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Day of Silence?
Should the blogosphere declare 30 April to be a Day of Silence “to remember the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre and to stand united with the families”?
Lisa Sabin says no: silence is part of the problem. Tim Worstall describes it as “a silly idea.”
I think that the ones who took the initiative mean well, but I think it would be wiser to wait a while and use a day, say, in August or September. We should, then, not just remember those who died at VA Tech, but those who died everywhere, due to war, terrorism, crazy people, etc. An international day of mourning and rememberance.
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14 Responses to “Day of Silence?”
Fat chance getting the whole nation to be quiet for an entire day. Why don’t they start with talk radio?
How about a “day of remembrance”? It would require cooperation of the victims families for information, but it could be doable. No regular posts that day, just a series of post of the victims (obviously none for the killer). Each post with a picture and a short description of the victim, his/her studies, hobbies etc. No blames, no debate about guns or response or unethical media and none a SINGLE mention of the killer. Give the victims the prominence the killer has gotten.
So that day would be limited to the tragedy at VA Tech Lynx?
You know what – I could agree with that, but I also think that those who say “what about those hundreds of Iraqis who die every day” have a good point.
Let me think about this…
Michael, I dunno really, I’m sort of ambivalent about the whole matter myself. I just think that if the blogs want to spend the day making a point about the VT tragedy, this is a better way to do it.
As for Iraq, yes you’re right, our tragedy is small compared to what’s happening to them EVERY DAY. Then again, this isn’t something new. Africa is a non-stop constant tragedy with thousands dying from hunger disease and often ethnic cleansing daily. We all know it’s a bigger drama and yet we all turn a blind eye. The closer to home it hits you the more you care. One death in your family matters more than 10 in your city, 10 in your city more than 30 in the country next door, 30 in the country next door more than 300 in Iraq and THAT more than 3000 in any given African nation.
Lynx- Uh….I’d feel a hell-of-a-lot safer in Africa than anywhere in Iraq.
Sorry. I constantly have a problem when bloggers or others declare there is something I should do or post because they say so and if you don’t you’re a bad person and don’t care. The person who suggests it should do it if they want. This has popped up over the years with someone emailing me that if I REALLY CARE I will post their post or do what they say. I REALLY CARE on charting my own course no matter what and not having someone act as my editor or publisher no matter what the course. The last time I looked, I didn’t take on a new editor or publisher on this site.
Umh, who are you addressing here Joe?
I’m refering to the people who email me with a post saying that if I REALLY care about something I will post their post. If I REALLY CARE or REALLY hold X or Y belief I will participate in their blogburst. If I REALLY am responsible I will sign their pledge or their petition. No. Being sent in effect an ultimatum to have them decide what I believe or feel or how I respond is not the way I will do things. I’ll write my posts and chart my own course. The idea of a day of silence is a nice one — it’ll get a line or two in a news report. And if we didn’t post for a day it would not be the end of the world; some readers might think the sites new nonexistant posts were the most intelligent they have seen on tmv. But the point is: I don’t have an editor or publisher and even those who post here find that we don’t interfere much at all with what they do.
About three times a year I get someone who “dares” me to take their challenge and run their vital post on an issue, or get involved in x,y, or z blogburst, or participate in such and such fundraiser to show I’m a responsible blogger. Since when did we have people determining what weblogs do or don’t do? Call this my liberatarian streak but it leaves me cold when I get these emails.
lmao they e-mailed you?
“I think that the ones who took the initiative mean well, but I think it would be wiser to wait a while and use a day, say, in August or September.”
Why not November 2 nd? All Souls Day? With the added advantage that it already exists?
Tim: agreed. Never heard of “All Souls Day” but – yeah…
Good, in that case we don’t have to change anything, just a bit attention to the fact that November the 2nd is, apparantly “All Souls Day” so that people actually know about it.
[...] The Moderate Voice talks about The One Day Blog Silence Project, and how it may not be a good idea, he also cites Lisa Sabin who says, “silence is part of the problem” [...]
Halloween is the “Eve before All Hallows Day”, ie, the day before All Saints Day on Nov 1. All Souls is the next day. Big thing in the medieval Christian Church, much less so now of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints'_Day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Souls'_Day
There already is a Day of Silence. This year, 450,000 students (at least) in K-12 schools and colleges around the country were silent for gay and lesbian rights. There might be a slight conflict with the name, if nothing else.
It’s not impossible to have people be silent for a day, but it wouldn’t be too smart to demand it spur-of-the moment.