essay on the topic silence

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Don’t Underestimate the Power of Silence

• Vijay Eswaran

Try this exercise the first hour of your day.

Many of us have forgotten (or even fear) quiet. We live in a world full of noise and chatter. A world wherein our daily routines are inundated with distractions and responsibilities. This practice, called the Sphere of Silence, is a 60-minute routine that can help you stay grounded, focused, and most importantly, remain hopeful when your mind wants to spiral. There is one ground rule: Follow the below steps in complete silence.

• The first half hour is broken down in three 10-minute segments. Spend the first 10 minutes writing your short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. Then, dedicate the next 10-minute set to assessing your progress on the goals you set the previous day.
• Use the final 10 minutes to take note of any unmet goals and assess the reasons why you have not achieved them. This will motivate you to focus on moving forward.
•  Spend the next 20 minutes reading a book, something that teaches you new things or enriches your mind with practical knowledge.
• Spend the first 10 minutes of this step reading a chapter of your book. Then, use the remaining 10 minutes to write down a summary of what you just read by hand to strengthen your ability to process the information, and learn something new.
• Use these last 10 minutes for self-reflection and, if you believe in a higher power, for communicating with God, the Universe, your spirituality, or whatever you prefer. This part of the practice allows you to harness your calm during stressful situations and mindfully choose to stay out of negativity.

Last year, the world went into lockdown and our lives changed dramatically. “I’m so tired” was already a status symbol, but burnout and it’s long-lasting impact on our health, has increased. The lines between work and play have blurred.

• VE Vijay Eswaran is an entrepreneur , motivational speaker, philanthropist and the author of the best-selling book In the Sphere of Silence . An economist by training, he is the founder of a multimillion-dollar global business. A well-known thought leader in Asia, he has written and spoken extensively about business, leadership, personal development, and life management. For more of his writing and videos, please follow him on LinkedIn ,   Facebook and Instagram .

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The Power of Silence: How to Write an Essay on Silence

By: Tasha Kolesnikova

Did your high school teacher tell you to write an assignment about silence? Before you jump into the writing process, allow us to help you know what you should avoid when writing an essay on silence. We’ll also discuss the topics and things that you can add to your essay about silence. Keep reading to learn how to write an essay on silence that will guarantee an A+ grade.

Analyzing the Essay on Silence: What’s Wrong with It?

How to fix this essay on silence, excellent sources and examples of written pieces on silence.

Before we can get to that, below is an essay on silence that a student, Felicity, wrote. Read the essay on silence and try to analyze it. What is wrong with the essay, and how can you improve it? What is Felicity missing when she wrote it or what is she overdoing?

The Power of Silence

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This article was published in  New Renaissance  magazine (Vol. 8, No. 2)

Modern humans have lost touch with their inner ‘true self’. Silence and stillness are a means to recovering happiness and contentment. In the modern world silence has practically ceased to exist.

The human race has stamped its authority over the planet Earth not just by covering its surface with concrete and destroying its plant and animal life, but also by burying the natural sounds of the Earth beneath a cacophony of man-made noise. We live our lives against the background of this cacophony, with the jagged mechanical sounds of urban-industrial society continually assaulting our ears: the roar of cars, aeroplanes and trains, the clanging and thudding of machinery, the noise of building and renovating, the chatter of radios and TVs in other people’s cars and houses, and pop music blaring from every conceivable place. But nothing, of course, has done more to obliterate silence than the car. In the modern world it’s very difficult to go anywhere where there’s no possibility of being disturbed by the sound of passing cars, and the only chance that city or town dwellers get to experience something of the quietness which existed everywhere in the pre-car world is sometimes on Sundays, when the mad rushing to and fro of modern life slows down. This quietness seems so foreign now that it seems difficult to believe that a hundred years ago and before it was everywhere all the time. Back then this quietness would even have filled the busiest city centres, which would have probably had a noise level equivalent to that of a modern small village.

There’s also more noise than ever before inside our houses. It’s unusual to go into a house nowadays where there isn’t at least one television set chattering away somewhere, even if the residents aren’t actually watching it, and other forms of home entertainment compete against TV to produce the most noise: radios, CD players, computer and video games etc. In fact the only sound which is largely absent from people’s houses nowadays is the voices of their occupants actually talking to one another.

