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3 minutes silence!!

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Politics & Debate
How do we decide what 'deserves' a three minute silence? How come people are more than willing to give the dead in madrid a time of silent contemplation andyet the daily bombing in Iraq or Israel is ignored. What makes something more worthy?

and for that matter why is there time devoted to the life of jessica Chapman or holly wells but nothing is done for other kids who are murdered and or victims of institutional neglect like Victoria Climbie....GRRRR makes me mad!!

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Three minute silence? I can't think of anybody really :eek2: I mean it's tradition for people to have a three minute silence on remembrence day but that's about it.

    I don't see how silence equals respect. To me the greatest respect would be simply accepting they're gone and getting on with our lives.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i've been a bit out of touch this last few days so didn't know anything about it ...radio 2 was playing in the background and then it wasn't. i didn't notice till about the fourth toll of the bells...
    oh what a serious and sombre and disturbing sound ...event. what was happening ...had someone shot the prime minister ...have we declared war on france ...then silence. it was very disturbibg.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Who picks and chooses what tragedies are/atrocities/whatever you want to call them are worthy of minutes silences anyway?

    The Madrid bombings were horrible, and I can understand why there was a minutes silence before the Celtic v Barcelona match on the same day that it happened etc.

    But would you ever see a three minutes silence in the middle of the day for the victims a Turkish earthquake, or a Russian factory explosion, etc?

    These things are best done in private anyway, in my opinion.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You know the answer, much as you want to ignore it: It's closer to home. Spain is a democratic, European, Christian nation with a market economy, fundamentally liberal values, a Latin-derived language. They share similar political aims of stability and freedom, they're an EU nation, a NATO nation. We identify with the Spanish and American atrocities far more than we can with anything happening in Iraq or Israel or Turkey. Even if it's a natural catastrophe rather than a man-made one - hell, especially if it's a natural catastrophe. How many of you have ever seen an earthquake first hand, or a mudslide, or an avalanche?

    Basic human nature, and an unfortuante one.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Turtle
    You know the answer, much as you want to ignore it: It's closer to home. Spain is a democratic, European, Christian nation with a market economy, fundamentally liberal values, a Latin-derived language. They share similar political aims of stability and freedom, they're an EU nation, a NATO nation. We identify with the Spanish and American atrocities far more than we can with anything happening in Iraq or Israel or Turkey. Even if it's a natural catastrophe rather than a man-made one - hell, especially if it's a natural catastrophe. How many of you have ever seen an earthquake first hand, or a mudslide, or an avalanche?

    Basic human nature, and an unfortuante one.

    for once i actually agree with you, but i have found that in Dubai (not UAE) people seem to be concerned by both, over here there isn't a minutes silence as such but if someone important dies we have a day of for "mourning" it seems that as david said that they tend to "identify" with other Arab countries. but if you go to church they do tend to have a minutes silence for any disaster thingies...i think mainly because you get people here from everywhere so its accomodating ithers in a sense and im rambling :/
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by The Icy Aphrodite
    for once i actually agree with you, but i have found that in Dubai (not UAE) people seem to be concerned by both, over here there isn't a minutes silence as such but if someone important dies we have a day of for "mourning" it seems that as david said that they tend to "identify" with other Arab countries. but if you go to church they do tend to have a minutes silence for any disaster thingies...i think mainly because you get people here from everywhere so its accomodating ithers in a sense and im rambling :/

    Actually I have also found that Israel as a whole are a lot more supportive and interested when something happens in another part of the world, than here in Denmark.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Jacqueline the Ripper
    Actually I have also found that Israel as a whole are a lot more supportive and interested when something happens in another part of the world, than here in Denmark.

    maybe its cos nice people live there...i.e. me and you. but seriously it is interesting to think way....perhaps traditions or something
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd be insulted if somebody gave me a three minute silence if I died. I mean how is that to show respect? The person ain't around anymore and yes, there's honouring your ancestors but to make it a social norm and to get everyone to do it takes away the sincerity. Because it becomes more tradition and less emotion... if that makes sense.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by MoonRat
    I'd be insulted if somebody gave me a three minute silence if I died. I mean how is that to show respect? The person ain't around anymore and yes, there's honouring your ancestors but to make it a social norm and to get everyone to do it takes away the sincerity. Because it becomes more tradition and less emotion... if that makes sense.

    Maybe for you. But I don't attend services where I don't respect the cause of the silence.
    Taking out a couple of minutes of my life as a sign of respect isn't something I view as a bad thing.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Jacqueline the Ripper
    Taking out a couple of minutes of my life as a sign of respect isn't something I view as a bad thing.

    Aye but rememberence day for example, here in Wrexham the air sirens go off and the radios go quiet and everybody hushes up... well, most people. Is this done for the sake of tradition? Or for respect? That's what I mean...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by MoonRat
    Aye but rememberence day for example, here in Wrexham the air sirens go off and the radios go quiet and everybody hushes up... well, most people. Is this done for the sake of tradition? Or for respect? That's what I mean...

    yeh i dont like most national silences, i dont mind if im watchin a footy match and something local means they have a brief silence to pay respect, but the only worthy national ones are rememberance days, because if all these people hadnt died fighting for our country, we'd be infested by nazi scum
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by LonDoNErcHriS85
    yeh i dont like most national silences, i dont mind if im watchin a footy match and something local means they have a brief silence to pay respect, but the only worthy national ones are rememberance days, because if all these people hadnt died fighting for our country, we'd be infested by nazi scum
    How often do national silences occur in Britain?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Once a year I think, commemorating victims of the two world wars. Well, twice in fact: once on Remembrance Sunday (the closest Sunday to November 11th, and once on November 11th itself. I think so anyway...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Then why does he say "I don't like most national silences"?
    Would assume it meant you had them at least once a month.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There was one earlier this week for the Spanish bomb. They basically do them whenever, like when John Charles the footballer died Leeds United (His old club) had a 2 minutes silence before a match.

    Nationally we usually have one on Armistice day but they seem to be cropping up for all sorts of crap.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i reall dont know, the only definate annual one is remembrance of the wars, but i swear at school etc they made us have silences for events that year, of which they might have been sad, but they arent worthy of a seemingly national silence

    i say leave most events for smalllgroups/people to deal with in their own way
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