Why I Don't Wear A Poppy

I oppose all wars for moral, political, and economic reasons. Killing in war is murder unless the war is just, and justly fought. That means, at a minimum, that the war must be defensive, a last resort, and not target civilians. No Canadian war (including WW2) has ever met those minimal rules. So while I think the murdered and their families deserve most of our sympathy, we can also sympathize with victimized veterans. But hail them as heroes, the best and brightest, and all the rest of the war propaganda? No.

The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.
- Ernest Hemingway

During World War 2, the State grew. Fascism was fought abroad only to have it come home. Randolph Bourne was absolutely correct when he said war is the health of the state. In post-1945 Canada the idea of the State being a omnipresent entity, being able to provide goods and services at little cost to taxpayers was fully in force. The classical liberal idea of voluntary association was abandoned for state coercion.

The War was perceived to have strengthened the Canadian economy and thrust the country onto the world stage as a major player. The Canadian state has since involved itself in other wars such as those in Korea and Afghanistan. All in the name of international peace-keeping. To this day, the propaganda is still alive and well; In Canada, War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength and Freedom is Slavery.

Since 1945 the propaganda has strengthened to downplay any revisionist review of the war. The mass of evidence that clearly connects Nazi funding to major Wall Street players is considered conspiracy theory. War is profitable for those who finance it and World War 2 made a lot of rich men richer. Among the criminals were J.P. Morgan, T. W. Lamont and the Rockefellers and Rothchilds. As well as General Electric Company, Standard Oil, National City Bank, Chase and Manhattan banks, Loeb and Company, and scores of other business elites.

Because Canada didn't stay neutral (that is, peaceful) during a time of European military conflict, over 45,000 Canadians lost their lives and at least 54,000 came home wounded. The war sparked a draft where the Canadian state effectively said “we own you.” Over 2000 Canadians, 79 of which died, lost their most basic human rights as a predatory state forced innocent people into military service. We'll never know the amount of people that volunteered for the war after heavy doses of propaganda, only to regret their decision once the fighting started. Or even those that even to this day never saw through the propaganda; those that and still do believe that “we are the good guys.”

Yet as Nazi Germany set up concentration camps (grateful for IBM's contribution, no doubt) the Canadian state targeted another set of minorities. After the attack on Pearl Harbour Japanese-Canadians were detained in made-in-Canada concentration camps (officially called “internment camps”). Of the 22,000 Canadian prisoners, 63% of them were born in Canada. All this despite the overwhelming evidence that none of these Canadians posed a threat.

That's all the poppy represents. A gang of criminals writ large coercing against innocent persons and property. Getting into disagreements with foreign states and milking their tax-cows to finance a bloody game of chess. Forcing and brainwashing a bunch of young men and women to give up their individuality, their humanity, to kill for an idea.

And to add insult to injury, the “freedom” the veterans fought for has been incrementally disassembled since their return, but more specifically in the years since the 9/11 attacks, an event that started a new war and more propaganda. The prosperity the veterans created when released from the public payroll has been destroyed by a parasitic state claiming to represent society.

This is why I don't wear a poppy. Once made by disabled veterans, but has since been contracted out to a private company, these poppies represent nothing more than nearly 100 years of murder and the propaganda that justifies it.