Living in the midst of all this noise is bound to have a bad effect on us. All man-made noise is fundamentally disturbing we find the sound of birds singing or of wind rushing through trees pleasing, but mechanical noise always jars and grates. And since we live our lives against a background of mechanical noise it follows that there’s always an undercurrent of agitation inside us, produced by the noise. This noise is certainly one of the reasons why modern life is so stressful as well. In modern life our senses are bombarded with massive amounts of external stimuli our fields of vision are always crowded with different (and constantly shifting) things, and our ears are bombarded with a bewildering variety of sounds, all of which clamour for our attention. Our senses have to absorb and process all this material, which takes up a lot of energy, and means that we’re liable to become drained of energy or ‘run down’ easily. We can get out of this state by removing ourselves from all external stimuli and letting our energy-batteries naturally recharge themselves i.e., by relaxing. But there’s so much external stimuli around in the modern world and people are so unaccustomed to the absence of it, that we may never be able relax properly, which could mean living in a permanently ‘run down’ state.

This lack of quietness has also meant is that people are no longer used to silence, and have even, as a result, become afraid of it. Along with inactivity, silence has become something which most people are determined to avoid at all costs, and which, when they are confronted with it, unnerves them. People have become so used to the frantic pace and the ceaseless activity of modern life that they feel uneasy when they’re left at a loose end with nothing to occupy their attention even for a few moments, and they feel equally uneasy when the noise they live their lives against the background of subsides. Why else is it that they need to have their radios and televisions chattering away in the background even when they’re not paying attention to them?

In other words, in the modern world silence has become an enemy. And this is a terrible shame, because in reality silence is one of our greatest friends, and can if it’s allowed to reveal itself to us have a powerfully beneficial effect on us.

Inner Noise

It’s not just the noise outside us which causes us problems, though, but also the noise inside us.

In the same way that the natural quietness and stillness of the world around us is always covered over with man-made noise, the natural quietness of our minds is constantly disturbed by the chattering of our ego-selves. This chattering fills our minds from the moment we wake up in the morning till the moment we go to sleep at night an endless stream of daydreams, memories, deliberations, worries, plans etc. which we have no control over and which even continues (in the form of dreams) when we fall asleep. This ‘inner noise’ has as many bad effects as the mechanical noise outside us. It actually creates problems in our lives, when we mull over tiny inconveniences or uncertainties which seem to become important just because we’re giving so much attention to them, and when we imagine all kinds of possible scenarios about future events instead of just taking them as they come. It means that we don’t live in the present, because we’re always either planning for and anticipating the future or remembering the past ‘wandering about in times that do not belong to us and never thinking of the one that does’ as Blaise Pascal wrote. And this constant inner chattering also means that we can never give our full attention to our surroundings and to the activities of our lives. Our attention is always partly taken up by the thoughts in our minds, so that wherever we are and whatever we’re doing we’re never completely there.

It’s probably possible to say that there’s also more of this ‘inner noise’ inside human beings than there’s ever been before. The hectic pace and the constant activity of our lives, the massive amount of external stimuli we’re bombarded with, and the barrage of information which the mass media sends our way, have made our minds more restless and active. We’ve got to juggle dozens of different problems and concerns in our minds just to get by from day to day, and every new thing we see or every new piece of information which is sent our way is potentially the beginning of a whole new train of thought to occupy our minds.

The True Self

Ultimately, the most serious consequence of both this inner chattering and the noise and activity of the modern world is that they separate us from our true selves.

Our ‘true self’ might be called the ground, or the essence, of our beings. It’s the pure consciousness inside us, the consciousness-in-itself which remains when we’re not actually conscious of anything. It’s what remains when our the activity of our senses and the activity of our minds cease. The sense-impressions we absorb from the world and the thoughts which run through our minds are like the images on a cinema screen, but our ‘true self’ is the cinema screen itself, which is still there even when there aren’t any images being projected on to it.

Experiencing this ‘consciousness-in-itself’ can have a massively therapeutic effect. It brings a sense of being firmly rooted in ourselves, of being truly who we are. We also have a sense of being truly where we are, realising that before we were only half-present, and everything we see around us seems intensely real and alive, as if our perceptions have become much more acute. But above all, we experience a profound sense of inner peace and natural happiness. As the Hindu and Buddhist traditions have always held, the nature of consciousness-in-itself (which means the consciousness inside us and the consciousness which pervades the whole universe) is bliss. Getting into contact with the pure consciousness inside us enables us, therefore, to experience this bliss. Indeed, it could be said that it’s only when we do this that we can experience true happiness. Usually what we think of as happiness is hedonistic or ego-based that is, based around pressing instinctive ‘pleasure buttons’ or around receiving attention and praise from others and increasing our self-esteem. But the kind of deep and rich happiness we experience when we’re in touch with the ground or essence of our beings is a natural, spiritual happiness, which doesn’t depend on anything external, and doesn’t vanish as soon as the thing which produced it is taken away. It’s a happiness which comes from experiencing the divine inside us and also the divine inside everything else, since the pure consciousness inside us is the same pure consciousness inside everything else, and the pure consciousness of the universe itself.

Making Contact with the True Self

Whether we’re in touch with this ‘true self’ or not depends on how much external stimuli our senses are taking in from the world around us, and on how much activity there is going on in our minds.

If there is a lot of noise, movement and activity taking place around us then we can’t help but give our attention to it; and in the same way, when there is a lot of ‘inner noise’ taking place we have to give our attention to that too. And when our attention is completely absorbed in this way either by external stumuli on their own, such as when we watch TV; by ‘inner noise’ on its own, such as when we daydream; or by both of them at the same time it’s impossible for us to be in contact with our ‘true self’ to any degree, in the same way that it’s impossible to see a cinema screen in itself when it’s full of dancing images. Being in contact with our ‘true self’ is a state of attentionless-ness, when our minds are completely empty.

What we have to do if we want to get into contact with this part of ourselves is, therefore, to withdraw our attention from these things. And this is, of course, what we do when we meditate: first of all, we remove ourselves from external stimuli, by sitting in a quiet room and closing our eyes. And then there’s only ‘inner noise’ standing between us and consciousness-in-itself, which we try to quieten by concentrating on a mantra or on our breathing. If we manage to stop the inner noise (and therefore stop our attention being absorbed in it) pure consciousness immerses us and we become our true selves.

And this brings us back to the most serious problem caused by the massive amount of external stimuli (including noise) which our senses are bombarded with in the modern world, and by the intensified ‘inner noise’ which modern life generates. It’s not just a question of completely closing yourself off to external stimuli and shutting down ‘inner noise’, so that you can experience a state of total immersion in pure consciousness. It’s possible to have a foot in both camps, so to speak to live a normal life in the world, being exposed to external stimuli and experiencing inner noise, and at the same time still be rooted in your real self. That is, it’s possible to be partially immersed in consciousness-in-itself, and for your attention to be partially absorbed by external stimuli and inner talk. But this can only happen when there is just a moderate degree of both of the latter.

It would probably have been quite easy for our ancestors to live in this way, because they weren’t exposed to a great deal of external stimuli and because their lives were relatively slow-paced and stress-free, which would have meant that their attention needn’t have been completely absorbed by external stimuli and inner talk. Perhaps this even partly explains why native peoples seem to possess a natural contentment which modern city dwellers have lost because their more sedate lives mean that they’re able to be in touch with the ground of their being as they go about their lives, and that they can therefore continually experience something of the bliss of which is the nature of consciousness-in-itself.

For us, however, this has become very difficult. There’s always so much noise and activity both inside and outside us that our attention is always completely absorbed, so that we can’t be in contact with our real selves. We spend all our time living outside ourselves, lost in the external world of activity and stimuli or in the inner world of our own thoughts. We’re like a person who plans to go away for a few days but finds so much to occupy them in the place they go to that they never go home again, and never again experience the peace and contentment which lie there. This is certainly one of the reasons why so many people nowadays seem to live in a state of dissatisfaction because they’ve lost touch with the natural happiness inside them. That natural happiness has been buried underneath a storm of external stimuli and what Meister Eckhart called ‘the storm of inward thought’.

As a result of this it’s essential for us, in the modern world, to go out of our way to cultivate silence ourselves. Circumstances may oblige us to live in cities, and our jobs may be stressful and demanding, but we’re still free to remove ourselves from external stimuli and to try to quieten our minds by meditating, going out into the countryside, or just by sitting quietly in our rooms. We don’t have to fill our free time with attention-absorbing distractions like TV and computer games, which take us even further away from ourselves. We should do the opposite: stop our attention being absorbed like this so that we can find ourselves again.

We need silence and stillness to become our true selves and to be truly happy. ‘Be still,’ said Jesus, ‘and know that I am God.’ But he might have added, ‘and know that you are God.’

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Home > Books > Types of Nonverbal Communication

The Most Powerful Thing You’d Say Is Nothing at All: The Power of Silence in Conversation

Submitted: 06 September 2020 Reviewed: 21 April 2021 Published: 16 July 2021

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.97821

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After a long period of neglect, silence is currently receiving an increased amount of attention in the literature of sociolinguistics and pragmatics. Since the publication of Tannen and Saville-Troike and Jaworski, many international conferences, books, monographs, articles, PhD theses and book chapters continue to emerge. Many of those publications recognized silence as a powerful tool of communication; and that it is not peripheral to speech because any form of analysis that is applied to speech could also be applied to the analysis of silence. Silence has been broadly classified as communicative and non-communicative, and it serves both positive and negative functions. As silence performs two opposite functions, its interpretation depends on some factors such as the socio-cultural background of the actors involved in the use and the interpretation of the silence act, and the context of its use. This chapter starts with an introduction which covers review of related literature, and then proceeds with the classification of silence. It continues with discussing some functions of silence, and then talks about interpretation of silence in social contexts. Finally, the chapter examines some instances of the power of silence in conversation.

