'Poppy facists'

[Beamer]

why mention it at all then ???

And freedom of choice is what its all about and who made it possible.....its about them....not you !!

[wiltshire builders]

Because it proves the point I was making!
You're just repeating everything I said earlier.
If you don't understand something, that's your problem not mine.

[Gerry]

Because of my low intellect I've had to re-read your posts to get your point. I can see what you are saying now (I think) :-/
Pity you seemed to complicate your argument by mentioning your worthy efforts (especially on busted knee) and WB's members response !

I don't agree with your disagreement on the posters (that's the paper ones, not the forum ones) though, it's a hard life out there and everybody else does it so if you (or they) take the moral high ground and don't do it you will be left begging for the leftovers from the donkey sanctuary and poor pussy charities

[Jon_W]

[quote author=dan_geoghegan link=1352490872/4#4 date=1352661417]
Wear your poppy with pride not guilt.

What he said [/quote]

+1.

I donate but do not wear a poppy. My choice.

Prehaps rather than argue about the poppy, we should reflect on the millions of men, women and children killed in war and the fact that this barbarism continues in the 21st century.

[wiltshire builders]

Because of my low intellect I've had to re-read your posts to get your point. I can see what you are saying now (I think) :-/
Pity you seemed to complicate your argument by mentioning your worthy efforts (especially on busted knee) and WB's members response !

I don't agree with your disagreement on the posters (that's the paper ones, not the forum ones) though, it's a hard life out there and everybody else does it so if you (or they) take the moral high ground and don't do it you will be left begging for the leftovers from the donkey sanctuary and poor pussy charities

And what if i'd adopted the RBL poster campaign approach to get money out of you?
It's unfair to make people feel morally obliged to give to charity you'd have either begrudgingly given or thought badly of my agressive tactics. Like I highlighted before, I respected everyones choice unlike the RBL. (Despite what Tina seems to think)

I'm affraid you've contradicted yourself. The poster campaign is designed to make people feel that it's socially unacceptable to not give to the RBL.
As soon as that happens your freedom of choice is diminished.
These totalitarian tactics are an excellent way of raising money, keeping people in line or convincing people that a religious group are unfairly hoarding your country's wealth and need to be wiped out.

[Mitch9128]

I'm LOL'ing that some of you think soldiers gave you freedoms, soldiers take away freedoms, it's unions and ordinary people who fought hard for freedoms and rights that we have today.

[Gooz]

I still don't agree Dan, the poster is using a subtle shock tactic to make you think, and obviously it worked, as regardless of what you think or beleive, or wether you choose to wear a poppy or not, someone was moved enough one way or the other to copy and paste the poster onto a well subscribed forum, and then get themselves into a full on debate over it, you have still donated, and raised their profile without realising it.
Regardless of how any of us think you yourself have also said through your own fundraising efforts how hard it was to get people to part with their money. not those words exactly before you start jumping up and down but with inferences to the lack of donations from w'brs,
Maybe you should have gotten in touch with the RBL and asked them who designs their posters and get them to knock one up for you, as i for one had no idea what you yourself were up to, If I had then I would quite happily of supported you if it were a worthy cause.

[redken1]

Dan, posted up this quote from the President of a global charity because we were talking about charities using shock tactics to raise awareness at work today. To be honest we were split evenly in our differing views, but “compassion fatigue” was mentioned during our lunch-time discussion.

“As charities who frequently deal with sensitive, even controversial, issues, we owe it to those we serve to avoid sensationalising their pain. Bad enough that they had to face trauma and obstacles without us using them or their situation as case studies to leverage public guilt. We need to ask ourselves: Are we fighting for brand recognition or are we fighting for real change? If all shock advertising does is generate temporary public outrage, reinforce negative perceptions of our causes and create compassion fatigue, then we should abandon it.”

Whilst I accept that shock tactics focuses minds I’m not convinced that that always translates into an increase in donations. I think charities need to recognise that there is not a bottomless tank of public sympathy out there to tap into and continual use of shock advertising could lead to “compassion fatigue” among the generous public.

[Gooz]

as you quite rightly point out "compassion fatigue" is very real and always a problem, however a charity cannot function on donations alone, their purpose is not always about spending, sometimes a raised awareness is much more valuable to them and their aim than a donation, a raising of awareness and purpose will normally follow with an increased subscription to their ranks by people moved by what they are seeing, this will eventually lead to more people spreading the word and collecting on their behalf, so it rolls on, and as a very active member of a few charities my biggest issue was always manpower , then funding, and the posters used have had exactly that effect, I have no qualms whatsoever with WB and admire his efforts but love or hate we are all talking about them and as such most of us have followed the link and looked at them,
Personnally I do not find them offensive at all, I think they are very clever, unfortunately we do now live in a society that requires a lot more to shock us nowadays, I have seen much much worse, usually involving children or animals, and one of those posters wasn't inferrenced to a lack of a poppy, it was a lack of a family member, it could have easily been me or you or anyone of us on our bikes, wouldnt you like to think that if ever the worst happened to any of us your family would find comfort and support from someone or somebody who wanted and was able to help them.

[Swanny]

I think the problem with the poppy appeal is most people relate it to the 1st and 2nd world wars and they were so very long ago.