Anathema - the Twin Towers and Wootton Bassett.
It is nearly the eighth anniversary of the events of 9th September. A week after it occurred I was in Derry. Entering the library there was a notice about commemorating with a standstill, a silence. Duly, at the appointed time I stopped for two minutes. A few people did not, but as it was a library nobody made any noise. After two minutes I started work again, then cough, cough, it was a three minutes silence. At which I baulked. Our own war dead do not receive such. A year passed and I was in Brighton. My boss suggested (ordered) that we hold a two minute silence. I quietly went to the men's room. On my return my colleague said "I wish I had the courage to do that". I replied that I really had needed to pee. However, even if I hadn't I would have left. How far are we from adopting Thanksgiving Day? Here is Ron Broxted's Law:
1000 dead Africans = 100 dead Asians
100 dead Asians = 10 dead Europeans
10 dead Europeans = 1 slightly injured clothes salesman from Iowa.
In 1987 I attended the Armistice Day commemoration in Whitehall, at the Cenotaph. It received minimal coverage by broadcasters. Today for reasons of banal nationalism the government wish to ordain how we feel. How long until the return of dead service personnel in Wootton Bassett turns mawkish? Has it already done so? A better memorial to soldiers might be to pay, treat and equip them better. Finally, when will there be a two minutes silence for Beslan, Darfur, Tibet, East Timor?
1000 dead Africans = 100 dead Asians
100 dead Asians = 10 dead Europeans
10 dead Europeans = 1 slightly injured clothes salesman from Iowa.
In 1987 I attended the Armistice Day commemoration in Whitehall, at the Cenotaph. It received minimal coverage by broadcasters. Today for reasons of banal nationalism the government wish to ordain how we feel. How long until the return of dead service personnel in Wootton Bassett turns mawkish? Has it already done so? A better memorial to soldiers might be to pay, treat and equip them better. Finally, when will there be a two minutes silence for Beslan, Darfur, Tibet, East Timor?