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Medway blogger attacks anti-war protesters for vandalising charity billboards
Medway blogger Alan Collins has attacked anti-war protesters for vandalising billboards advertising the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.
Mr Collins, a member of the Royal British Legion and the Royal Air Forces Association, as well as a former member of the Air Training Corps, expressed his anger at the tactics used by the protesters.
“The whole point of the Poppy Appeal is to promote and finance support for servicemen who have fought bravely and professionally for our freedom,” Mr Collins said.
“They fought, and in many cases, died to give us the freedom to protest, not to give us the freedom to commit criminal acts.
“I’m not saying I don’t disagree with what the protesters are saying. There are many questions that need answering about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but this is not the way to go about getting heard.”
Alan Collins has long been a supporter of Britain’s Armed Forces, helping to collect money for the Poppy Appeal for the last few years, and his comments came after vandalism of the billboards with messages including “For their sake, bring ‘em home” and “For their sake, prosecute Blair” angered him.
Mr Collins added: “the Poppy Appeal isn’t about arguing about which wars are just and which should never have been entered into. It’s about supporting and helping our servicemen and women for their bravery and professionalism.
“The fact that these people have manipulated the Poppy Appeal campaign for their own political protest is, quite frankly, disgusting.”
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8 Comments
Isn’t this literally an article about yourself?
That’s really terrible. Okay, we might not like war in general, and specific wars in particular, but no-one with a clue is going to target those who are on the receiving end of someone else’s policy decisions.
The well-earned reputation of our professionals (for that is what and who they are) makes it completely nonsensical for anyone to have a go either at them personally or at anything associated with the Services.
As is so often the case, these vandals are missing the target at which they would more sensibly be aiming if that had a real grievance about any particular conflict and our involvement.
Thank you for your comment, John Davis, although I completely disagree with the point you are making.
This article expresses my opinion on what I believe is a disgusting act, with background information as to who I am, to allow people to understand why I feel so strongly about this.
It is my opinion, whether others agree with it or not, that our service personnel should be respected and supported, and that such campaigns in their support should be respected and supported just as much.
Political protests should not interfere with campaigns supporting service personnel. Period. If they have a problem with the wars which are being fought then they are entitled to protest.
However, it was not the Royal British Legion’s decision to attack Afghanistan, nor was it the servicemen and women themselves. Policy decisions can be challenged, as long as protests target the right people.
This was, in my view, a despicable act, which is exactly what brought about the above post.
Actually, we were saying the same thing, though I was probably being less clear than I should have been. Put it down to stress with moving home
I usually buy a poppy but am not sure this year given that the Huddersfield branch of the RBL has accepted a donation from the British National Party knowing full well where it is coming from.
I can understand the indignation at this change to the poster but would ask how the amount of offence for this act compares with that of presiding over the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, something for which Tony Blair is culpable.
Alan, I think you misunderstood the comment from ‘John Davis’. He was referring to the fact that this post appears to be entirely about yourself, in the third-person, yet written by yourself and published on your own blog. So in that sense it is an article purely about yourself, which seems a bit odd. Perhaps using the first-person might have better suited expressing your own views.
“Medway blogger Alan Collins has attacked…
Mr Collins….
Alan Collins…”
And this is on… Alan Collins’ blog. Do you see? (You Tory bastard!)
James, with the exception of the last sentence, your comments have been noted.
This blog has gone through several improvements since its inception almost three years ago. In one of the more recent improvements, this blog moved from being heavily-opinionated to drawing independently on the best and most important news from across Medway.
The article above was written using that same format; every attempt is made to write articles in the third person except where those articles fall within the “Opinion” category.
If you look around the blogosphere, and the web in general, you will find I am not the only person who uses the third person on my website – even when expressing views such as this.
This IS just an article about yourself. I’ve read some articles about some things in my time, but this is definately an article about you and your completely flawed opinions.
xx