No 2 minutes silence at gym. AIBU

[Mushypeasandchipstogo]

I went to my gym today for a class in the swimming pool. I had totally expected the class to finish just before 11am so that those who wanted to could observe the two minutes silence. By 10.55am it was apparent that this was not going to happen so I just took myself out of the pool and sat in the changing room by myself.
So as to not drip feed, I am from a Forces Family and the wrong side of 50! I found this totally disrespectful of the instructor. He could have, at the very least, mentioned that he had intended to not stop before the class. AIBU to be upset by this?

So many on MN argue just for the sake of it and it never matters what the subject matter is. One starts and the rest just pile on like sheep. Real life isn't like this.

Yes, that poster is making things up.

Armistice day is important to me, so I mark it. But I wouldn't go to a fucking gym class at 11am and complain that they didn't interrupt it for the silence. If you really care about doing the silence at 11am, make sure you are somewhere quiet.

Also, the two minutes silence at 11am is not the only way to mark the day. Sombre reflection is possible at any time.

A programme of events across a broad spectrum, where people of all ages can actively engage, learn things, think about it and link it back to what it means now, how its relevant today. This is a far more engaging way than everyone buying a flower once a year and standing still for 2 minutes

Posters suggesting this probably mean well. But the majority may nonetheless want to continue with the tradition of the 2 minutes silence. Why do some find traditions so difficult and have a constant need to eradicate them?

Also, they way the 'alternative' activities are described seem like a good opportunity to hijack the moment in order to proselytise. Organise all of this if you like, but leave the 2 minutes silence alone.

Yes you can remember at any time but surely it's more poignant to observe the silence at 11am on the 11th day of 11th month (in case people have forgotten when that is) I don't know why suddenly everyone is saying the 2 min silence is only on Remembrance Sunday.

Sombre reflection is possible at any time

Do you do this often? When?

@mustlovegin

Sombre reflection is possible at any time

Do you do this often? When?

Many of us do, yes. Just because most people do their artificially prescribed two minutes and that's them done for the year doesn't mean everyone does.

Trust me I know , since my country was basically "gifted" to the USSR

What traditions and rituals do you have in your country? Do you observe and respect them?

[quote WhenISnappedAndFarted]@Colouringaddict It was HMS Barham[/quote]
I will have to go through his paperwork to find out. He passed in 1985, never talked about it, apart from telling us limp and drooped eye were from his torpedoed ship

@mustlovegin, people who want to observe two minutes’ silence are obviously perfectly free to do so. The problem arises when they start claiming that this makes them morally superior and start excoriating others for wanting to show respect in different ways.

Surprising that some posters are mentioning that we “won the war”. Armistice Day marks the truce, where both sides agreed not to fight. We didn’t win.

I don't ever remember cars stopping on Armistice Day. I think we look back and learn memories sometimes. I do think people are conflating Armistice & Remembrance Sunday. Although cars certainly haven't stopped in any number on the latter in my memory either.

Its a personal thing. Not everyone will be at a cenotaph on Sunday but I'm not going to get angry about it. They do what they can or feel they want to.

Branding people "disgusting" or that they ought to be ashamed is as silly as the hurtling upstairs
to display the ceramic poppy stuff. Performance and lack of critical thinking / empathy for how others see things.

We're not very good with people who don't do things the way we do.

@lollipoprainbow

Yes you can remember at any time but surely it's more poignant to observe the silence at 11am on the 11th day of 11th month (in case people have forgotten when that is) I don't know why suddenly everyone is saying the 2 min silence is only on Remembrance Sunday.

It’s not “suddenly”. The 2-min silence on 11/11 was dropped in 1938. It somehow, due to political grandstanding and other reasons, has now got reestablished in the last couple of decades. What are you actually reflecting upon at 11am on 11/11? Judging from this thread, several don’t seem to know.

I only remember because I worked in a town at the time @MeridthGreyishblue . I didn't work at the weekends , everything stopped

@BettyBag

I agree with others regarded forced 2 minute silences. I hate it, its so performative and disingenuous. I used to think 2 minutes silence to reflect on lives lost was a nice a simple way to remember terrible events. As soon as you take the choice away it becomes pointless for me.

3 and 4 year old doing it and this being seen as a positive is bizarre. They are simply being trained. They have no concept of the permenence of death or the horror of war. Its utterly meaningless.

Equally I am baffled at the growing trend of "decorating" for Rememberence Day. Are these tatty huge poppies stuck to lampposts supposed to be meaningful? These shops that do displays like its Halloween? It's just rubbish the same as Christmas decs. Cheaply made tat that will be thrown away.

