Enforced Silences C/D

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I was silent just there, but then I often am. I was de facto silent on Nov 11 too. However I did not take part in the 'group silence' being held away from my desk.

― henry miller, Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:05 (twenty years ago)

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

God, the clicking of my typing making smutty remarks sounded SO UNBEARABLY LOUD that I suddenly realised that it meant stop working as well as speaking.

― One One To Rule Them All (kate), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

i love how you put "stop working" in the second part of the sentence

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:13 (twenty years ago)

I meant the other people in my office, not me.

During the three weeks I was gone, they managed to screw up the database so thoroughly that I'm waiting for a backup before I can start work again.

― One One To Rule Them All (kate), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:15 (twenty years ago)

Silence is appropriate, and it shall remain... appropriate.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:17 (twenty years ago)

my post was stolen. I was stating that the ignorant buffoon in our office who was still typing was MISSING THE POINT, which then became a hilarious xpost to Kate.
Hilarious I tellsya.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:18 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I always knew that I was That Idiot.

― One One To Rule Them All (kate), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:19 (twenty years ago)

It's a bit pointless isn't it? Unless you believe in a greater God looking down and judging you for being a good guy or a wank. In which case, he probably hates every one of us anyway because his teachings are a bit useless when applied to the modern day. Except the ones when man is superior to women. Hee hee.

― CC72, Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:23 (twenty years ago)

Silence reigned here, although I always feel slightly underwhelmed by this "mark of respect". A £10 each donation to the relief fund by the whole company would surely be of far greater practical use...

Also, who decides what sliding scale the length of the silence goes by? Is it immediate aftermaths that get the full three minutes (the Tsunami, 9/11, Madrid etc), then it goes down to two minutes for "historic" silences like Remembrance Day?

― Bill A, Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:23 (twenty years ago)

Dud to the power of dud. I've spent more than three minutes in quiet contemplation - I don't want to be told when to show respect, thank you very much.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:26 (twenty years ago)

Remembrance Day has always been two minutes, back to 1920. It's only in the past three or four years that silences have started getting longer and longer.

(I'm not sure, but I think the 11/9 silence in the UK might only have been two minutes long.)

― caitlin (caitlin), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 12:28 (twenty years ago)

fuck the indpendent. the independent is the most cock-awful cash-in on pain. human misery --> design award.

― henry miller, Wednesday, 5 January 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

we had someone talking on the phone the whole way through it here anyway so it was a bit of a waste of time all round. I should have just left my headphones on

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

enforced silences is like a way to show grief and mark of respect for the dead right? there's no reason why it has to be a silence, it's just a gesture.

it's just something that's kind of rude to not do. it's kind of like not saying hi when you see somebody, not looking at people when they speak, etc.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

well, i'm always guilty of the latter. but it isn't like either of those things. since 9/11 there are 'silences' all the time -- about beslan, or sarah payne, or fucking kimberley fortier's unborn for all i know. it's 'kind of rude not to' sure but convention can't hide the fact it's mostly humbug at play. give money by all means but don't turn this into an dick-measuring contest about who cares the most.

― henry miller, Wednesday, 5 January 2005 15:55 (twenty years ago)

surely the dicks are of equal lengths.. it's not like somebody would stay silent for an extra minute and then boast about it?

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

I didn't feel like observing it pointlessly at my desk, so I went and stood with some people in the campus non-denom meeting place. It was good, I think. I thought about my friends in Thailand, who are fine, but I wanted to have a specific moment to be thankful for that.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

Three minutes of silence is for us (people being silent, not necessarily ILX), not people in Asia whose lives and homes have been destroyed. Three minutes? Bollocks. Give three more pounds.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

These silences are always slightly uncomfortable for me. I've spent a lot longer than three minutes contemplating &c, but to do it on command is difficult - it doesn't seem natural. I certainly don't object to the principle of this one though, the gesture is important (though donations would, yes, be preferable). Remembrance Day is another matter: I never know what to think and end up thinking of completely inappropriate things during the two minutes.

Not that it mattered as I was at home and didn't notice the time, oh well.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

Noone at all at our office bothered to observe it. At 12 o'clock, I was mostly trying to hint to my boss that it was my lunchtime and I didn't want to keep hanging around helping him fix stuff. As noone else was bothering, I forgot completely about the silence.

Henry Miller is right about it being a dick-measuring contest. This sort of oh-there's-been-a-catastrophe-let's-have-a-Silence is all about people ostentatiously telling people how much WE CARE, rather than actually doing anything practical.

― caitlin (caitlin), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 21:56 (twenty years ago)

I was surprised this wasn't a thread about when a parent tells you to "Shut up and eat your dinner".

― Sasha (sgh), Thursday, 6 January 2005 02:55 (twenty years ago)

Truly I can't believe that some of you are complaining about giving up a measly 3 minutes of your time.

You do know you are allowed to donate money and observe the silence right?

― Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 6 January 2005 09:27 (twenty years ago)

i'm not complaining about giving up three minutes of my time! it's more the enforced-ness, the challenge to you to 'feel'. i guess more broadly i think all the stuff about our faith in nature ect ect is bald humbug. if you want to help, give money or volunteer.

― henry miller, Thursday, 6 January 2005 09:36 (twenty years ago)

I am a fan, the link of silence with grief is an awesome beautiful one.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 6 January 2005 09:47 (twenty years ago)

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