Jon Snow VS the "Poppy Facists"

Even if you don't always agree with him, Jon Snow deserves some admiration for his commitment and dedication to a high standard of professionalism in what he does, and this includes his commitment not to wear any form of sign or symbol upon himself during public broadcasts which he believes to be unsuitable for someone in his career to do. Quite a lot of people know this who normally wouldn't do so, as this moratorium extends to the remembrance poppies that are pretty much universally worn by anyone who's on telly during this time of year. This perceived intransigence on Snows part has not always gone down too well with some, and has led to accusations that Snow is being disrespectful to the cause the poppies are worn for. In this case it has led to a small clash between a commentator on Snows blog and the man himself issuing a swift rebuke to his accuser. Like many of these spats; the original blog post was not about the thing that caused the spat but was about another topic (why more people in [Snows opinion] don't take up cycling) and got waylaid somewhat. It is also a prime example of the dual standards of logic that that significant minority who claim like free speech and expression, but apparently only if what is said or done meets their approval. So here is commentator Stan:

"jon,when you ride your bike,do you ever think of the hundreds of thousands of british troops who gave there lives in world war 2 tokeep our great country free you alone dishonour them by not wearing a poppy.YOU LOOK WHAT YOU ARE ON YOUR BIKE."

Hmmmm bit of tortured logic there. Snow replies:

"Stan they died that we might be free to wear a Poppy whenever we wish. i wish to wear mine on Remembrance Sunday. 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. On yer bike Stan, with or without a poppy, it’s all your own free choice..Hitler lost the war!"

The whole John Snow won't wear a poppy thing is a storm in a teacup, but it does highlight how occasions like remembrance Sunday, and something like the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana can take a wrong turn. Remembrance day and the wearing of the poppy are supposed to be a poignant reminder of the enormous human cost of war. Diana's death was indeed a genuine human tragedy, a young mother of two young boys who was hounded to death by bullying photographers. But in both cases (especially the latter) there was a feeling that a lot of the "grief" or "showing our respects" had a distinctly demonstrative feel. There was little of the feeling that this was a measured reaction to a tragedy, but just an excuse to mawkishly ham it up by showing how much you care and are "patriotic" by crying the loudest at the cameras, or by excessive use of the caps lock on the comments pages. And that I'm afraid is a hell of a lot more disrespectful to the memory of a cause than Jon Snow not wearing a poppy.