Comments | uselessinfomine: The sound of Silence

uselessinfomine

The sound of Silence

Jul 07, 2006 11:46

Okay, call me a heartless bastard, but I'm getting sick of holding two minutes silences. It's getting to the point where if someone trips over and breaks a nail, that nail gets the nation to grind to a halt.

Yes, terrible, awful, tragedies happen. Murders happen. But we don't need a silence to remember them. Most of us don't know the people who ( Read more... )

silence

Comments 16

mortarach July 7 2006, 11:52:38 UTC

I 100% agree with that and add more to the rant ( ... )

elmlea July 7 2006, 12:05:03 UTC

yep, got to agree with you on this one. It does feel like every time something awaful happens, after the knee-jerk reactions the nation holds a two-minute silence and then that's it. Nothing is ever done after that.

uselessinfomine July 7 2006, 12:11:31 UTC

Ye gods - I was expecting to get savaged on this one.

And people are agreeing with me...

fl_grillo July 7 2006, 12:14:45 UTC

To be honest, I see where you're coming from too. I mean it is nice to give silence to commemorate the memory of the dead, but the truth is, when the silence comes I 1) try not to snigger because of the awkward silence that's suddenly fallen, then feel guilty, 2) try and think about why the 2 minute silence is taking place and then it just scares and disturbs me.

Fair enough, I understand those who do want to do a 2 minute silence, but they always leave me feeling really weird afterwards.

Today, I hadn't even realised what the special occasion was and it wasn't until someone said on TV then casually mentioned 'what are the possibilities of there being another attack today' that I freaked out!
Fair enough, I like to know that it's been a whole year etc, but don't remind the public that it could happen again!!

uselessinfomine July 7 2006, 12:30:25 UTC

Well, if you were someone who wanted to kill (or at least scare and injure) a large amount of people, it would be fairly easy to work out that if people are going to have a memorial service for the last time you did it, the best time to do it would be when they are doing the service.

Or can you imagine what would happen in if, during a two minute silence, an explosion were to be heard? Or several explosions?

Even if no-one was injured, can you imagine what that would do to the populace of Yeah, okay, I've obviously thought about this far too much. What else is there to do during these silences we keep getting? We're supposed to to think about what happened, so I extrapolate it, and view it not just from my point of view, but that of the opposition - I want to show people that they are not safe anywhere. Where would they feel safest? With other people showing solidarity about the last attack. Hit that, and you turn an upset group of people into a scared and angry mob, who will lose confidence in their leadership ( ... )

musoholic July 7 2006, 12:34:14 UTC

...try and think about why the 2 minute silence is taking place and then it just scares and disturbs me...

Personally, I think that's part of the point.

uselessinfomine July 7 2006, 13:47:30 UTC

Yes, so why is it taking place?

Because the Government wants to look like it's caring, whilst not doing anything about it.

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musoholic July 7 2006, 12:55:19 UTC

I will now be savaged for disagreeing ( ... )

glittermouse July 7 2006, 13:30:02 UTC

I planned a bit of a quiet think at 12 today. Quietly, and not in an "ooo-lookie-I'm-so-caring" fashion. Mostly because I am moving to London when I find a job, and dont want to get squicked on an exploding bus and that kind of thing. But also because I felt sorry for the people who'd already lost family and friends in the bus/tube bombs ( ... )

uselessinfomine July 7 2006, 14:25:15 UTC

No, I'm not going to savage you. I'm going to try and get my point accross.

1) Yes, and up until about 2000, we had one nationally observed silence. Three, by comparison, is a massive increase.

2) Focussing public attention on the matter is a job for the press. And they try to do that, often by blowing everything out of proportion.

3) Exactly. They like to be seen to care, even if they don't.

Seen any England flags on cars since Sunday? I've seen one.
Oh, it's not hype, say the football fans, it's patriotism.
Patriotism doesn't fucking stop because we lose a football match.
Make your bloody minds up. If you're patriotic, leave the flags on your cars, observe your two minutes silences and do something about things you want to look like you're caring about. Don't just go "look at me, I'm bloody brilliant, I have a flag and can shut up for 120 seconds", do something about it ( ... )

musoholic July 7 2006, 15:03:26 UTC

1) Big increase, totally agree. Three still isn't having one every time "someone trips over and breaks a nail" though, is it?

2) So, by your argument, the press are doing a bad job of it. Shouldn't we have an alternative then?

3) Of course people like to be seen to be caring! That's why people who don't even like each other pretend to be sympathetic when something happens, and you see that everyday! Our society breeds showing sympathy as a social reflex. But please, let's focus on those people who don't rather than believe that maybe there just might be millions of human beings in the world who CAN muster up enough empathy to actually, really and honestly... care.

Ah, patriotism. This would be the patriotism that I was repeatedly criticised for displaying while the World Cup was on, yes? Would you like me to forward the large number of e-mails I recieved saying how only morons wear England shirts, or how only stupid drivers have England flags on their cars? Yup, that'll sure encourage people to be more patriotic!
(For the record ( ... )

Thread 5