astraboy

I agree! Instead of a silence and instead of a donation to a faceless charity, I have bought and personally flown a fun slide for the kids out there. I hope it will brighten up their lives for a bit.

astraboy.

jonc

Had there not been any Westerners or Europeans directly affacted by this disaster, would there have been as much media coverage, would there still be a 3 minute silence? As Misty pointed out, there are many disasters around the world affecting millions and yet they do not receive the same attention like the tsunami tragedy.

Dieseldog

You can't go to a football match these days without an obligatory silence for something or other. You can't drive down the road and not pass shrine after shrine to some poor b*stard.

Come on people! I haven't built a monument to my Grandmother, and if I did, I wouldn't demand that people bow their heads when they passed it. Why? Because grief is personal! Maybe people think we should all go out into the street wailing and waving our hands in the air whenever a terrible event occurs?

If you want to make a difference to recent events, donate some money and help them rebuild their lives. Three minutes standing in a shopping centre before carrying on wasting your money on tat and crap, or getting back on your phone to plan tonights £50 drinking session isn't going to help them one bit. It's all ignorant, herd following ("Duh, Ive been told to do this so I will") b*llocks!

These ****'s demanding that I stand still, exactly like them, because that's the only way to prove I'm a good, decent person!! WTF??

PeterPerfect

Why 3 minutes for this, yet only 2 minutes for the millions killed in the world wars?

Tiggs

lol...welcome to the conversation!

Patt@firstime

My my thats a good point, shall we discuss it

Geezer

inflation

Geezer

Gav

I was at Old Trafford last night and soon as the ref blew his whistle for the start of the minute 67,000 people were in complete silence. No it wont help anybody but it's a great mark of respect if you ask me.

Gav..

Nexuas

And they do this before everygame???? Or was this silence in aid of a certain event which invloved death which is deemed more worthy than other deaths happening around the world on a daily basis?

Up_North

The population in the UK is, what 55 million? Say 10 miilion people decided to stop work for 3 minutes today. That's 30 million minutes, or 500000 hours. The average UK hourly rate is around £10. Thats £5m "spent" observing a silence. I think that £5m could be better deployed elsewhere, like, er, the Tsunami nations. I'm sure they'd welcome the fact that we stopped work for 3 minutes remembering their lost ones - but I think they'd welcome a further £5m worth of aid a lot more. And when you factor in the rest of the EU I guess we're probably talking more like £50m???

I don't think we need to be "told" to remember the victims. Not one sensible person will doubt the magnitude of what has happened. Like many people I've been pretty much glued to Sky News. When the first reports came in, the death toll was 10,000. At the time I thought "thats about the size of an estate in my home town". Very quickly it was up to 100,000 - "that's the size of my entire home town". Now it's at 150,00ish - that's half of my home county - just GONE. For me, stopping for 3 minutes didn't help focus my thoughts; they were already pretty focussed.

Ian

Tiggs

so what?

no one dobts the impact of 67000 people stood still...the question is why do it then and for that? or was it just nice to be part of something great?

unclebuck

Well, the politically correct think that we do. I'm sure those organised the silence's breasts swelled with pride as the quiet was observed and the nation was brought to a standstill.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

They've done that for the last 3 games have they not? When do they stop then? give it a month and it's Ok? Till the end of the season because I'm sure there will still be people grieving then.

Dieseldog

Please tell me you're a master of irony scoobygav555...

Frosty The Snowman

Geezer, and Astraboy I agree with this sentiment entirely, I don't grieve for people I don't know, I can feel sorry for them yes but not grieve.

People die, 100's 1000's at a time be they ,old, young, black, white, Muslim, Catholic whatever... There is a lot of injustice in the world but I'm pretty pragmatic and realise I can't do much about it.

Now when the tragedy is an act of god, there's nothing I can do apart from donate money to the appeal and hope it helps some, won't bring back those who lost their lives but may help those who are still breathing.

The 3 minutes silence is really just a media thing and won't help anyone in my opinion, I have a clear conscience about not observing it. I am appalled by the way a couple of the people above have been judged very harshly for just giving their honest opinions and sharing their feelings on the matter. However people choose to help, or not, is there choice and should not be a popularist thing, it's purely personal.

G-STAR

I'm sorry, but I pity you people at times.

A sign of respect is just that, it's not a million pound donation, it's not the 'physical' help that people really need, but it shows that millions around the world are thinking and praying for those individuals involved - it's a sentiment.

The Zohan

Well said G-Star, exactly!

scoobynutta555

arseholery, that word has a nice ring to it.

I was in bed asleep when the silence was on due to working nights. However, if i was up and about Id not observe the silence.

I dont generally believe in these 'minutes silence' episodes, that seem to be popping up everywhere nowadays, one exception is the silences for servicemen who gave their lives for the country.

Heard plenty of touching 'family loss' type stories but no stories about the sex tourism holiday makers getting splashed on.

