Submitted by William Elder.
Silence implies consent. The lawyer shows on tv have softened the axiom: “Qui tacet consentit,” one of the maxims of the law by which we all supposedly live and govern our affairs is tougher in Latin, “Silence gives consent”. Keep your mouth shut and you give your assent to what is being said, much less what is being done in your name. Implied is that you may well be called upon to defend your— or somebody’s— stated position. That’s where many of us are today. Some would say between a rock and a hard place, as back-in-the-day would have it. Or, between bald lies and deep untruth, as some of us might well assert today.
Don’t speak out and be safe. The silence in which we swaddle our opinions, speaks columns, about ourselves and about how we view the way in which our forefathers hoped to view us, as opposed to how we really are. Stay silent and watch our democracy whither. Then you can complain— loudly, and naturally too late.
A third of our electorate is, by their actions and stated opinions opposed to the practice of Democracy. They support leaders— Trump and the rest— that would tear down our institutions that support the practices of Democracy: elections, for example. They tried on 6 Jan 21; they failed only by a thin blue line all but erased by political ideology and incompetent police organization, abetted by mob sympathy.
There was no silence then. There was the bellowing of a lynch mob. It echoes today off the dark domes of our Democracy. No silence now either. The killers have flowed back from their victims at the Capitol that day, to await arrest, conviction, and sentencing, proclaiming their innocence: Donald made me do it. Their foul appeals are redolent with the stench off their hearts, hardened against all who are not exactly like them, in ideology, in belief, in condemnation of anyone who will take time to think before they kill.
Time now to shout out against these silent bastards who sat back and watched chaos happen— people died, laws disregarded, our fellow citizens disrespected, killed, put apart from our regard— with a smug smile masking a fundamental separation of our sympathy from others, whom we refuse to call brothers and sisters. We cannot, in good conscience, and mindful of the decency of the human race, behave this way and hope to survive this trial we inflicted upon ourselves. We, as a species, have survived this far by learning from our mistakes— through blood and trial. I pray we have learned enough, deeply enough. That we have voices enough to say, loudly enough for all to hear, softly enough for our innermost selves to pay attention to. That our resolve will be resilient enough, hold out until some residual goodwill makes us, if not exactly one, then at least, willing to have a beer and laugh at the asses we, thus far, have proven ourselves, once again, to be. That is the same we, by our own modest assessment, we call Homo Sapien Sapiens.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
Please put your political hate on a political hate website and leave us in peace.
I didn’t read this partisan drivel. I read one by this propaganda drunk hack around the election.
He insinuated at the time that most of the problems in the country are the fault of the former president and his party. I disagree. All politicians along with the media, both sides of each are to blame. Along with those who lack the mental capacity to realize that one side or person is to blame for where we are headed. Too blinded by the garbage spewed from CNN, MSNBC, and FoxNews to be able to think for themselves.
The only way to break from this spiral is for the middle to come together and start denouncing this partisan garbage. Well, there is another way, but that gets bloody.
Scott Anderson,
“(D)enouncing this partisan garbage” is what I am doing. Unfortunately the vast majority of it comes from the Republican Right. But I do like your news triumvirate of CNN, MSNBC, and FoxNews as chief spewers. Boy, will they be surprised at being lumped together.
Since you didn’t bother to read what I have to say, we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I leave the threats to you.
Mr. Elder, a question and a comment. You write “A third of our electorate is, by their actions and stated opinions opposed to the practice of Democracy. They support leaders— Trump and the rest— that would tear down our institutions”. Per Wikipedia, the voting eligible population (electorate) of the U.S. in the 2020 election was 239,247,182, so a third would be 79,748,263. How do you know that there are that many citizens who are “opposed to the practice of Democracy”? 79 million? Did you make that up? Is that what they call fake news?
Oh, and by the way, Donald Trump is no longer the President. Yep, we have a new one and his name is Joseph Biden who’s been in office since January the 20th. Maybe you’ve been holed up in your trailer a bit too long and haven’t kept current as to what’s going on. Perhaps you should step out for an enchilada dinner and celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Think about it.
I believe Mr Elder is making the point that everyone who voted for Trump is opposed to Democracy. Though I didn’t vote for Trump, I certainly don’t buy Mr. Elder’s premise. But his math is correct – Trump received 74M votes, which is roughly a third of the electorate. Biden got a bit more than another third, and the last third didn’t vote. It’s that last group that bothers me the most. I find it troubling that at least a third of the electorate simply doesn’t participate in our elections, for various reasons.
That is the writer’s premise, “Silence implies consent.”
Fred Block,
No, it is simply a translation from the Latin and a long established axiom in law.
