2minute silence..Shh Don't mention the War

[Wookey]

I just shouted out: "Who the fuck subbed this story?"

Turned round and 200 people are sitting in silence, looking at me like I just shat on my keyboard.

Ooops. More warning next time please.

 

[Badgers]

Reasonable show of solidarity in our quiet little street in Westminster.......Ruined by the building site continuing drilling throughout but otherwise a nice moment.

 

[mauvais]

We had an air raid siren (didn't know they still existed) in Paris at exactly 1pm - I don't know if we were marking it too, or whether this was part of Bastille Day, but it freaked me out

 

[jodal]

That was pretty damn amazing. Solemn, emotional and quite beautiful really.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

To be honest the roundabout in Swansea was not the most suitable spot I could have picked, but that's where I was. Some people who worked in the surrounding shops stood outside on the pavement, but the traffic overwhelmed the silence.

 

[Fruitloop]

That doesn't really affect my above point though does it? If he's going to make the leap to caring about other deaths in his own case, then he has to extend that same ability to others in this case, and not call those who do racist, given that they're just practising what he's preaching.

He's preaching even-handed application of compassion, though, which is more difficult to achieve.

 

[girasol]

We all went outside, some cars stopped, others carried on driving...

I'm glad they got us all out there, rather than sitting at our desks as it's happened before in other occasions...

 

[butchersapron]

He's preaching even-handed application of compassion, though, which is more difficult to achieve.

He's not though, he's saying that he doesn't feel any compassion for these victims, but that he does for others, and that those that do feel compassion for the victims of the bomb and want to mark that publically don't care about the other victims and are therefore racist. If he'd tried the tack you're taking he'd have got a lot further.

 

[West68thStreet]

Re the reference to the "rich white British" who are being mourned, I'd be very surprised at the final count if many of the London victims fell into this category. That sort of hyperbole undermines an argument that I do have some sympathy with. I don't like my reactions to be coerced, but it's not a difficult thing to observe. I've already had a long think and a cry for the victims. I do hope, as mentioned elsewhere, that thought is given to everyone who's died because of Tony Blair and George Bush and all the other bastards, but I think generally people in this country today are feeling a sort of national solidarity. It's quite rare and not a bad thing.

 

[beeboo]

I have never witnessed anything like the sight of the whole of Oxford Street crowded with people, and yet absolutely silent, the traffic standing still.

It a very moving, and I think entirely appropriate, gesture.

 

[Jenerys]

Reasonable show of solidarity in our quiet little street in Westminster.......Ruined by the building site continuing drilling throughout but otherwise a nice moment.

I was out on Millbank and all the traffic stopped. We heard the radio announce in a nearby cab when the two minutes silence was over, it was that quiet

 

[secretsquirrel]

I sat quietly at my desk. Tbh I'm not sure anyone else here even realised it was happening...

 

[Hollis]

The call for silence went around the office.

The girl next to me said "Can I carry on working?"

I said "Do what the fuck you want".

I used the two minutes to delete some spam from my yahoo mail account.

 

[Streathamite]

I have never witnessed anything like the sight of the whole of Oxford Street crowded with people, and yet absolutely silent, the traffic standing still.

It a very moving, and I think entirely appropriate, gesture.

agreed, same here on high holborn. Very still, and silent, but bloody powerful

 

[liberty]

We went up on the roof where you can see across London.. I remembered lots of things including other people that were taken away from me when there was no need for them to die

 

[girasol]

We went up on the roof where you can see across London.. I remembered lots of things including other people that were taken away from me when there was no need for them to die

(((liberty)))

 

[ddraig]

fukin good point ken
"we don't blame xtianity for what happened in ...
sorry not going to spell it wrong - bosnia

 

[Fruitloop]

He's not though, he's saying that he doesn't feel any compassion for these victims, but that he does for others, and that those that do feel compassion for the victims of the bomb and want to mark that publically don't care about the other victims and are therefore racist. If he'd tried the tack you're taking he'd have got a lot further.

That's certainly a less defensible position, if your reading of his posts is correct. IMHO compassion with gaps in it is no compassion at all.

Personally I'm pretty suspicious of any state-sponsored grief - solemn occasions remembering the fallen usually conceal a cynical disregard for the yet-to-be-martyred - on the part of the state, that is, rather than the spectators. The way in which the public perception of this event has (inevitably) been constructed from the outset by media and government propogandising hasn't been a particularly edifying spectacle - the 'London defiant' headlines and similar statements from the government were noteably insensitive both to grieving relatives and to people who might be more in the way of any future attacks than Mr Blair or Mr Murdoch.

 

[butchersapron]

That's certainly a less defensible position, if your reading of his posts is correct. IMHO compassion with gaps in it is no compassion at all.

Personally I'm pretty suspicious of any state-sponsored grief - solemn occasions remembering the fallen usually conceal a cynical disregard for the yet-to-be-martyred - on the part of the state, that is, rather than the spectators. The way in which the public perception of this event has (inevitably) been constructed from the outset by media and government propogandising hasn't been a particularly edifying spectacle - the 'London defiant' headlines and similar statements from the government were noteably insensitive both to grieving relatives and to people who might be more in the way of any future attacks than Mr Blair or Mr Murdoch.

