If you're thinking "I wonder what the TV and radio channels are doing...I'll have a look" during a 2 minutes silence why bother at all?
If you are standing respectfully, with remote in hand, a quick scroll through can be done without denegrating the event. A return to the Cenotaph can be completed well in time for The Last Post.
If you are standing respectfully, with remote in hand, a quick scroll through can be done without denegrating the event. A return to the Cenotaph can be completed well in time for The Last Post.
You may be standing respectfully, but again - if your only thought is how TV & Radio is handling things, why bother? I just don't see the point in participating in a 2 minute silence if your thoughts aren't with the real reason for the event int he first place.
Christ. Why should ALL channels have to observe a two minutes silence??
Everyone can access BBC One - if they want to have their silence then fine, but it doesn't need to be inflicted upon the rest of us.
Well, the original purpose behind two minutes silence on Armistice Day was that EVERYBODY should stop what they're doing and spend two minutes not just keeping quiet and standing still, but using the time to think about and remember those friends and relatives who lost their lives.
I do take your point to an extent, in that probably the best way to observe two minutes silence - if you're at home alone with the telly on - is simply to switch it off regardless of which channel you're watching.
I've always observed the Sunday silence, and since the 11/11 silence has become 'official' again in the last decade, I've always tried to observe that one as well. Unlike my parents who lived through the war, and grandparents who fought in it, I don't personally remember anyone who died. However, having been able to talk to my grandfather about what it was like to pick up the pieces (literally) after a crash-landing, and having as a child talked to my great-uncle about hand-to-hand combat on the Somme, somehow it puts some of the trite things we worry about into perspective, and I don't feel two minutes is too much to ask. Good job they didn't think "Oh, they can have their war... but it doesn't have to be inflicted on the rest of us."
Christ. Why should ALL channels have to observe a two minutes silence??
Everyone can access BBC One - if they want to have their silence then fine, but it doesn't need to be inflicted upon the rest of us.
Well, the original purpose behind two minutes silence on Armistice Day was that EVERYBODY should stop what they're doing and spend two minutes not just keeping quiet and standing still, but using the time to think about and remember those friends and relatives who lost their lives.
I do take your point to an extent, in that probably the best way to observe two minutes silence - if you're at home alone with the telly on - is simply to switch it off regardless of which channel you're watching.
I've always observed the Sunday silence, and since the 11/11 silence has become 'official' again in the last decade, I've always tried to observe that one as well. Unlike my parents who lived through the war, and grandparents who fought in it, I don't personally remember anyone who died. However, having been able to talk to my grandfather about what it was like to pick up the pieces (literally) after a crash-landing, and having as a child talked to my great-uncle about hand-to-hand combat on the Somme, somehow it puts some of the trite things we worry about into perspective, and I don't feel two minutes is too much to ask. Good job they didn't think "Oh, they can have their war... but it doesn't have to be inflicted on the rest of us."
Whilst I totally respect the things those soldiers and workers did for me and this country, I feel that doing the same thing every year is just a joke really. Why have all this pomp ever year?
Looking at the march past the cenotaph this morning made me laugh - all those old people marching with pride - but it is done every year??
I observed the 2 minutes silence on Friday - why should I have to do it again on Sunday?
I don't know - maybe it's my age - but the wars seem to be more relevant and important to the older generation - whereas I am more involved with the recent bombings in London.
maybe it's my age - but the wars seem to be more relevant and important to the older generation - whereas I am more involved with the recent bombings in London.
So if your of that appropriate age, you should consider how relevant war is to you if you were to be called up on your eighteenth birthday to go and join the troops in Irak to fight the insurgents in the global war on terrorism.
remember seeing the 11/11 2 minutes silence between this morning a few years ago and on returning to the programme Richard Madley remarking that the traffic on the embankment didn't stop, I thought the traffic was stopped. on the 1st aniversary of 9/11 the train I was on stopped in the middle of nowhere and the same thing happened for the 2 minutes silence for the tsunami victims whilst I was on a bus.
not sure if local radios did the 2 minutes silence, they usually do.
maybe it's my age - but the wars seem to be more relevant and important to the older generation - whereas I am more involved with the recent bombings in London.
So if your of that appropriate age, you should consider how relevant war is to you if you were to be called up on your eighteenth birthday to go and join the troops in Irak to fight the insurgents in the global war on terrorism.
Wouldn't happen.
If it did, I'd refuse.
And I'm over 18.
The First and Second World Wars are irrelevant to me. I respect those that fought and died for it, but I'm not interested.
Modern day things, like the London bombings, are relevant to me. I am interested in them.
The First and Second World Wars are irrelevant to me. I respect those that fought and died for it, but I'm not interested.
Modern day things, like the London bombings, are relevant to me. I am interested in them.
I'm not the only one who's shocked at how many young people seem to feel about the World Wars. I'm 19, but I still consider both world wars to be very relavant, I can't believe so many people are not interested.
The fact is, we need to learn from the past, or we are doomed to repeat it.
The First and Second World Wars are irrelevant to me. I respect those that fought and died for it, but I'm not interested.
Modern day things, like the London bombings, are relevant to me. I am interested in them.
I'm not the only one who's shocked at how many young people seem to feel about the World Wars. I'm 19, but I still consider both world wars to be very relavant, I can't believe so many people are not interested.
The fact is, we need to learn from the past, or we are doomed to repeat it.
Yes James, of course we are doomed to repeat it if we don't think it's relevant to us...
I don't know - maybe it's my age - but the wars seem to be more relevant and important to the older generation - whereas I am more involved with the recent bombings in London.
Personally I find the older generation far WORSE.
I work in Tesco, and we ran a two minute silence both today and Friday.
Both times, the entire place came to a halt - save for a couple of this fabled older generation. THEY chose to shout at people for getting in their way, be extremely rude to staff who stood silently, and actually shoved people with their trollies when asked to fall silent.
And THEY are the ones who say WE have no respect!
Oh, and just on a slightly related note, the Worst Song Out Of A Silence award for 2005 has to go to Rock FM - for Bjork, and It's Oh So Quiet.
A shocking lapse by the most anal poster on the planet.