Royal British Legion Not Selling Poppies to not Offend Minorities? Nonsense.
Messages spreading across social networking site Facebook assert that the Royal British Legion - Britains leading charity for people and families involved with the Armed Forces - are not selling poppies in certain areas because it would offend minorities.
The rumours are totally false and have circulated both in 2011 and 2012 as Armistice Day approaches. There is simply no evidence or verifiable sources to back up the claims made in the rumour……There was an incident in 2011 where the Royal British Legion were unable to collect money in certain areas of Birmingham but this was because of licensing issues set by the local council which were eventually resolved, nothing to do with minorities.
Also in 2011 various stores were criticised for not allowing their staff to wear poppies as it did not adhere to uniform codes (here and here.), however those high profile cases were also resolved, and again at no point did any of these cases have anything to do with minorities.
Just to reassure anyone that’s been told this rumour. There is no banning of poppies going on. There is no PC issue related to poppies. For one thing, many of the British Military servicemen and women commemorated by the poppies were and are minorities, including our Gurkhas.
The only people with any reason to be offended are the sort of people who would have admired the people whose arses we kicked in WWII. So, Neonazis.
You know, racist white Brit skinheads. Not immigrants.
