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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Minute Silence at 6pm for Captain Tom.

285 replies

Doomsdayiscoming · 03/02/2021 12:44

I will be standing outside my house with my head bowed to remember Tom, and all the others that have lost their lives during this pandemic due to covid directly, or indirectly.

My hands will not meet. I don’t care what Supreme Leader Johnson orders us to do.

AIBU?

OP posts:
FlibbertyGiblets · 03/02/2021 15:07

@Crunchymum

Boris is saying tonight at 6pm, FB is saying tomorrow at 8pm

I mean are we so pathetic as a country we cannot actually organise a clap? Rhetorical question there.

I will not be clapping or bowing my head or howling [yes this is a thing too - Google it!]

You have to love a bit of misdirection.

Would ululating be okay instead of howling? Asking for a friend.
LivingOnAnIsland · 03/02/2021 15:07

@Doomsdayiscoming

I will be standing outside my house with my head bowed to remember Tom, and all the others that have lost their lives during this pandemic due to covid directly, or indirectly.

My hands will not meet. I don’t care what Supreme Leader Johnson orders us to do.

AIBU?

How pathetic. Nobody cares whether you do or don't.
cantmakealifeofit · 03/02/2021 15:07

@Suamino

The father figure statement is just patronising. He’s a father figure to his actual kids and grandkids, not the rest of the nation. Bloody hell

hobbyiscodefordogging · 03/02/2021 15:10

Why do you have to stand outside your house with your head bowed? Is it so everyone can see your virtue signalling? Because unless you're the chancellor and live next door to him, Boris is not going to have a clue or give a shit what you do.

littlepattilou · 03/02/2021 15:10

@FlibbertyGiblets

Would ululating be okay instead of howling? Asking for a friend...

But 'ululating' is the same as howling.

FatCatThinCat · 03/02/2021 15:11

@ArosAdraDrosDolig

Johnson politicised this by going against the will of Tom’s family. Has he asked them if this is what they, or Tom wanted?

I understand that the family have specifically said they don’t want this, on their village fb page

That makes it even more awful and so disrespectful to his family.
Bythemillpond · 03/02/2021 15:12

If no one claps tonight it sends a message to the incompetent fools that they do not have public support

I live in a really strong Tory neighbourhood and I can guarantee no one will come out and clap or stand there.
They didn’t do it for the NHS either. It just isn’t the done thing. More likely to get a strange look if you were seen to be clapping.

cantmakealifeofit · 03/02/2021 15:12

Nothing against a minute of silence. That’s a standard thing and has been for decades.

It’s the clap and being out on the doorstep that I find fucking insulting.

I’ll go out and yodel, I think.

whatdoesthismeaneh · 03/02/2021 15:14

@TheChip

Either way, it's all for show and not for a genuine cause or reason. It's not for Tom, like you said - it's to counter the political demonstration. The government aren't doing it for Tom either.
I support Boris, I dont I think everything he does is good, some of this government's policies are total rubbish but he is a million times better than Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott. I don't think this minutes silence is political but I do think it a rubbish idea and won't be on my doorstep in the freezing cold.
Frazzled2207 · 03/02/2021 15:17

I'm very saddened by the death of Sir Tom.
However i think organising a nationwide clap is sickening tbh. What about the other 100,000 that have died? Sir Tom was a truly remarkable person but the death of the rest of them is no less tragic.
I'd find it distasteful if I was a family member of one of the other many, many victims. I won't be taking part, but fair enough to anyone that wants to.

BreatheAndFocus · 03/02/2021 15:21

Why would you judge whether the clapping is a good thing to do based on who urged us to do it?? Surely people decide whether the action itself is something they think they should do?

I’m no Boris fan, but the fact that Boris said it is irrelevant. Would you have clapped if Starmer had said it? WTF does it matter? It’s like those dimwits who, when I tell them I’m vegetarian, crow “ Hitler was vegetarian!” as though that’s some kind of clever gotcha.

