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.

I don't agree that people should have to stay inside, if they don't want to observe the 2 minutes' silence, @Mokel, but I don't think it is unreasonable to ask them to respect those who do want to observe it - ie. carry on doing their shopping, but quietly and without disturbing those who are observing the silence (as far as is possible - not everyone is able to stay silent - people with disabilities or people who are neurodiverse, or small children, for example). It isn't a major hardship to stop talking for 2 minutes, or to wait briefly to be served. The woman who was shouting and swearing because she had to wait 2 minutes for her cigarettes was absolutely bang out of order, in my opinion.

I'd respect other people's right to remember those who gave their lives for their country (which may indeed include their own family members) and make my protest some other time.

So you'd be swivelling your eyes around instead of actually observing the silence and thinking. I expect you think you're doing 'remembrance' better but you're just the same as those being disruptive. Shame on you.

That’s bollocks! Watch
that halo you’re wearing doesn’t choke you!
you don’t do remembrance! It’s in your heart always. Don’t make assumptions about me you don’t know anything about my family or military connections love!

It’s not about making a protest it’s about being expected to show respect to the British Armed Forces who , for some people, have suffered at their hands.

Im repeating myself here and it seems pointless if some can’t appreciate that the British Armed Forces have been the aggressors in many cases.

If everyone has a right to remember them, as you say, then equally everyone has a right not to. It’s called equality and whilst personally I think it’s not OK to shout or disrupt during the period of silence it’s understandable why some people may chose to ignore it. We don’t know their lives, we don’t know what’s happened to them or their families.
Would you really call a person a twat after they kick off because their family members were killed by the British Armed Forces. I find even thinking that insensitive

Theres clearly no point explaining again. Sometimes if people haven’t experienced it personally they don’t appreciate it. Luckily some on here do understand

I agree it’s respectful to others to stay quiet (excepting people who can’t owing to age or disability etc).

However, some pp have mentioned they’ve been thrown filthy looks for quietly continuing about their business while others stand still to reflect, and I don’t think that’s fair at all.

To be clear, I’m talking about people continuing to walk about a supermarket quietly, scanning and choosing something from shelves etc, NOT throwing tins noisily into baskets. So being quiet but on the move. Do people object to this too - because it seems like some might?

You're not being asked to show respect to the armed forces, you're being asked to show respect for the people around you who want to observe the two minutes' silence.

Why is this so hard to understand?

Absolutely agree,
I wouldn’t be surprised if brain scans were required aswell to make sure people being quiet and standing still aren’t thinking about their shopping list.

Keep your dirty looks to yourself then. Love.

Like I said
I personally wouldn’t make noise and don’t think it’s appropriate I just don’t think everyone has to stand still as well.

For those who do make noise…..we don’t know their lives……
Name calling is disrespectful.

I know that most people are capable of keeping quiet for two minutes and see no need to respect people whose behaviour makes them undeserving of it.

Do explain . . . .

@StandingSideBySide - I do think that you are making a good point - personally I respect other people's choice to not observe the silence, if they don't want to. I can also understand why some people want to protest about what happened - but would argue that they could protest outwith the Remembrance commemorations.

But I also respect the sacrifices that were made, which stopped Hitler in his tracks. I am very glad he didn't win WW2 - I can't imagine our lives would have been beds of roses, if he had.

FFS! Why doesn’t that work both ways then. Ridiculous!

Let them take it to a cemetary or a church or a cenotaph, if it means that much to them, and not impose it on me.

I agree with you in part and Thankyou
However the British Armed Forces have been involved in more than the two world wars.
Its their involvement in other areas that people forget

Our local area have the silence only around the War memorial, slightly off our small high street.

People have a choice to be involved then. I think that’s a good idea.

People who work have the right to observe the two minute silence if they want to. This isn't hard to understand. You're just being obtuse. Nobody is imposing anything on you by asking you to just not disturb them for two minutes.

How do you see it working the other way?

It’s just about respect. Would it kill anybody to understand that other people are observing the silence, and let them do that without interruption? It’s only two minutes!!

Thank you.

For some of us, the two-minute silence every year is a complete irrelevance. I personally forget about it completely when I'm not somewhere where the two-minute silence is announced.

That doesn't mean I don't respect the sacrifices of those who fought Hitler or feel sorrow for pointless slaughter of troops for a purposeless war 1914-1918. It means I am very wary of falling into the kind of mindless performance demanded of citizens that starts with collective purpose, but turns into required conformance. My 96-year-old German relatives have something to say about that.

I remember the war dead at times other than 11/11 and resist being required to validate others' performances of supposed meaningful though and reflection in Sainsbury's for the two minutes between choosing their carrots and deciding between beef or lamb for dinner.

Not a legally enforcable one.

And, to get back to the point of this thread, people have a right ( an actual.legal one) to go out on 11/11/11 and make a noise. The OP is suggesting they should relinquish that right.

Nobody is saying they don't have the right to do that, if not behaving like a twat is completely beyond them. But they shouldn't kid themselves they're doing it on a point of principle.

Well said

Your post really resonated with me. I missed the 2 minutes this year as I was asleep but around our village are some black metal silhouettes of soldiers and we have poppies on every lamppost with the name of a soldier on it. I see them every day and I think of the pointlessness of war and how those lives ended too soon. I think of what those young men would have become and it makes me sad.

I no longer support the Poppy appeal, I can't stomach the misuse of monies raised and the sheer pomposity of it all with the war-mongers of the country posturing in 'gratitude' when they make no provision for those who've sacrificed for their country. It's not just this country either, all countries, all of them have lost soldiers and wasted lives in the name of war, and for what? What did we learn? We're still doing it, still fighting.

I support the white poppies (funding raised still goes to veterans) and I support purple poppies/paws in remembrance of the animals who were sacrificed in the name of war.

That's where I stand. If I'd been awake and shopping I would be silent in that I wouldn't be talking or disrupting anybody but I would not stand for the 2 minute dictat.

Most of us have military family members, either now or previous. Nobody knows what goes on in other people's lives. I do know though that this was a goady thread designed to start a ruck.