Today as I was walking passed the hub, I saw a silent protest going on that was about supporting Gay Pride and Gay Marriage. Across the street were people who opposed and were protesting for religious reasons because they think its against their religion. This silent protest that was going on reminded me of the Day of Silence that is held every year.
The Day of Silence this year will be held on April 20, 2012 and it is the biggest student lead day of action in the nation. During this day students around the country and now many parts of the world vow to take a form of silence to give awareness to the silencing of anti lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered harassment in school.
This is very interesting to be because in many cases when people choose to raise awareness for something its more of a fight. There are petitions signed sometimes, arguments begin to arise and sometimes protest can become carried away. Surprisingly, this silent form of creating awareness appears to be beneficial. Its crazy to think that sometimes not speaking can mean more than saying anything at all. This day is handle in a very peaceful way that gives others no choice but to listen to the cause and support whats being fought for.
I have seen a couple protest outside of school and it seems as if the louder protests are less effective and only cause chaos and arguments between people outside of the HUB. Its impressive that silence works in such a persuasive way and has influenced others so much that the Day of Silence is the largest student run day of action in the entire nation. It has become such a good influence that it is now spreading to other countries like Russia and Singapore. Way more than many loud protests have accomplished.
This reminds me of what we learned before giving our rhetorical analysis speeches about pauses. It's true- silence can be a lot more powerful than words if used in the right way. Even an extended like this one can be harrowing and symbolic, so I agree, it is really a great way to protest.
ReplyDeleteI agree when you say silence can be stronger than words. Sometimes when people protest I actually ignore them. It annoys me to hear people chanting and yelling and forcing others to sign petitions. But when you do something like a day of silence it's almost like it is more respected because it shows that you both care and have self control and respect for other's opinions. I'm looking forward to this day of silence in April to see how effective it is!
ReplyDeleteIn our class, we talk so much about words-- what we say, how we say it, when we say it, etc. It is very interesting to focus on silence, not just as pauses as Ben said (although that is very interesting by itself) but also has silent protests. The Day of Silence movement uses the rhetorical situation and kairos to their advantage-- their type of protest perfectly fits with their what they are protesting. Very effective.
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