A remembrance poppy is an artificial flower worn in some countries to commemorate their military personnel who died in war. Remembrance poppies are produced by veterans’ associations, which exchange the poppies for charitable donations used to give financial and practical support to members and veterans of the armed forces. Inspired by the war poem “In Flanders Fields” and promoted by Moina Michael, they were first used near the end of World War I to commemorate British Empire and United States military casualties of the war. Anna Guérin established the first “Poppy Days” to raise funds for veterans, widows, orphans and liberty bonds, as well as charities such as the Red Cross.
I consider myself a huge F1 fan, I’m used to the UK presenters wearing their poppies.
But yeah as an American, yep I totally needed it pointed out / explained…
Thank you.
The additional missing context is that in recent years the poppy has been co-opted by right wing flag-shaggers to the point where people not visibly wearing a poppy become a target for abuse. For anyone in the public eye it’s become literally mandatory if they don’t want to risk their job.
What was supposed to be a way to honour the war dead has been turned into a gross nationalist purity test.
