I nearly added this to the "In Remembrance" thread. Then I thought, A) leave it alone, for it has a topic & purpose (both worthy) of its own; & B) this question is probably worth discussion on its own merits.

So...

Can someone explain why the 3,000-odd dead of 9/11, who get 3 minutes silence, are worth more than the millions of dead of two World Wars, who only get 2 minutes? I do not belittle the loss of 2001. I am, however, puzzled by the way in which America remembers. Is this the proverbial 2 second attention span at work? There is a deliberate & conscious decision here.

Two seconds silence has been observed for more than 80 years, under the guise first of Armistice Day (see below), then (post WWII) of Remembrance Day. 9/11 appears to be worth more. Why?

A Melbourne journalist, Edward George Honey, first proposed a period of silence for national remembrance in a letter published in the London Evening News on 8 May 1919.

The suggestion came to the attention of King George V. After testing the practicality of five minutes silence - a trial was held with five Grenadier Guardsmen standing to attention for the silence - the King issued a proclamation on 7 November 1919 which called for a two-minute silence. His proclamation requested that "all locomotion should cease, so that, in perfect stillness, the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead".