This isn't even about supporting the war. This is about supporting the troops. Do you not care that there are some of your countries troops over there. Are you so stubborn and against the war that you are not willing to support the troops that are there fighting for you? Willing to give their life for you?
Then I see that Simon inexplicably doesn't want this kind of thing
The yellow ribbon is about support, wanting our kids to come back home, nothing else. Denying anyone the posting of a yellow ribbon is narrow minded and silly.
Have you even read Simon's comments in this thread?
To quote a few:
When have I said it isn't allowed to be discussed? As long as things are done in a respectful way, as you say, then people are free to discuss things.
please show me where I have denied people the opportunity of expressing their support of their country or their troops
You seem to be implying that me not wanting to have the board degenerate into some pro & anti battleground somehow means that I am unsupportive of the troops?
I did put up a topic saying that I thought it was possible to support the troops while opposing the war ... and kinda got shot down.I presume then that people do equate the two and this would lead to the kind of thing I'm trying to avoid. I just don't think it's the right place and would lead to more trouble and unpleasantness and people falling out which is what I don't want to see happen.
I'm sorry, I do understand the point you are making and they are fair points but I just think it would be impossible if I 'allowed' this to ever draw the line on anything else. Where would it stop? What would I have to allow from others to be fair? Would I allow people to put things saying they didn't support the troops? Would this upset people? Would some want to start putting political statements on every post etc ... I can just see the whole thing becoming a nightmare.Simon does support the troops and has been saying it over and over again, he just does not support the govenments and the way this war came about, It is possible to do this, all he is saying in regards to this ribbon idea is that he can see the potential for things to get even more unpleasent, because if he allows this he has to allow anyone against the war to do it, as I have highlighted in red.As an example, suppose instead of having the link on each post that I decided to put the ribbon on the site (at the top of the pages). Should I then put one next to it saying that we shouldn't support the troops? Woudln't this be rediculous and meaningless? The point is, it would only mean something if I allowed one and not the other which would mean being unfair and biased and causing more accusations of being one-sided.
I hope you can see the difficulty and why I don't think it's a good idea. Not because I am against people expressing support for the troops as I myself do, but because of the problems it would cause compared to the good it would do. If people really want to send expressions of support then there are much better and more direct ways to do it (which have already been posted "Message to the troops" or something similar).