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Stop This One-Minute Silence Madness
Around the country football clubs have held one-minute silences in honour of the Queen Mother. Now, don’t get me wrong – I am a monarchist, I think she was (probably) a good thing. She is probably far more deserving of a one-minute silence than most but the whole thing leaves me feeling disquieted.
It seems these days we have a one-minute silence just about every week. Any minor tragedy will do whether it be some old codger popping his clogs or a few people dying on a train. So, why do we do it? As a mark of respect? My arse. There are plenty of people who deserve my respect but not a minute of my time. Queen Mother included.
The thing I really hate about all this getting-the-misery-right is the intimidation involved. What are you supposed to do if you don’t particularly want to show your respect? Shout? I have no problem with silences at Remembrance Day Services. You go there specifically to be silent. Fair enough. But people go to football games to watch football – not to be pressured into some entirely pointless gesture.
In the 1920s at 11am every 11th November Britain would come to a halt. Shops would shut, vans would stop and shut off their engines and people would stand in silence on the pavement. They were of course remembering the tragedy of the First World War, a tragedy that had claimed the lives of a million Empire soldiers and wrecked the lives of millions more. It was a tragedy that an entire nation had borne. Under such circumstances a national token of respect is entirely understandable. These were people who could really understand what real suffering was. Their silences were heartfelt and genuine (deserved even) – in comparison ours are merely immature and synthetic.
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From The Den….....
MommaBear was tickled by the lovely thoughts in this tidbit over at the Coyote’s Den; so much so that she feels it necessary to direct you there, immediately! Fellow Critters seem to have the right touch.
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Please welcome Letter from Gotham to the blog-roll; it is yet another blog I frequently hit but never managed to get on the roll. That error has been corrected.
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J J Johnson has written an extremely well thought-out piece on the Middle East. He tries, and succeeds, I believe, to be as evenhanded as possible. He is neither an apologist for terrorism nor a pro-Zionist. I do recommend that everyone read this editorial.
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