If you don’t want to observe two minute silence- don’t be out

Thinking of my granddads, both working class London smokers who fought in WW2 and also thinking of my Nans foul mouth, I think the lot of them would have found the woman demanding fags hilarious. One of my later memories was of my Nan and my great aunt pissing themselves laughing at her upstairs neighbour who was sweeping the road with nothing on from the waist down. What I’m getting at is that all those that lost their lives in the wars were walking, talking floored humans who were up for a laugh and lived their lives in colour, not black and white. They were not forlorn weeping angel figures.

I worked in retail for years, and yes there were always those that carried on while we all observed the silence, but as long as we take the time to pay respect ourselves, then there is nothing we can do about the oddballs that don’t, who can explain what goes through peoples minds, but all those soldiers probably would laugh and roll their eyes at them and be grateful to the rest of us, mostly I guess they would have just liked to have been left the fuck alone and not sent to pointless wars caused by a few governmental jerks Willy waving.

What we need to address is how soldiers are treated after war has spat them out. There’s a brilliant documentary called’ they shall not grow old” that not only shows these people to have been just like us, there are also real taped interviews, and one of the saddest things I heard was that when they returned to civilian life, nobody wanted to know of their experience, they had to find each other to talk of it, everyone else just wanted them to shut up and get on!

As my nan always put it “what a load of old balls!”

This, unfortunately. It's much easier to not talk for two minutes than it is to stay home so you're not out in public at 11am. If you cared enough to stay home out of respect for others you'd care enough to stay quiet.

I completely agree.
So many pious people who in actual fact don’t do anything to help anyone except themselves but wear a poppy as if this makes them a good person.

I think if people want to formerly observe the 2 mins remembrance in complete silence, they need to attend one of the thousands of church services up and down the country specifically for this purpose, or stay at home if they want guaranteed silence. If its so so so important to you why are you in the middle of your supermarket shop.

I don't think its reasonable to impose a 2 minute silence on supermarket shoppers who cannot be obligated to participate - not everyone agrees that its the right way to commemorate the sacrifices made.

OP said unable.

The only people unable to be silent for two minutes are those who are unable to be silent because of disability or neuro divergence etc.

Suggesting that those who are unable to stay silent should stay home is ableist, regardless of anyone's feelings about remeberance.

I've always wanted to ask- how does that work exactly (the not believing in war)? If, for example, your country is invaded you think it shouldn't be defended?

I'm not responsible for what OP said, neither have I advocated shutting people away.

A 'silence' is a communal act. If someone makes noise during a silence they have stopped someone else from observing it.
But not everyone will want to observe it and they have the right not to. We can't co-erce people.
A compromise is to expect silence at organised parades but not censure people who choose not to observe it in shops, railway carriages etc
Of course people who cannot observe it due to disability should do as they please, attend parades, shops, whatever.

The fag shopper is clearly fictional

It's not missing the point. It's yet another example of how people with disabilities can be misunderstood or just treated as though it should be obvious they aren't included in language. It isn't. unable covers a multitude of reasons

Well for info some business still try to make the effort….for info during the silence and a during buffer a few minutes either side Heathrow usually has a ban in place on engine starting and aircraft pushbacks and Air Traffic try to avoid any overflight of central London during the same period.

It doesn't hurt to be silent for a couple of minutes. It would be nice to hear a little less about the right to waffle on constantly and a little more about consideration and thoughtfulness towards others.

There's also the luxury of being an edgelord who thinks war is government mass murder or something with never a thought of defence. Imagine if Hitler as all his atrocities from huge to small went unchallenged in 1939! Auschwitz and Oradour-sur-Glane would be going on everywhere today. A little reflection on how downright lucky we are would do many people an awful lot of good.

Then OP shouldn't have said unable. You can't shut those who can't be silent away

🤔are you a professional at missing the point?