• conversation
• communication
• sociolinguistics

Author Information

Bashir ibrahim *.

• School of General Studies, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Kano State, Nigeria

Usman Ambu Muhammad

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

Conversation is, of course, not a mere disorderly chunk of speech. There are protocols that guide exchange of talk as well as when not to say anything. The exchange protocols and the time of silence rely heavily on culture and context. Culture here refers to the norms of the society that guide how the talk or silence is used, and the context refers to the setting in which the conversation holds. Trudgill [ 1 ] reported that ‘[in] some Caribbean communities, as among certain groups of Black American adolescents, it is perfectly normal, at least in some situations, for everyone to talk at once. Schegloff [ 2 ], however, argues that the tendency of two speakers talking at the same time appeared to be a departure from what is basically known in conversation as one-speaker-at-a-time.

Various studies have looked at silence from communicative perspective such as some studies of some tribes in Africa as among the Akan people of Ghana [ 3 ], the Igbo people of Nigeria [ 4 ]; religious silence such as among British Quakerism and British Buddhism [ 5 ]; or silence in the lawyering process [ 6 ]. Others have looked at silence in social interaction. Trudgil [ 7 ], for example, stated silence of longer than four seconds is not allowed especially among native speakers of English who are not close friends because such silence is considered as embarrassment. Similarly, Tannen [ 8 ] reported that silence was averted during conversation among some New Yorkers of East European Jewish background. These reports indicated that silence is perceived as a negative trait particularly among Europeans.

In addition, Jaworski [ 9 ] reported that one of the passengers in a 5-hour journey by train in Poland expressed disgust over their silence throughout the journey, describing the situation as if they were going to a funeral. It is of little surprise then that Scollon [ 10 ], who uses the theory of metaphor to study silence, describes silence as malfunction – ‘If one assumes the engine should be running, the silences will indicate failures. Smooth talk is taken as a natural state of the smoothly running cognitive and interactional machine’. It has to be noted, however, in the situations cited above, silence is portrayed as part of the participants’ preference for talk or avoidance of relationship. In all those cases, silence is non-communicative because the silence of the passengers in a train, for example, cannot be interpreted. Also, in the case of the conversation between New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers, silence was described as a boundary marking the beginning or end of speech, and the desire of the New Yorkers to continue talking. Such desire might be a tendency acquired since childhood or a personality trait of the conversational partners involved.

There is, however, another type of silence which occurs during conversation when the current speaker stops talking or when the next speaker takes the floor from the current speaker. The former is referred to as ‘switching pause’ while the latter as ‘inturn pause’ [ 10 ]. The turn exchanges is referred to as turn-taking. Some pioneering works on turn-taking in cross-cultural encounters include Basso [ 11 ] and Scollon and Scollon [ 12 ] who conducted studies on Western Apache and the Athabaskan Indians respectively. Their studies indicated variations in turn- taking habits of the Western Apache cultures and the Athabaskans with that of the ‘West’. Reporting Scollon and Scollon’s [ 12 ] research, Trudgill [ 7 ] stated that:

The Athabaskans go away from the conversation thinking that English speakers are rude, dominating, superior, garrulous, smug and self-centered. The English speakers, on the other hand, find the Athabaskans rude, superior, surly, taciturn and withdrawn.

Such perception culminated from what one of conversation partners believed to be usurping his right to the floor while the other thought his partner has relinquished such a right. Turn-taking, therefore, is not just exchange of speakership from one person to the other but how such transfer is made without violating exchange etiquette. Members of speech community know how to participate in turn-taking exchanges and how to adhere to rules that are appropriate in their community, by allowing overlap (if acceptable) to occur between utterances, and by using pause lengths that are compatible with their particular socio-cultural norms.

