Do people just click repost for the heck of it?

The category and the thumb may be throwing the lazy ones off.

But yeah :-/

I assumed it was commentary on that holiday, whatever it's called.

Seriously, what the fuck are you idiots on about?

Was a repost, now it's not.

What was it before?

Yes. This is the only power they have in their lives. They get to be the media guru whose magic thumbs up or thumbs down has real power and consequences. Accept the judgments of your overlords for they are better than you, especially the ones who never post any content themselves.

Repost

It's still on the front page, mate ;)

Quick! Find some weird porn! Maybe something with dolphins? I hear they're naughty.

That will teach me not to not look at nsfw posts...

Yeah. The last time I filtered NSFW so I could browse at work, I missed the surprise and final visit to Sensible Erection of Clay/Hard. Never again. Never. Again.

When did Canadians start wearing poppies? I knew the US ignored our neighbors to the north, but I had no idea we ignored them this hard.

As a Canadian spending my first "Veterans Day" in the Us I am shocked an appalled at the fact this has become another excuse for a holiday sale.

In Canada the last several years there have been arguments about whether you should wear a red or white poppy, or if the center dot should be green or black or whatever. No one really argues that you should not wear one, especially when they show up free in the mail. But I usually went through 2-3 during the week between Halloween and Remembrance Day, plus there are usually cadets in uniform out front of every grocer during the same period collecting money and selling poppies.

Younger people, including folks from immigrant families, tend to be less forward in support and sometimes are adamantly opposed to it because they believe it celebrates warfare and is forced nationalism - more sensible people simply acknowledge that folks have sacrificed their lives in order to prevent a 'worse' future, though in Canada that usually just means folks in the first and second WW. Anything later, like Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc folks don't talk about as much because it is more difficult to actually see the "Bad Guys" there.

So yeah, given the current conflict with ISIS and Canada's increasing role there I can only say I wish them well and hope history will show us on the right side of the conflict. But I'm not wearing a poppy here because I don't know where to get one. And I'm not buying shit on "sale"

I don't give a fuck about celebrating veterans day as much as I care that they should be recieving proper medic / counseling support if/when they come home.

Politicians sending people off to war and fucking them over when (if) they get back isn't suppose to be "American".

Slacktivism - it existed long before the internet, we just didn't have a word for it.

Do the proceeds for the poppies help the veterans? I would certainly hope so. If they're purely commercial, that would be fucked up. People should buy the poppies and give additional donations for the wounded and the families of the fallen.

But then again, I am not Canadian. Far be it for me to tell my cousins to the north what to do given the current state of affairs at home.

I'll never understand that. Everyone should get proper medical care and support, but soldiers shouldn't get anything that the rest of us do not.

I agree wit that- but it's like college. You're asked to decide things without context/information/wisdom. If people send you to your possible death/mutilation, they need to pay those costs to society up front in terms of health care. ( For everyone ).

My point being, sending the young to war (lightly) is already immoral- letting them return home and abandoning them is pathetic.

A "let's thank our troops" attitude is kind of like praying. It really doesn't have direct effects.

If you want to support troops- pay your taxes and donate to specific charities.

In other words, poo-pooing people because they don't wear poppies/put on bumper stickers/waving the flag around etc is bullshit.

However, I think the responsibility of veteran care lies with the state and it's irresponsible to hand it over to the fickleness of charity.

"No-one bought poppies this year? Oh well, no medical care for veterans I guess."

Same with art spending and lotteries. We're letting the state off too easily.

No one is sent to war, though; we have an all volunteer military.

Is it the wealthy and privileged who volunteer, or might there be other factors pressuring the least advantaged to volunteer?

Is it really volunteering when you believe this is your only hope for an education or economic future, or more of an indentured servitude?

In Canada, demographically speaking, it cuts across all segments, and probably over represented by young university students. They have far more officer candidates than trades, which is good, because they get to pick the best.

Once you have volunteered to be in the Forces, you can be sent. If your regiment is assigned overseas duty, they don't ask for raise of hands. That being said, you can opt out, but being allowed to opt out is not a foregone conclusion. You need a very good reason, like a mother on her death bed, etc.

And that's what you volunteered for.

That's an idiotic comment. Sort of like saying "...union members shouldn't get anything that the rest of us do not."

Enlistment is a contract. They willingly forego many of the benefits that the rest of us do have and in return they are supposed to have confidence that if something bad happens, they will not be cast out and forgotten. Remembrance Day is a day not only to remember the tragedy of war and the great sacrifice but to remind the government they have a duty to care for the wounded and to provide for the families of the fallen. Unfortunately the government needs reminding the other 364 days of the year as well.

I have as much right to object to special treatment for soldiers as I do to cushy public sector union perks. Private sector unions can do whatever they like; that's just business.

If you think armed forces members have cushy deals., you've lost touch with reality.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as they're getting recruits they're paying them too much.

I dunno... Historically, that sounds pretty "American."

Would you consider yourself relatively conservative (right wing) as Canadians go?

Btw I'm American. I just linger in Canada from time to time. Your local Canadian can give you better/more accurate info. This is all just my take on things.

There is a saying "A young Conservative has no heart; an old Liberal has no brain." I'm mid-30's, so I guess I'm in transition.

I would say I lean very liberal on social topics including social safety nets, but generally am starting to be more conservative fiscally. The latter comes from being in a position of actually having money now, and seeing considerable public sector waste, nepotism, etc.

Back when there was a political party at the federal level that was actually "Progressive Conservative" I might have been someone to votes for them, though since they were absorbed with the fundamentalist Christian "Reform" party I could never in good conscience do that.

In the US if I were able to vote I would have a very hard time - only because the Democrats are too right-wing for my tastes on many topics, and there aren't really alternatives in most places.

Funny. I find conservatives both heartless and brainless at all ages. But only in the U.S. and other scary, right-leaning countries.

You are correct that our Dems are right-leaning, but good luck convincing the conservatives of that. They are dead set insisting the country is moving left (i.e. they have not been able to halt progress/change entirely), yet our Dems are Eisenhower Republicans.

It's easy for me to vote because there's an obvious lesser evil, but a lifetime of the American system has trained me not to expect a party to ever actually represent my political preferences. Otherwise we'd all be doing drugs and marrying people who want to live out their life as a horse or something (or whatever your dream is).

(I love steele's edit fuction! Fewer typos for me!)

1921. It is because of a Canadian soldier that the poppy is the symbol of the remembrance for the sacrifice given in war.

http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/after-the-war/remembrance/in-flanders-fields-and-john-mccrae/

So it's a Veterans' Day type tradition? Interesting. And is it always live poppies or do people have silk ones they take out and dust off every year?

They're made of plastic and felt, and people just buy another one every year. In Vancouver, though, the only people wearing them are politicians campaigning for election.

Poppies are big in Britain. They even get their own national tour.

Tower of London poppies: Thousands to go on tour

Vancouver is known for their ungrateful cunts

God forbit we use the ones we got last year.