Blake Hall
As Nov. 11 approaches, both American and British politicians are rallying to pay lip service to supporting the troops. One of the easiest ways to do this is to circulate an image of said politician wearing a remembrance poppy.
Somehow, British Prime Minister David Cameron’s office couldn’t even do that.
Since World War II, it has been a tradition in the United States and the United Kingdom to wear bright red remembrance poppies to commemorate fallen soldiers ahead of Veterans/Remembrance Day. The poppies allude to the heart-wrenching poem “In Flanders Fields,” which describes a poppy growing for every soldier who perished in Flanders, Belgium during the war. The American and British Legions also use the poppy to raise money for military veterans and spread awareness.
Rather than snapping a new photograph of Cameron while he was wearing the poppy, the Facebook page for his office at 10 Downing Street digitally altered a photo it posted less than six months ago to include a poppy on his lapel.
The obvious edit was caught by Twitter immediately, and hilarious memes ensued.
The moral of the story here is that if you are going to pretend you care about military veterans or fallen soldiers, you should at least put forth the effort to actually wear the dang poppy.