Gary Turney,
I share your concern about the non-voting one-third of the American electorate. It was to them my Silence piece was mainly directed. Trump was elected the first time largely due to the non-involvement of these folks. The 2022 off-year elections may be decided by them as well.
I need to write with less bile and more precision for those of you who read that way. Trump’s 2016 election was such a mishmash of convergent lies and manipulations that it is hard as yet to sort it out with precision— just as his Presidency proved to be. It was rather to the millions of True Believers that continue to adhere to his corrupt seizure of the Republican Party with such mindless conviction that I spoke when I mentioned opposition to American Democracy. For those supporters I believe the charge holds true. The evidence is too broad and vociferous, too loud, long, and ugly, for me to believe otherwise. The Trump-ordered attack on the Capitol removed all doubt.
Thank you for your comments.
Marty,
Your dinner suggestion sounds great. No need for thought there!
Donald Trump calls you a liar. He says he is still President, not Joe Biden. I agree with you, though, and thankfully so.
You are right about something else. I omitted saying “about” before “one-third”, making it a rough estimate, as it should have been. Otherwise the math is “about” right.
As to “fake news”— you’ll have to ask someone else. Perhaps Donald Trump. He seems to be an expert on it.
Thanks again for the dinner suggestion!
Mr Elder’s twisted commentary is equal parts false and sad. But I note others in the community have not chosen SILENCE. Interesting how that goes, isn’t it?
Frank Ecker,
Who are these “others in the community have not chosen SILENCE?” Let’s hear from them. It really might be interesting— I mean beyond cryptic questions.
I often find silence is more constructive when trying to sort out raw emotions from facts.
Now you’re getting into wisdom.
Thank you for your comment.
You are welcome.
I am often amazed by the scientific and engineering accomplishments of human beings. We can launch a rocket into space and then precisely land the spent first stage on a ship rocking out on the high seas. Yet we are unable to tame our emotions enough to foster meaningful and constructive conversations to develop solutions that ultimately benefit everyone. Leadership may be the missing key.
It certainly has been. Maybe it’s changing. It certainly seems so.
We have to allow ourselves to change, to grow, to reach out. Space is our ultimate challenge, but now, inside ourselves, is our immediate one. Have we learned enough in our millennia to appreciate that, act on it?
I admire your wisdom.
I invite you to discuss it, over a glass or cup of whatever fancies. Wisdom may spread. Bring a friend.
I found the last portion of the article a perfect description of the summer riots which caused $2 billion of damage and resulted in the death of a number of innocent people.
Perect point Chris. Alas, this will go over the head of Mr. Elder and his socialist comrades as they didn’t catch this on the single sided coverage on CNN. They seem to hate the police as much as freedom and would prefer destruction of private enterprise and total control by government. Law and order is the enemy of these people.
In reality, both extremes are wrong. The difference is, people like you and I can see the difference, unlike this propagandist.
Scott Anderson (Chris, I exempt you from this)
Why do you presume superior understanding to those who simply disagree, make up unfounded names to refer to them. I carried a badge for six years, and headed up a statewide organization that represent others that did the same. I helped, with the aid of legislative aides, to rewrite one-third of that state’s code for juvenile justice.
Kindly reconsider your uninformed remarks.
Chris,
I liked best the part about “willing to have a beer and laugh at the asses we, thus far, have proven ourselves, once again, to be.”
It’s obstreperous, self-righteous and willfully pertinacious douchebags like you who have turned American everyday life into a chaotic agglomerate bent on the absolute annihilation of ANYTHING/ANYONE that isn’t to your liking. But it will NEVER be enough. Even if/when people like you, on both sides of every argument, actually do get something changed, you’re response is always the same… “Ok, now that this is changed, it’s time for THIS ____ to change.”
P. S. The whole “Silence is Violence” or “Staying Silent Makes You Part of the Problem” is a fatuous argument from “woke” millennials, race-mongers and overly entitled little whiners who ALWAYS find a reason to blame whatever they want on whoever they choose. YOU ARE NOT INFALLIBLE…AND NEITHER ARE YOUR VIEWS.
Matty,
Yeah, but did you like the piece?
Did anyone drop this toilet paper masquerading as parchment smeared with pseudo intellectual drivel, liberal rhetoric and what appear to be the vacuous mumblings of a lobotomized dementia patient? A bit of victim mentality fueled fantasy land mixed with deluded self righteousness??? Anyone?!?
Okay. If no one dropped it then I’m going to give it over to CNN, because I assume that someone from there dropped it while scouring the comments for a socially compelling story.
Comfortable,
So you have a direct link to CNN? Nice.