Red Fridays

[waterspyder]

Red Fridays make me really uncomfortable.

I support our military and its endeavours.

I do not support war.

I never want people to get confused about that.

Not to mention the whole thing reeks of propaganda tactic.

So when everyone at work tells me to wear red on Friday, repeatedly, and then asks me why I didn't on Friday, it makes me uncomfortable. I won't go to the gym on Fridays either for the same reason.

Do you think it would be wrong to remind people that not everyone shares the same political beliefs? I think people lose sight of that sort of thing.

Comments

[conformistsheep.livejournal.com]

no, i don't think it would be wrong. in fact i think it would be important, though a possibly tiring and unrewarding endeavour.

[krueger.livejournal.com]

agreed

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Nuance and subtlety do get lost in the binary "red or not?" of this. Explaining your presumably considered position is a good idea, but I agree with conformistsheep that it will probably be tiring and unrewarding in many cases.

I kind of want to get a red shirt made with an explanation printed right on it for myself, something like "I'm wearing this red shirt to support our troops, who are doing a difficult job under trying circumstances, and not to support war itself or the policies that promote it." Only, you know, pithier.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Wear Red.
For the People, Not the Project.

[krueger.livejournal.com]

It's not to support war, it's to show support for our people in Afghanistan who are risking their lives to help another group of people live their's.

It is not a propaganda tactic, and the message of Canadians wearing red on Fridays has brought hope to Canadian solders performing this duty,,,this very long and strenuous duty.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

My quandary is that people see what they want to see, and it's too easy for it to be seen as support for a whole package of things that aren't really part of it at all. Because political parties tend to be driven by perceptions of popular opinion rather than principle, I don't want to make my opinions easily misunderstood or misrepresented. Unfortunately, that makes it hard to express them at all.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

Alot of people say that they wear red to support the war itself. I don't think kerry wants to give that impression.

[corradus.livejournal.com]

Hear Hear. Well put.

[(Anonymous)]

It is my understanding that wearing red is to support our troups not the war. Either way what you wear shouldn't be anyones biz, if they do ask, ask them why they don't wear pink for breast cancer, or white for lung cancer etc...

[ms-danson.livejournal.com]

The only person at work that I know wears red every Friday does so with this explaination... "I will wear red every friday until they bring our troops home." I think that makes his views very clear.

[parisbaby-2003.livejournal.com]

I get asked sometimes why I'm not wearing red on Fridays. I usually just say something surface-cheerful and meaningless and move away.

Much tougher for you to do, considering you're living in the Capital, where a host of silly and meaningless diversions happen every hour of every day. I have noticed a far larger percentage of sheeple in OT than in TO, where we seem to be far more cynical.

Maybe frame an answer that puts the psychological onus back on the questioner, such as, "I don't need to define just one day a week to support our troops - I wear my red on the inside every day."

Or some dreck like that.

...god, I'm such a cynical bitch...

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I still want to know how the troops know who is wearing red or not... and how they distinguish between pro-war red, anti-war red, support our troops rd, and heart health awareness red... all of which advocate wearing red on Fridays.

I don't make good sheeple.

[dolston.livejournal.com]

To the best of my knowledge the wearing red to support the troops was started by the fmailies and friends of soldiers from CFB Petawawa. There is no agenda other than letting people know that people from their community are overseas doing something that very well might get them killed. It was simply away to keep the faceless Johnny and Jenny Canuck Soldier in everyones thoughts. It was not conceived of as a political statement. Only a wish to let the soldiers that are currently serving that we are thinking of them and their wellbeing.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I wish it felt like that at work...

[dolston.livejournal.com]

Fuck other people. Do what is in your heart and it won't steer your wrong. You are a good person.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I'd rather mail a Christmas card to Kandahar than fuel the culture breeding at work.

[krueger.livejournal.com]

Fact

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

How about a t-shirt that says "Fuck the war, support the troops". Perhaps not work friendly...

[torrain.livejournal.com]

*pauses*

*blinks*

*grins*

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I do not think that it would be out of line *at all*, especially since I keep getting the impression that the distinction between "support these people doing dangerous work" and "support the specific dangerous work that these people are doing" seems to be getting lost.

If anyone asks you, can you can say that you feel it's inappropriate to advocate particular political beliefs when you're in the role of a public servant, and that you prefer to keep your personal support for the military out of the workplace?

(If anyone asks you next Friday, you could point to your poppy if you wear one.)

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I do wear poppies... if I could find someone to sell me one.

Actually, that's not a bad idea. Wear the poppy on Fridays. No one has ever mistaken the poppy as a pro-war tool (to my knowledge).

[torrain.livejournal.com]

*tips hat* Both the Tim Hortons' I've been in this week have them. If you can't pick one up by Monday, let me know and I'll grab you one.

Dulce et decorum est, and so forth.