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

[Mokel]

Every Remembrance Sunday and Nov 11th, when I worked at retail, we did a tannoy announcement with 5 min, 2 min before to inform customers that the store will be observing the 2 min silence. Then another to start it.

Every time there were customers who kept talking. Plus one time a woman in her 50s shouted “why can’t anyone serve me some fucking fags?” Everyone just looked at her. Some had the courage to say how disrespectful she was once the silence ended.

If you are unable or refuse to observe the silence at 11am today or tomorrow, please don’t be in a public place.

YABU - so sick of the Poppy Facists too. It’s a free choice, no-one should be forced to take part in any of it.
Observe or don’t. Personal choice.

There is no reason for me to stay home at 11 am on Remembrance Sunday because I know that the 2 minutes silence will be observed everywhere I'm likely to go. People with manners will stop whatever they are doing for the duration, whether they 'observe' the silence or not. You'd stand for a national anthem, even if it wasn't your own, and this is no different.

I am trying to imagine being in the middle of the fruit and veg aisle thinking “do we need bananas?” and then immediately snapping to the 2 minute silence followed by wondering if I should make a shepherds pie for dinner.

I would observe the 2 minute silence wherever I was but I don’t have the same level of emotion about it as some posters on this thread. If people on here seem to think it’s very important (and that’s their belief, so they’re entitled to it) I wonder why they’re in the supermarket. It’s a Sunday, so either go quickly before or pop in after. I think it’s hard to take the moral high ground when you’re all in the same Tesco or wherever.

I am not a big fan of ‘just’ respecting and thinking when it comes without action. I am not suggesting that people who observe the 2 minute silence are all like this but so many people are.

There is no reason for me to stay home at 11 am on Remembrance Sunday because I know that the 2 minutes silence will be observed everywhere I'm likely to go. People with manners will stop whatever they are doing for the duration, whether they 'observe' the silence or not.

And that's not entitled?

It's oh so important to me , but I don't actually have to put any effort or thought into it because other people should enable me to do the silence.

Beautiful.

Thankfully the majority disagree. A means of conveying respect is never meaningless. It is beyond some people though.

I expect the people at remembrance parades and services think it's all bit much of a muchness whether you are silent or not if you are just squeezing in two minutes silence between choosing a meal deal and picking up more cat food

I'm part Irish.

So many Irish soldiers fought and died in the wars. I choose to honour their sacrifice.

And that is absolutely fine, and no one has said otherwise.

But surely when you read @StandingSideBySide 's post you can see she certainly shouldn't be obliged to observe it, and should be free to go about her business?

Thankyou Barbara

Everyone has a choice, it’s called democracy.

I’d rather stand in silence for that on another day.

Performativity.

This thread, like most all anonymous public urinating contests, is a masterclass in it.

None of the usual opinionated false-equivalence and disingenuous self-righteousness has been omitted here. How on Earth did we manage without this wall called the internet to scribble all our hypocrisy on? I mean you can hardly get a conversation going these days for people gawping and thumbing at their phones, so what could it be about those particular two minutes that make it so difficult to keep shtum?

Performative ignorance perhaps?

This is silly. Some people forget, some people can't understand, children for example or some people with MH or ND.
Some people don't care.. and I don't agree with them but it's within their rights not to care. This isn't Some dictatorship

Are you seriously extracting urine over a dropped e....get a life and don't be so mean

It's always been observed on the day as well.

I don't need anything but you live in a country that has always marked this day not talking for 2 minutes so you don't disturb others doesn't rob you of anything but can be extremely distracting for people who want to focus. It's a custom in this country just like dressing respectfully in some countries you don't have to believe in it to be respectful to others.

That's ridiculous on many fronts. I was at a toddler group this morning everyone attempted silence to the best of their ability nothing like shouting serve me a fag/coffee etc. No child was ignored
If you visit a Muslim country you change your style of dress not to offend, if you visit a church in Italy you don't walk in wearing a bikini

No, it hasn't. This was discussed quite extensively upthread. It wasn't observed on the day at all on the 11th/nationwide outwith ceremonies on the Sunday for decades and was re-introduced for electioneering purposes in the 1990s.

My mum lived in London in the 70s and there were events going around Cenotaph Just found this clip of the 1970 RShttps://www.youtube.com/watch?ab_channel=BritishMovietone&t=31s&v=TL2wnroUHWc e and my childhood village had them going since the 1950s

Like Trick or Treating, which was a think for some parts of the UK and unheard of in others. RS is like this now.

I observed it at school I'm 60 it was briefly stopped but then restarted my children are in their 30s they always stopped at school when the guns from the local range could be heard. So I don't know where you get the idea that 11 on the 11 of the 11 is new.

Locally, there has always been services etc on the 11th. But no periods of silence out width these services.

Same on Remembrance Sunday - plenty services at memorials etc but no 2 minute silences in shops etc. that's a fairly new (in the grand scheme of life) thing here.

And for me, if you have strong feelings about observing that silence then go along to one of the many services rather than insist others join in, in the supermarket.

Its all become so performative, and as a result losing meaning.

Today is Armistice day for ww1 remembrance Sunday is for all armed conflict.

11 at 11/11/1918 is when the guns fell silent. Yet many soldiers were killed after that time as due to poor communications they didn't know that the war ended.

We didn’t observe it at school but then we were a Catholic ( mostly Irish kids ) school. 70s / mid 80s
It wasn’t observed at Uni

My kids did though. They even had a bugelist play the last post!

Think it depends on the school tbh.

I went to Catholic schools in the 1950s and 60s, it was certainly observed. Our teachers (nuns) were all Irish.

There you go…..another example.
Clearly no hard and fast rule, all schools make their own mind up.

There was a big campaign by The Sun newspaper in the 90s to bring it back! Which succeeded, obviously, and now everyone apparently agrees with The Sun, but the reason they had the campaign was because it hadn't happened for decades previously, and The Sun considered this to be a most disrespectful and unpatriotic state of affairs.