Right now, I’m sitting at a computer in school with a silence armband (made of blue duct tape) on my arm to signify my support of gay rights. With my vow of verbal abstinence, my silence is supposed to say in a loud, clear voice, “I oppose opposition.” I wonder how effective it really is. Am I helping make an impact on society? Although it is a day to think of those whose sexuality causes their lives stress and anguish, isn’t it also a day on which the silence of supporters is “heard” though our actions and thus making an impact on national views?
Gay rights and acceptance in our society isn’t quite so far from being achieved as one might think. A liberal leader and the voice of the people are all it should take for a change to occur. When I say a “voice,” should that voice choose silence as a manner of protest and if so, is it as effective as a march against Washington like people used to do in the days of the Vietnam War. I believe that silence attracts attention if it comes from those who usually are loquacious, but it seems that the students and people around us don’t think much into WHY we are silent. Perhaps I am wrong, but today I have seen many of my wearing the armband and no one seems to look at them any differently.
If one supports gay rights, wouldn’t standing up and speaking out be more effective? If silence is all it takes, then I congratulate everyone who has taken the low today. If I’m wrong, I shouldn’t think keeping quiet one day and speaking out the next would be a bad thing.
What do you think?
~Astroaction149
Read my other blogs at: http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/astroaction149
I think it's really about a sense of self-empowerment. Like many protests and acts of civil disobedience, the DOS is an impressive show of the human spirit. It's effectiveness in that sense. As far as spurring the much needed Hate-Crime legislation-- I'm not sure.
"I understand that this car is pretty expensive but it has more to it than any Ferrari can give to our earth and people." -- crystalcraze13, a ProU blogger