I'm not even sure what we are supposed to be remembering anymore. The general theme still seems to be focused on WW1 and 2. Presumably because nobody has strong opinions on WW1 anymore and WW2 is the one were we were definitely the good guys. A lot of those men and women have been dead longer than living memory. Which isn't to say their lives weren't important but we don't remember the Napleonic wars do we? At what point do we move on? Currently it just seems to be getting more emphasis not less.

What about the poor young lads who got sent over to be killed and maimed in the desert based on lies and greed? Well its hard putting them front and centre isn't it? Nobody wants awkward discussions about the fact that the people responsible for sending those lads were they should never have been are still walking round unaccountable and making millions with their influence. No, we can't talk about the morality of war, that would challenge the recent (because as many if this thread has pointed out it is recent) narrative that all soldiers are hero's and any questions you have about the morality of war and the horror of what we tell these (often working class) lads to do are belittling their heroism and thus socially unacceptable. The narrative has to be simple, join the forces and you are a hero. Nobody will question this except for hippies and traitors. Now come on boys, sign up today!

Just shut up and be silent. Remembering is enough and sticking tacky red flowers up in your window is enough, it doesn't matter if they are from the RBL or not its the performance thought that counts.

This expresses everything I feel about it.

When can we stop? 200 years after? 300 years after? Obviously at some point people will stop. For some of us that is now. It will faze our over time. That is just a fact. My children have no idea about it, I don't think it is something they do at school? They have never mentioned it and noone at their school seems to wear a poppy? I think it is presumed people will mark it on the Sunday if they want to.

Definite conflating of the 2 days. But when the BBC & othe media do it too, it's not hard to see why.

The more recent resurrection of 2 mins on Armistice is, I think, in response to more recent conflicts (Iraq) and to incite waves of patriotism.

My grandparents married on Armistice Day back in the days post the Second World War when it really was recent.

@mustlovegin

Sombre reflection is possible at any time

Do you do this often? When?

On armistice day I usually mark it by playing Green Fields of France (which is a song of remembrance), followed by some silent reflection on my own. I work during the day, so it's usually at home in the evening that I do it. Like I said, I mark the day.

11am on the 11th is one time to show respect, but it's not the only time. If 11am really matters to you, you won't be swimming at 11am.

At 11am, train drivers don't suddenly stop their moving trains, pilots don't take their hand off the controls, surgeons don't pause operations, nurses don't stop providing care etc.etc. Claiming that this is disrespectful of them is nothing short of ridiculous.

Admittedly I’ve not been out much recently, but I’ve not even seen anywhere selling poppies.

@Lemonsyellow

Surprising that some posters are mentioning that we “won the war”. Armistice Day marks the truce, where both sides agreed not to fight. We didn’t win.

That's current right-wing feeling rising. The flag shaggers on Twitter.

My great grandfather fought in WWI (and also served after that) and died in 1999. He wasnt the last Tommy, but he will have been one of the last. He hated performative poppying and used to criticise politicians who wore the poppy while making foreign policy decisions that would lead to conflict.

I do respect the 2 minutes' silence but find it really artificial. Like others say, I choose my own time to remember the fallen and not just once a year. I do find the silence at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday very moving though.

What I dislike is the fact that the idea of a 'silence' has been hijacked by every single unpleasant event which happens - bombings, murders, shootings, etc. What happened to people thinking about people and events in their own time?

Definite conflating of the 2 days. But when the BBC & othe media do it too, it's not hard to see why.

The more recent resurrection of 2 mins on Armistice is, I think, in response to more recent conflicts (Iraq) and to incite waves of patriotism.

Yes, exactly.

@Cosmois

When can we stop? 200 years after? 300 years after? Obviously at some point people will stop. For some of us that is now. It will faze our over time. That is just a fact. My children have no idea about it, I don't think it is something they do at school? They have never mentioned it and noone at their school seems to wear a poppy? I think it is presumed people will mark it on the Sunday if they want to.

Or we won't stop but the trends outlined by @BettyBag will grow because people lose the connection to the generations that actually fought and lost. Many of us right now know people alive in the 1940s or heard directly from first world war veterans. In a few generations that will not be the case. And people thoughts on what Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day are for is going to change as a result. And that is something that should be discussed not just shouted down as disrespectful.

And yes a longer period of events is probably a good idea as that happens (though usually the world wars are taught in school anyway...). That does not mean doing away with the Centotaph ceremony or abandoning 2 minutes silence for those who want them. It just reflects the fact that how we reflect on events and commemorate them does change the further away they become and the less people have a personal connection to them.

@Lemonsyellow

Admittedly I’ve not been out much recently, but I’ve not even seen anywhere selling poppies.

There's been a BL table with all the poppy items for sale in the entrance to our local large supermarket for weeks now. I suspect it depends on your local branch of the British Legion and whether they have volunteers prepared to sell them (bearing in mind that they are usually older, and Covid is still a concern for lots of people)

I’ve not even seen anywhere selling poppies

I see loads where I am