by Don Hall

There was the story of the neighborhood in a borough of New York when a young woman was being attacked and the residents ignored it. Turned out that the story was mostly fiction but the uproar about bystanders doing nothing became urban legend used to illustrate man’s inhumanity.

There was the news that a police officer had arrested a man in 2016 and, while pressing his knee into his neck to subdue him, the man coughed out “You’re gonna kill me!” thirty times before he died with his nose embedded in the dirt. No one marched in protest for Tony Timpa. No one took a video of that moment in Dallas except for the readily available bodycam footage. For the most part, this incident yielded nothing but indifference like the myth of the New Yorkers who turned a blind eye to a vicious attack.

Once I was in an Arkansas bar drinking heavily and enjoying a Saturday night when two similarly drunken idiots decided to pick a fight with me. Or perhaps I said something obnoxious or responded to something said. Who knows? I was sauced. These two guys took me out into the parking lot and beat the crap out of me. I remember, as I was being kicked in the chest, seeing a couple walk out of the bar, look at me, and quickly scoot out to their car.

In each case, there is a specific incidence of violence: the attack on the young woman, the officer’s knee on Tampa’s neck, the two morons pounding on me. While ‘silence’ rhymes with ‘violence’ (which makes for a catchy slogan and all) the two acts are in no way the same thing.

A violent act is rendered thus due to physical harm. That’s the defining characteristic of violence. Physical harm. Offense is not a physical harm. Hurt feelings are not physical harm. Micro aggressions do not result in physical harm.

On the other hand, those most invested in the ‘silence = violence’ stance are also on the ‘hate speech is evil’ train. So which is it, kids? Silence or not silence?

What ‘silence = violence’ really means is “...you’re free to agree, but disagreement or neutrality are expressly violent acts. And since I have every right to defend myself then maybe I’ll just break some windows and burn up some stuff.” This is pretty dark shit if you ask me. No different than, say, what dictators in authoritarian countries communicate routinely.

At this point, I’m supposed to rail against the Woke and express my heartfelt concern that this bunch of five-year olds with an agenda to re-form the world into their version of utopia will up-end the social order. Except I’m not all that concerned and neither should you be alarmed at the pretend insurrection.

Silence does not equal violence any more than that cup of wine is the blood of a dead martyr. Silence does correlate strongly with acquiescence, though (not a great yard sign slogan but nonetheless true). Sometimes silence is parallel to indifference. Often, like when a religious nut job knocks on your door to proselytize the Coming of the Lord, silence is simply a response to the ridiculous.

It’s looking like it was Trump who really fueled a lot of this mostly white college kid Wokeness and now that he’s leaving, the rational pushback is beginning to take hold. Without the hatred of the asshole-in-chief, so much of this cultish nonsense is losing steam. I mean, how seriously can one take an article in a health magazine that, in order to appease the trans-activists, refers to women as vulva owners as if women could buy a vagina like they do room deodorizer or an exercise bike?

I realize that much of my consternation regarding the Woke children is the feeling (spawned by social media) that their circular antiracism religion, their pronoun requirements, their randomly placed ‘x’ in identifiers, their need to silence people who disagree with them is somehow important to me in my daily life. They really want it to be important for all Americans but it isn’t nor should it be. 

Recently, Barack Obama mentioned the idea that the most extreme language from the Progressives alienates the bulk of the Left voting population and probably should be tempered some. The Progressives went a bit apeshit. NEWSFLASH: Barack Obama is far smarter than you with your Twitter following cabal and definitely knows a lot more about political strategy than your friends.

Am I upset at those who believe the Earth is flat? Nope. Affects my day in no way whatsoever. Is the argument of endless guilt over white privilege something to be unhappy about? Nah. Turns out most people who bought the book online never bothered to pick it up — they just wanted to Instagram that they had ordered it for their allyship merit badges.

In a cardboard box of discarded and irrelevant books is a copy of Dianetics, a book on astrology, DiAngelo’s White Fragility, and some dog-eared Tarot Cards.

Sometimes silence is golden, kids.