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QuoteMillions of people across the UK and Europe will observe a three-minute silence on Wednesday to remember the 150,000 killed by the Asian tsunami.
Quote The government has so far allocated £50m in aid to the affected countries, but has promised to match the amount raised by the public.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4146153.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4146153.stm)
Millions -1
:angry:
i dont mean to sound bad because the more money the better, but i do find it a little ammusing how the government say they will match the funds the public raises, although the governments money is in affect our tax money anyway :) so we're paying double in affect :P
But hey, very much worth it :)
spot on bunce, but dont the government have a pot put aside for stuff like this anyway?
QuoteOriginally posted by DogMeat@Jan 5 2005, 01:16 PM
Millions -1
:angry:
[post=73898]Quoted post[/post]
-2
Oh was that today? Better make that -3 then.
I was one of them, reluctantly. What good does 3 minutes of silence do the people trying to pull their lives and livelihoods back together?
There was a good piece by Blake Morrisson in the Guardian today about this, with it basically being government-sanctioned respect and not a spontaneous thing (and coming so long after the disaster is is sort of a hollow gesture "hey, sorry I was on holiday at the time, let's mourn!" - the football matches on the 28th had a more appropriate silence).
Morrisson pointed out an old cartoon about foreign aid, in which a child who didn't want to eat his dinner was told to eat up by his mother ("think of the starving millions" she says), and after the boy eats everything on his plate he gets a phone call: "Hi, it's the starving millions here, just wanted to say thanks".
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It's like the whole Diana thing, or the May Day protests. People joining in like sheep, instead of out of any real desire to.
[/cynic]
Mate of mine at my prep school has a similar story. When refusing to eat his dinner, his Dad said,"That would keep a starving child in Africa alive for another two days."
The little fella, not to be outdone, marched off, grabbed a large envolope, wrote "Starving Child in Africa" on the front and filled it with his dinner. Needless to say, Father didnt use that oe again! :)
Cannae be TANGO'd to log in, but,
I observed the silence, I understand your points and wouldn't force my views upon you, but I felt I wanted to observe and take a minute to recognise that 150,000 lives were wiped out in an instant and thousands if not millions more will affected by it for lifetimes.
As I said however each to their own.
Squonk.
(only joking it's Benny - obviously)
It was a work thing for me and led to talk about where to donate etc. So as far as im concerned it led to a few more ppl donating money.
/general comment - not aimed at anyone in this thread!
I have to say that I did not observe the 3 minutes silence as I was busy on that day and tbh did not even know it was planned until after the event. But substantially more than 3 minutes of my time has already been occupied by the issue and how I can react to it, so I probably would not have observed it even if I had known about it in advance.
Perosnally, I am not offended if someone chooses not to spend a particular 3 minute period in silence. However I _am offended if an individual opts to participate and then does not use the time in private reflection about the issue. Those that do not reflect have missed the point entirely and, to use an apt metaphor, are merely flotsam being swept along on the tide of publicity. They stay silent but they know not why - I pity those particular people :(
Each of us react to events like this in very different ways. When I listen to the news I often react to hearing about another bad event with humour. It's my way of distancing myself from the emotional aspect and allowing my to contemplate the event without my feelings or opinions being clouded by an instant emotional response. I believe that the trick though, is to understand and accept that we will all react differently and to respect the way that other people deal with tragedy. Their response may not be the same as yours, it may be private, yours may be more public and both will differ in the degree of response. But both are equally as valid.
TL.