Sometimes I forget about the silence, and I dont always observe it. However I respect the right of shop workers to show respect if they wish and it was very rude for someone to demand they were served then. Not everyone can afford a day off and if they want to observe the silence they should be able to do so.

Some people dont have a lot of choice over when they can do their shopping either - but 2 minutes is not a massive time to expect someone to show consideration for others. I wouldnt glare at someone walking around/ putting items in a trolley in a supermarket but I would if they demanded to be served.

Exactly.

Sure you can ask - I donate to the poppy appeal (even when not buying a poppy) and have also donated to various charities which help veterans over the years. I also do my best to share awareness of events which provide support, such Vereran's Breakfasts.

A couple of years ago someone told ds off for making noises. He tried to tell her about Tourette’s but she wasn’t listening. He managed to call her a sanctimonious old biddy but it upset him and worried him; so op in the politest possible way fuck off.

The shopper was rude.

I don't observe the 2 minutes, neither today nor tomorrow. I carry on with what I am doing but I am respectful to those who do and won't disturb them.

So, I will go out, will shop, will carry on working on Monday and I I won't wear a poppy.. But I won't talk to people, I don't demand a service.

Respect my wish to not observe while I respect you observing it.

I remember when and how I prefer to do, not because society demands it from me.

People who don’t observe the silence might not be aware it’s happening, I’m not great at keeping track of dates especially those I’m not interested in and it hadn’t occurred to me until I saw this post that today is the Sunday nearest the 11th and that there would be silences anywhere, I won’t be out at 11 today but if I had been and hadn’t read this post being expected to be silent or stop what I was doing would have taken me by surprise and if I was in a shop I certainly wouldn’t have expected that normal service would stop or that I’d have to wait until 11:02 to be served, to be honest that just seems performative.

If people working or out and about shopping want to observe and remember those who’ve fallen wouldn’t they be better to take a couple of minutes of the day when at home to sit in quiet contemplation (even if at a different time) rather than expect to do it whilst out and about; I’d question how deeply anybody is able to remember and contemplate on the atrocities of war and those who have fallen in 2 minutes and surely after truly reflecting most people wouldn’t be ready to go back to shopping/ serving after 2 minutes? I would think therefore that anybody who is going to the shops at 11:00 and standing silent for 2 minutes isn’t truly reflecting and is just doing it to virtue signal and engage in public performance and that they don’t actually give a shit about the fallen any more than the person who goes about their shopping without any pause and without standing silent at that time.

If you want to observe the silence and remember the dead you either stay at home or go to a service, you don’t go to Aldi to do it!

I don’t observe the silence at home, if I’m out then I won’t do anything to disturb those observing it. For our family it’s complicated and painful and doesn’t belong to us anymore.

The whole Remembrance Sunday thing as someone up thread said, has become performative. It’s not truly inclusive as we still don’t honour lots of people who gave their all just the ones who “fit” the right criteria. Gradually we tack on the (often non-white) extra ones as pressure grows or someone realises we ought to recognise a contribution we had hitherto downplayed or ignored.

I don't think OP was referring to involuntary noises. To me, it is certainly disrespectful to deliberately break a silence that has been considered sacred for well over a hundred years. Staying at home if they can't be silent is a bit extreme, though. But neither should anyone go out of their way to break the solemnity of the occasion.
Two minutes of respectful consideration of others feelings isn't too much to ask for.

This. I also hate the way Remembrance Day and wearing poppies ( or not) has become hijacked by certain groups of people. I can pay my respects without making a big show of it.

so i realised you were meant to be silent but didn’t realise you was meant to stand still as well, i was in sainsbury’s one year when the announcement came on and i genuinely didn’t know you was meant to stand still as well and the announcement didn’t mention it, so i continued to walk along silently and realised everyone around me was standing still the looks they gave me was horrific, i genuinely hadn’t realised so i had to keep walking whilst being given looks as if i was evil, till i got round a corner then i stood still but i’ve avoided shops ever since then on the day.

This is such an ignorant post.