Why is it a 'three minute silence' all of a sudden?

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No disrespect intended to the victims of the attacks in Madrid, but I've noticed that the traditional one minute silence has been extended. As far as I know this has happened since September 11th, and I'd like to know the rationale. Apart from the obvious issue of the implication of the gravity of certain events in relation to others - it is still one minute on Remembrance Day, as far as I know -, why is it that it has been extended to three rather than two?

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Monday, 15 March 2004 11:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I read a piece in The Guardian recently complaining about how silences have been quietly extended in recent years; and how campaign organisations try to arrange one-minute silences for completely spurious things.

― caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 15 March 2004 11:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I have not heard of three minutes being demanded. On the first anniversary of 9/11, there was plenty of unease expressed at the traditional one minute being extended to two.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 15 March 2004 11:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Odd numbers are better than even, obviously. I agree though - 1 minute is a good number. In 50 years, we'll be up to 10 minutes silence for the last bombing tragedy. Football games worldwide will start late, and the country will lose £5 billion in year through people "showing respect".

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 15 March 2004 11:29 (twenty-two years ago)

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2651617

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1539796.stm

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Monday, 15 March 2004 11:31 (twenty-two years ago)

'one-minute silences' at footbal matches rarely go beyond about 30 seconds tho'

― winterland, Monday, 15 March 2004 11:33 (twenty-two years ago)

that's just the edited highlights

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 15 March 2004 11:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, but thy show the best bits in slow-motion so it all evens out

― winterland, Monday, 15 March 2004 11:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I read that they did have a ten-minute silence in Spain.

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 15 March 2004 12:04 (twenty-two years ago)

What do YOU do during this minute silence? Do you stop & quietly reflect, or do you just go about your business in silence? I tend to follow the later as I have sat quietly & contemplated the events already.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 15 March 2004 12:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Usually with the silences, I forget about them, then think back and realise I didn't speak during that time anyway...

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 15 March 2004 12:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Anyway, whatever happened to the "In memorium Princess Diana" silences that were supposed to be in perpetua?

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 15 March 2004 12:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Er well, whilst my Important Person kept on talking to me about her proposed project I nodded as if I knew what she was talking about but didn't say too much. This wasn't out of a respect for the silence, more that she was using far too many long science words.

― Sarah (starry), Monday, 15 March 2004 12:29 (twenty-two years ago)

i spent much of the weekend not saying anything and thinking about the terrorism in any case...

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 15 March 2004 12:29 (twenty-two years ago)

(xpost) Yes, I'm working on my 20th consecutive three-minute silence this hour.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 15 March 2004 12:29 (twenty-two years ago)

"And now, one minutes silence for the failure of Victoria Beckham's single not making number one.... .... .... ah bollocks. D'you want a coffee?"

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 15 March 2004 12:30 (twenty-two years ago)

"Truly, she was the Princess of Hearts... yeah, alright."

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 15 March 2004 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Funny, I don't remember any silences being held for the victims in the Bali bombing, or the ones in Iraq for that matter. I guess Westerners' lives are simply worth more than those of some weird-looking Third World people.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 15 March 2004 14:29 (twenty-two years ago)

we just have more time to spare.

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 15 March 2004 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

!!!!

R2 today: piano and strings following the silence. Did anybody else hear it?

― the beebfox, Monday, 15 March 2004 14:31 (twenty-two years ago)

what a magnificent world we'd have if we had a one-hour silence every time something tragic occurred

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 15 March 2004 14:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, there were thousands of times more people killed in Ruanda, for example, than in Madrid or New York, but no silence for them. What I'm saying is, the silences should be more logical and less ethnocentric, or otherwise there should be no silences at all.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 15 March 2004 14:38 (twenty-two years ago)

terrorism is a pretty solemn business too though i expect

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 15 March 2004 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

and if anything people need to be making noise now, not being silent

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 15 March 2004 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Tuomas, weren't most of the Bali victims Australian?

Anyway, I respect others' right to be silent and keep quiet, but I don't really like being told when and how to mourn.

― Nick H (Nick H), Monday, 15 March 2004 14:40 (twenty-two years ago)

We don't have enough time for all those silences

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 15 March 2004 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

What do YOU do during this minute silence? Do you stop & quietly reflect, or do you just go about your business in silence?

I tend to do both

― mime artist on covent garden (ken c), Monday, 15 March 2004 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I know you, you're French!

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 15 March 2004 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I know what you mean; but for better or worse most people in Europe feel closer to Spain, and to New York, than they do to Rwanda, and there isn't much getting away from that. It's not necessarily a matter of 'ethnocentricity', more that we visit Spain and the US, have worked with, met, lived with 'their' people. If that's racist, then it's in an unusual way.

― Strachey, Monday, 15 March 2004 14:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not saying that it's racist, but it shows that some deaths are given more worth than others. I haven't been to Spain or the US, but even if I had, I wouldn't think I should mourn a killing of a Spaniard or an American more than someone in the Third World, unless I actually knew the victim. However, the silence held today in Finland was a national one, it wasn't just for those who have personal ties to Spain.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 15 March 2004 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)

i wonder how many people from "The Third World" observed the three minute silent for the victims of spain.

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 15 March 2004 15:19 (twenty-two years ago)

what a magnificent world we'd have if we had a one-hour silence every time something tragic occurred

John Cage would smile. Were he alive.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 March 2004 18:20 (twenty-two years ago)

for a wonderful second I thought that said 'for the victims of spam'.

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Monday, 15 March 2004 23:52 (twenty-two years ago)

inflation

― Menelaus Darcy (Menelaus Darcy), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 00:45 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought the two minute silence on armistice day was a minute for the victims of each world war. a three minute silence implies that we are in the middle of WW3...

andy

― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 13:15 (twenty-two years ago)

eleven months pass...

Apparently it's a FIVE minute silence in Spain today on the anniversary.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 11 March 2005 11:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Fuck sake. I remember a place I used to work, after the Damilola Taylor murder, we were all in the bar and they had a DJ and he stopped the records and said, "We're going to have a minute's silence for the little kiddie what got stabbed the other day", then after about 30 seconds started playing records again, then stopped them again and said, "Sorry that wasn't long enough, I'm gonna do it again", and this time started playing records again after 32 seconds.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 11 March 2005 11:12 (twenty-one years ago)

i am not 100% sure why i wz posting as 'Strachey' in this thread. like IT wdn't have caught me out somehow.

― N_RQ, Friday, 11 March 2005 11:18 (twenty-one years ago)

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