipped, prudish, conservative vegetarian (!) who Disapproves Of Fun because I don't drink alcohol. I keep my alcohol consumption to no more than one because it turns my face purple and blotchy and makes me sleepy and dizzy, rather than tipsy and sociable. I eat meat, have liberal, pragmatic attitudes towards sex, and do not care at *all* if other people want to drink, take drugs, shag a different person every night, etc.etc.

Grzzzzz.

Re: Ugh

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

You have reminded me of another hate, which is people telling me how lucky I am not to smoke. Just...go away. I also quite frequently don't drink if I'm out, which gets people confused, especially when it's rounds. A few times I've asked for a coke, and someone comes back all "I got some vodka in it for you" oh dear.

Re: Ugh

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

'people telling me how lucky I am not to smoke'

Um... what?

I don't think anyone's ever told me how lucky I am not to smoke. Do they mean 'lucky you, you save money' or 'lucky you, you do not have to put up with society shunning you as a source of cancer' or what?

Re: Ugh

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I think it's that they say I'm lucky not to have started smoking, so I save money am healthier and don't have the problems of quitting. Which, yes. But I know that, and telling me comes over as so patronising, like I'm a good little girl who hasn't succumbed to this sophisticated temptation that they're ehtralled by.

Re: Ugh

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

People often assume Peter is vegetarian too. He always thought it was because he has a ponytail, but perhaps it's the not drinking that confuses them.