I might clap, I might not, but i’ll make my decision based on what I think is right not who said it. The only exception to that would be if Tom’s family asked that we not clap. Then it would be respectful to take that on board.

Basing your decision on whether Boris said it is stupid IMO.

x2boys · 03/02/2021 15:23

Starmer is in agreement with the clap or so he said in the house of commons today .

username44416 · 03/02/2021 15:24

@x2boys

Starmer is in agreement with the clap or so he said in the house of commons today .
Well, he would, wouldn't he.
x2boys · 03/02/2021 15:26

Well indeed 😂

Pinklewinkle · 03/02/2021 15:30

I won't be going out I'm afraid. Certainly no disrespect to Sir Tom, obviously wonderful when anyone does anything positive, but due to practical reasons. Our neighbours haven't followed one bit of lockdown advice/rules since last year ( and are coming down with Covid one by one!) but run about like headless chickens shrieking and attempting to go up close to anyone else in the road shouting at any clapathons. So, not prepared to take the risk, and find the hypocrisy of those such as this hard to take. ( Not the only people locally to be so blase about passing infection in our road unfortunately!)

PurpleDaisies · 03/02/2021 15:31

@x2boys

Starmer is in agreement with the clap or so he said in the house of commons today .
What else could he say? Realistically he was never going to say it was stupid.
x2boys · 03/02/2021 15:33

I know I was replying to the poster above who had said if Starmer had suggested clapping ,would it have been different that's all.

LimitIsUp · 03/02/2021 15:36

Captain Tom seemed like a lovely, delightful old gent, and he inspired a lot of people to follow his example with fundraising, and cheered up a good many others - admirable stuff, and he deserved his knighthood. However, he seems to have turned into something of a cult. Maybe I am just a miserable sod but I find it all a bit unseemly and OTT. Today I read on someone's facebook that she 'ugly cried' over his death, and I had to switch BBC breakfast off after a moving tribute to him was still going after 20 minutes. Blimey

toocold54 · 03/02/2021 15:36

Because then no-one will see them which is the point of all this performative bollocks.

Exactly this!
OP has even made a thread just to let everyone know. I’m sure they and others like them will also be announcing their plans on social media too

bettbattenburg · 03/02/2021 15:42

I won't be outside. Because of Covid I wasn't able to go to my father's funeral and we weren't able to have any memorial service for him. Therefore I won't be doing something to remember somebody I didn't even know.

RedWelliesAreHot · 03/02/2021 15:43

My view is that grieving and showing your respects is something (for me) that is personal.

It's something to do in your own way, in your own time, at the right moment for you.

For me, it might be looking up at the stars or across the fields at a beautiful view, or a soaring bird, and thinking about Cpt Tom and what he did and saying a quiet 'thanks' to him, or 'someone', because I don't believe in a God as such.

I think the British are essentially very reserved when it comes to emotions and the outpouring after Diana's death went against the grain.

I also resent being pressurised, however wellmeaning, into a public show of emotion that doesn't fit with my personality and way of doing something.

username44416 · 03/02/2021 15:46

Well, if you aren't going to go out, you're missing a treat. I heard the stars were going to align into the shape of Major Tom to the sounds of a thousand doves cooing The Last Post.

ParkheadParadise · 03/02/2021 15:47

@bettbattenburg

I won't be outside. Because of Covid I wasn't able to go to my father's funeral and we weren't able to have any memorial service for him. Therefore I won't be doing something to remember somebody I didn't even know.
I would feel the same in your position. Sorry for your loss Flowers
Drawmelikeoneofyourfrenchgirls · 03/02/2021 15:48

Oh please, give over with your dramatics and virtue signalling. If you want to do something to remember him why not donate money to charity? Campaign for better pay for Nhs staff? And don’t bother telling everyone about it 🙄

Drawmelikeoneofyourfrenchgirls · 03/02/2021 15:51

Also, clapping the fact someone has died? Wtaf 😒

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