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

In your opinion.

You'd think. Apparently it's an anti-war act of rebellion to treat the shared silence of people around you with contempt by disrupting it for sport.

Yes, there's freedom of expression and then there's GOVERNMENTS ARE BAD ANYWAY, WE HAD A WAR FOR ME TO BE FREE TO ASK WHAT'S HOLDING UP MY ARGOS ORDER AT 11.01 IF I WANT TO SO THERE. Lots of people here are vociferously in favour of the latter. How about 'for one day, maybe just wait and look at the window display or something till 11.03'? Is that such an infringement on our hard fought for personal liberties?

You think it's only about WW1?

Yeah, predominantly of the lives of the people whose countries they’re invading. And not by conscription. You’re free to feel how you want to feel about the British army and demonstrate those feelings how you like but it’s ahistorical not to recognise why others don’t share your position.

as with so many situations: don't be a dick applies here, surely?

Maybe lots of people don’t feel the need to set aside a specific 2 minutes every year and can be thankful and reflecting more often than that

You think an entire nation coming together for 2 mins every year should now be an opt out? I think it’s amazing we do this every year. It’s hardly difficult.

Ridiculous comment 🙄 that's clearly not what she means and you know it.

Disabilities aside, if you can’t manage two mins of silence to show respect for people who had to die for the country that you live in then there really is something wrong with you I think. It’s two minutes. That’s it.

People do it because of peer pressure, not because it has meaning for them. This two minutes’ silence was not a thing in the UK except at remembrance services until after the Falklands war.

I disagree. This country’s foreign policy, for example, promotes neither and actively works against it in a lot of cases.

It’s meaningless. There is nobody alive who even served in WW1, much less to care if people in supermarkets are quiet for 2 minutes for the armistice. If you want to make a meaningful contribution to honouring veterans and service people, volunteer, donate, vote so we don’t end up in the shit again.

Nothing is more worthless than an act of service you are forcing people to take part in.

I observe the silence but doesnt this also work the other way around too- why are you going shopping at that exact time if observing the silence is so important to you?

Why not stay at home, reflect, and then go shopping? Its far easier to control your own actions than the actions of everyone else in the country!

YANBU. It's not about personal opinions, it's about respect for others. We do it at school (after walking over to the war memorial) and teach the children that, if they don't want to think about the soldiers who die in wars during that 2 minutes, then they don't have to but they must stay quiet to respect the situation and those who do. If 300 children (certain SEND aside, of course) can do that, then there's no excuse for adults. Not realising while out and about can't be helped, of course. But being deliberately and audibly not observant is not ok.

She's not right.
Those fighting on the front line don't get to decide which wars to fight, they're just willing to make sacrifices I'm not.

It just seems so performative to demand it's done in public and that everyone joins in.

I guess it’s done in some public places so that staff in shops etc can take part in a collective act of remembrance. I don’t see it as performative - people don’t need to take part if they don’t want to. Life moves at a pace, and individual reflection of course is important but collective remembrance also has its place.

Don't be ridiculous 🙄 you know exactly what she means.

And that's what consideration for others looks like. Thank you.

So you are going to be deliberately disruptive while other people are observing the silence?

It is, but everything starts with "it's just ...." saying someone cannot go about their normal lives or out in public at a certain time because they don't share your beliefs is not a path I would be comfortable starting down.

It's not either or.
It's also not hard for most people to observe.
Exceptions exist, such as medical staff, children, adults who don't understand etc.

So much attitude on this thread.

OP is saying you should respect those who are observing the 2 mins silence and I’ve never seen anyone not doing so - even small children in schools manage this.

You don’t have the right to interrupt someone else.

You have no idea of their thoughts or feelings and you certainly don’t get to demand what you need.

If we were at war we certainly wouldn’t have shops selling useless tat and she’s have to get her fags on the black market. Something she should be grateful for.

She didn’t say the politicians. She said “celebrating those who fought in the wars and invasions by the UK that should never have happened” and she’s right.

It serves to remind us at a time when the world is getting ever more dangerous, that peace is a fragile thing.

If you really cannot STFU for 2 minutes, you ought to have a little think to yourself about why that might be.

And as usual: i am on board with stand if you are able, and keep silent if you are able. It's not a stretch to think that people who genuinely can't manage this are not being disrespectful

For those who say “it s 2 mins”, “it s to be thankful of the fallen” etc.

women and men have fought wars for the freedom we have now. They have famililes who have letters, photos and other mementos of their sacrifices for the greater good.

i am thankful in how the great great great grandchildren in our family know History, know their stories and know the sacrifice they made. That s how you remember the fallen. By talking through the choices they made when they volunteered, the fear they experienced when they receive the letter for enrolment, the letters you may have received long after because it was lost and realise how scared and hungry they were in the trenches somewhere in the Somme….

As descendants, my cousins and I are humbled to know that. To have read those letters. One has a mark and my grandmother said it must have been a tear.

so stop with rhe 2 mins once a year. Dont be disrespectful but dont tell me what to do.
if you re in a church or at a remembrance event, participate. But if i m shopping it a because i need to that day and couldnt go before or after.
and no I dont and wont wear a poppy.