Day of Silence, Today, April 17th.

Link Here

Quote:The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. Each year the event has grown, now with hundreds of thousands of students coming together to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior.

(Only heard of it today myself)
Anyone here participating?
If you're as new to it as me, are you now thinking of making sure you remember it next year? (like me)

Had I known about it before getting dressed this morning, I would have worn red or some other bright color (instead I"m wearing black and jeans). And because I'm at work, I can't very well keep silent. But I will try to remember for next year! It's a great idea to get this information out there! (People should realize it anyway, but, well, they don't.)

I've got choir today. But... I have a bit of an issue with "how to observe". It seems to say that you can do whatever you want as long as you're respectful.

Never heard of it before. I'm not sure how one would observe it.

I didn't realize it was today...had to work so couldn't really have participated anyway. At my college they always pass out ribbons for the DOS and tshirts that say "Gay? Fine by me!" for people to wear. I did it at school all 4 years.

Call me cynical, call me apathetic, but I'm getting tired of all the "moment of silences" for every little thing, much less a "day". People need to move on, and drawing attention to the fact that it is still there is not going to make it better. DO something for once instead of watching others do it as you give yourself false comfort with your silence.

This is worse than the time everybody was asked to turn off the lights at a certain time for two hours. Two hours is 120 minutes and is the equivalent of about turning off the lights just four minutes earlier four for a month, much less an entire year. If you were really serious about "saving the environment", you would even unplug your appliances and such things when they're not in use and other such things.

The 120 minutes is just a cheap way to say "I really care about the environment" when you're really not doing a thing. This is just a cheap way to say "I support those LGBT people" without actually stepping up to help them. All it does is clean your bloody conscience.

Rain Wrote:Call me cynical, call me apathetic, but I'm getting tired of all the "moment of silences" for every little thing, much less a "day". People need to move on, and drawing attention to the fact that it is still there is not going to make it better. DO something for once instead of watching others do it as you give yourself false comfort with your silence.

This is just a cheap way to say "I support those LGBT people" without actually stepping up to help them. All it does is clean your bloody conscience.

Did you read the site?

There's a reason for why it's a day of silence.
Drawing attention to the problem, acknowledging it, is something you have to do if they are ever to hope to change the problem at all.

This is "action", it might not be the action "you" personally think people should take (feel free to go shoo people towards that yourself if you want it to happen), but it's bloody well better than nothing.

And you should take 2 seconds to wonder if anyone posting about it is a member of the LGBT community, *waves*, before posting insinuative insults.

I did look at what it was to begin with, but I decided from your comment that I should look deeper into the matter on the site.

And it didn't change my mind.

I'm angry because it gives people a "cop-out" excuse. Ok, so they see it, so what do they do? They partake in this day of silence and they've done their part. They've now contributed to solving the problem.

No.

Not even close.

I'm pretty sure the problem has been acknowledged many times over by now. Acknowledging the problem isn't going to save those kids who are beaten and bullied. The people who cause the pain and suffering don't care at all if you tell them "I know what you're doing". Heck, they will probably enjoy that fact. You won't change their mind with this, and as long as their mind is set, there's pretty much nothing you can do by "acknowledging" it that hasn't been done before.

And before you think I'm insulting LGBT, you should also think about my motive for reacting so hostilely towards this to begin with, of all things for me to be passionate about. It's *not enough*. Maybe where you live and where I live are completely different, though, and this is actually effective, in which case I am very much appreciative that such a thing has helped you and that it *was* enough.

So you think that 'nothing' is better than 'not enough?' I don't get that reasoning.

I know we can't get the diehard homophobes to change their ways. It's not intended to do that. Campaigns of any kind are designed to speak to those in the middle, who might still be swayed. It might make those in between think twice before they go along with someone else's joke or prank. It won't cure it, but it may lessen it. Life is never an all or nothing deal.

I'm a little bit on Rain's side on this, except that I don't believe that this is entirely pointless. The main thing I have trouble with is that this was a Day of Silence. Silence rarely helps anyone, especially minority groups that are trying to be accepted. Speaking, letting some information out, and generally helping to get rid of ignorant prejudices would do a lot more for the cause, as far as I can tell.