Anyone heard of Gary Glitter since the waves?

Iain Young

Well I pity you.

Do you really think that the poor orphaned children know or even care anything about what some people are doing thousands of miles away as far as a 3 minute silence goes. They're much more likely to appreciate some real help like food, medical care, somewhere to live etc.

These events don't help the dead, and don't help the relatives / survivors. All they do is make the people taking part feel a bit better about themselves as it makes them think they've done something "respectful". This is especially the case if you don't actually know anybody who was affected by the disaster.

You also assume that the only way of paying respect is to join in with a media staged event like this. This is insulting to the rest of us that would rather handle these things privately than join in a crass and somewhat dubious (media staged) public event.

As has been frequently said before, this was a relatively small disaster compared to the innocent numbers dying of starvation / aids / war etc around the world every week.

OllyK

IIRC the point of the silence on the 11 Nov is remember the loss of life during the 2 wars but more importantly to remember and reflect on the horror of it all so that we don't go through it all again.

Not sure how you can reflect on a natural disaster in the same manner.

Oh and G-star, it isn't about praying, you pray all you like, but don't bundle me in with the theists thank you very much.

Nexuas

1

2

3

Grieve











and now stop grieving....

Job done grief over and back to work...


It is not as simple as that is it?????

scoob_babe

but a lot more people can say with pride that they've done something eh

StickyMicky

i didnt even know there was supposed to be a 3 minuite silence thing?

what time was it?

StickyMicky

ROFLMFAO

Abdabz

I was having a poo at midday while playing the Java download tennis game I have on my mobile phone... Dan beat me but its OK I'll beat him tomorrow...
I have been forced to observe 4 one minute silences at football matches since boxing day - forced because should I be the one fella in the stand havnig a conversation on my mobile when the ref blows to commence I'd be assaulted...Then today my work dictate another 3 minutes...So I went for a poo instead...
What good does it do - as many have already said do the suffering really care that a few million shut up for a few minutes over in fault line free europe? Nope...But the media will present in a "didnt we do well" style on tonights news no doubt...

I respect those who have seen fit to donate money - I wont be doing that either for there's too much international doom and gloom in need of funding and I dont know where to start or where it could all end. Thats my choice... Plus I have a scoob to feed...

Minutes silence and collective grieving are fast becoming something this country is going to be famous for...

I cant grieve for those I dont know, I can only sympathise...

Chip

Noon( thats 12 o'clock)

Chip

Luan Pra bang

Actually it will people in thailand and indonesia have such interest and respect for our culture (especially football) that and bit of evidence that the people of Europe in a small way give a **** goes along way for some people.

G-STAR

You're putting words in my mouth - not once did I say that such marks of respect 'physically' aids anyone.

If you ask me, such a staged event (positive or negative, depending on your view) goes a long way in making people truly understand the devastation caused, prompting them to donate, which goes to really helping those individuals caught up in it. Surely, this can only be a good thing?

So tell me, do you also think that because you don't know anyone directly involved in the disaster, you're donating to try and make yourself feel better?

Donations don't help the dead either, believe it or not. But they go a long way in trying to reach a level of 'normality' that those individuals were once used to.

jonc

It all reeks of hypocrisy, on one hand the rich nations reflect on this disaster for a few minutes and give aid, medical relief and money to help those who have been affected by this natural disaster. On the other hand it does very little for the other countries, that are not popular holiday destinations for the rich nations or have a natural oil reserve I might add, where millions of people are dying and suffering everyday caused from man made and natural disasters, poverty, disease, war, stavation and famine?

Observe your few minutes silence and donate what you deem is enough, but think about this, would you rather be here with your comfortable living and nice cars and watch the tragedy unfold in front of your TV or would you give all that up and go out there and help those people pick up the remains of what’s left of their lives? That is giving respect! Will you even observe a minutes silence or continue to donate to the cause on the anniversary the next Boxing day? Unfortunately this will be distant memory once the media attention dies down and the disaster will be another statistic, just like earthquakes in Mexico, Iran, Turkey, Taiwan, Japan,etc

Iain Young

I think the endless tv coverage is more likely to make people realise what is going on rather than standing in silence for 3 minutes. What do you actually learn by doing this. No new information is presented, so how can it make people more aware of what is going on. All it will do is to make people imagine what is going on.

If people want to do it, then fine. But they shouldn't criticise people for not wanting to do it.

I do know people who have been involved actually, but that's not the point. Yes this does make me feel better, and so could be argued that it is a selfish I suppose, but someone needs to do it, and it does a lot more good than just being quiet for 3 minutes...

Believe it or not, I donate to a great deal of charities, and also do a load of stuff for charity (performing in concerts, giving proceeds to various causes etc). I gave some to this appeal, but I've also given to the African charities, and numerous local ones as well. If there are people in need and I can afford it, then I will give a little.

I didn't say they did. Donations help to rebuild communities and save lives.