Yep, agree there. The only two i actually do are the Hillsborough one and Remembrance day. It's an absolute dream for the state to be ale to pretend that everyone is rallying around it 'at this difficult time' and that to criticise is to break ranks and leave you open to suspicion, that we're all the state/nation now - and for the leader to be able to personally symbolise this resistance etc is even better from their perspective.

 

[Loki]

I just shouted out: "Who the fuck subbed this story?"

Turned round and 200 people are sitting in silence, looking at me like I just shat on my keyboard.

Ooops. More warning next time please.

Wups I ended up observing it, watching the BBC coverage. They had cameras all over Britain. It was quite moving to see the whole country together in silence.

 

[goldenecitrone]

I sat in Paddington Green and read the newspaper and thought about last Thursday and how fucking glad I was not to be on any of those tubes or that bus. And I thought about those kids with their rucksacks. What the fuck was going through their heads?

 

[Pickman's model]

I sat in Paddington Green and read the newspaper and thought about last Thursday and how fucking glad I was not to be on any of those tubes or that bus. And I thought about those kids with their rucksacks. What the fuck was going through their heads?

the shrapnel?

 

[girasol]

That's certainly a less defensible position, if your reading of his posts is correct. IMHO compassion with gaps in it is no compassion at all.

Personally I'm pretty suspicious of any state-sponsored grief - solemn occasions remembering the fallen usually conceal a cynical disregard for the yet-to-be-martyred - on the part of the state, that is, rather than the spectators. The way in which the public perception of this event has (inevitably) been constructed from the outset by media and government propogandising hasn't been a particularly edifying spectacle - the 'London defiant' headlines and similar statements from the government were noteably insensitive both to grieving relatives and to people who might be more in the way of any future attacks than Mr Blair or Mr Murdoch.

I think that's a very good point you've made and I totaly agree with it...

However, I'm glad I went outside (it's the first time I've ever observed a state sponsored silence, as I also don't like being told when to stop and think about events) and spent that time thinking about the innocent people who died and how it could have been me or a loved one... And how it might happen again...

The 'life goes on' and 'we're not scared' bullshit is really starting to annoy me!

 

[Pickman's model]

The 'life goes on' and 'we're not scared' bullshit is really starting to annoy me!

yeh, the country doth protest too much!

if they aren't fucking scared, why do they have to remind us of that every fucking day?

 

[Fruitloop]

Wups I ended up observing it, watching the BBC coverage. They had cameras all over Britain. It was quite moving to see the whole country together in silence.

I come over all Benedict Anderson at this kind of thing.

Iemanja: obviously the act of thinking about an individual tragedy like this is a worthwhile and essentially human thing to do, whether organised or not - which is the main reason why I find it having the dirty great hand of the state on it rather unpleasant.

 

[liberty]

I sat in Paddington Green and read the newspaper and thought about last Thursday and how fucking glad I was not to be on any of those tubes or that bus. And I thought about those kids with their rucksacks. What the fuck was going through their heads?

I guess they thought they would be rewarded and sent to a better place

 

[girasol]

Iemanja: obviously the act of thinking about an individual tragedy like this is a worthwhile and essentially human thing to do, whether organised or not - which is the main reason why I find it having the dirty great hand of the state on it rather unpleasant.

Ok, fair point... But the state is also run by humans, politicians are also people, so maybe for this one occasion it was important to stop and reflect about it, collectively...

 

[treelover]

from the Guardian, it's certainly now coming out fighting


Comment
It is an insult to the dead to deny the link with Iraq

Tony Blair put his own people at risk in the service of a foreign power

Seumas Milne
Thursday July 14, 2005
The Guardian

In the grim days since last week's bombing of London, the bulk of Britain's political class and media has distinguished itself by a wilful and dangerous refusal to face up to reality. Just as it was branded unpatriotic in the US after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington to talk about the link with American policy in the Middle East, so those who have raised the evident connection between the London atrocities and Britain's role in Iraq and Afghanistan have been denounced as traitors.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1528014,00.html

 

[Fruitloop]

if they aren't fucking scared, why do they have to remind us of that every fucking day?

Indeed. What's not to be scared of? Given that the insane levels of security Israelis live under are still ineffective at stopping suicide bombers, the chances of there being any effective security response in a city with twice the population of the whole state of Israel is pretty remote. What this means is that there are likely to be as many bombings as the bombers want there to be, and given the indifference to loss of life that distinguishes this type of terrorism from previous campaigns in the city, that isn't a pleasant prospect.

 

[Fruitloop]

But the state is also run by humans, politicians are also people

The problem with institutions and role-structures and the like is that whilst each of the consituent members might act as independent, moral agents, the institution as a whole makes decisions that aren't morally justifiable. I worked for a period in corporate banking (before I saw the error of my ways) and was able to observe this first-hand.

BTW - I'm not at all suggesting that because of this you shouldn't take part in such an event - however I personally would be wary of inadvertantly becoming part of the spectacle.