2. Role of culture in the use and interpretation of silence

As various cultures differ in their use of silence, the interpretation of someone’s silence can also be culture-dependent. Fast rate of speech, for example, is valued in European communities while in some communities such as the Navajo and Indians Athabaskans, longer silences are tolerated. Such silences have, therefore, become the feature of the speech of those communities, and therefore, not a problem. Also among the Japanese, Nakane [ 13 ] reported that ‘Japanese silence stands out not only in comparison with Southern Europeans or New Yorkers but also with East Asian neighbors such as the Koreans and Chinese as well’. Silence is used more often by the Japanese in highly emotional situations such as courtship. ‘Young spouses who are deeply in love, for example, often express their affection for each other by nonverbal means and silence’ [ 9 ]. There was no consensus among researchers on Japanese silence. Some of the researchers – Anderson [ 14 ] and Miller [ 15 ] criticized the view that Japanese are more reserved compared to other Asians because the claim, according to Anderson, was purely intuitive, lacking any empirical backing. Anderson added that Japanese do talk, and sometimes they talk a lot, but the context of the talk is culturally sanctioned. The above arguments indicate the need to explain further the power of silence in conversation.

To some other communities, however, particularly in the west, past rate of speech is the expected trait during conversation [ 8 ]. For this reason, ‘the debate over whether silence or talk should take more priority will never be settled with reconciliation across all contexts’ [ 16 ]. This is obvious because silent cultures might not discard their silent practice for the voluble ones or vice versa. The Japanese, for example, might not dispose of its ‘quietness’ because another culture somewhere is garrulous. This is because ‘cross-cultural uses of silence are rooted in the observation of different types of taboo, practical magic, and in varying beliefs as to how much talk is necessary in a given situation’ [ 9 ].

3. Classification of silence

Prudent silence: Silence use to avoid jeopardizing oneself.

Artificial silence: Deliberate use of silence in order to benefit from what others may say.

Courteous silence: The use of silence to show approval of something usually accompanied by nodding or gesture.

Teasing silence: Using silence as a means of deception to show approval while the performer of the silence act is actually deceiving the perceiver of the silence act.

Spiritual silence: Silence used by those who believe that it (silence) is a means of spiritual connection between themselves and the divine being.

Stupid silence: In this type of silence the performer remains mute because he has nothing to express, particularly when he was alone.

Applauding silence is used to show approval in front of the person being heard, mostly accompanied by nodding one’s head.

Contempt silence is used to show disregard towards what is said.

Capricious silence: This type of silence is used by those who want show their liking or disliking of what they hear, mostly accompanied by opening their mouths.

Political silence: This type of silence is used by those who use circumspection, not saying all that they think, not entirely explaining their conduct or purposes.

The above proposal broadly explains the types of silence that may likely occur in various situations. A close look at the classification would reveal the need for reclassification. The first one (prudent silence) for example can be merged with the second (artificial silence) and the last one (political silence) because the intent of using the silence in these three situations is similar – to avoid jeopardizing oneself. Thus, both can be classified under prudent silence. Also, as courteous silence and applauding silence are used to show approval, they can be merged under applauding or courteous silence.

Later, other researchers classified silence by considering some factors such as genre and the context in which the silence is practiced. Saville-Troike [ 18 ], for example, proposed etic categories: Institutionally-determined silence, Group-determined silence, and Individually-determined/negotiated silence. As for Kurzon [ 19 ], there is a typology of silence comprising conversational, thematic, textual and situational silences. In his classification of silence, Jaworski [ 9 ] proposed ‘fuzzy categories’. He approached silence from a socio-pragmatic perspective where he discussed silence ‘as a component of various communicative situations and a tool of communicative expression’ [ 9 ]. He categorizes silence into two broad categories: Communicative and Non-communicative. Jaworski believes that not all types of silence are communicative. As such, ‘the actual interpretation of someone’s silence takes place only when the communication process is expected or perceived to be taking place’. It is of no use, for example, trying to infer meaning from some silent person who was found alone ‘day-dreaming’ in the classroom. In this situation, his silence can be termed as ‘stupid silence’ [ 17 ]. But if communication was triggered by two strangers, for example, and silence occurred during conversation, then the silence is perceived to be meaningful and, therefore, subject to interpretation. This latter case of the use of silence is communicative while the former is non-communicative.

Silence as State: This is the type of silence where communicative event is structured or framed. The information transmitted through this type of silence is mostly in the form of visual arts, music, literary works, kinesics or proxemics behaviors. Jaworski argues that in the aforementioned genres, silence is a substance presented by the communicator in nonverbal form.

Silence as Formulaic: This is ‘a customary act of saying nothing in reaction to specific stimuli’ sometimes ‘accompanied by other nonverbal behavior such as bowing, smiling, waving and so on’. Interpretation of such type of silence depends largely on cultural practices, and contexts. Such formulaic silences include instances where loss of face is perceived such as someone passing gas, belching or spitting in public. This type of silence is also practiced during funerals or some rituals.

Silence as Activity: This type of silence includes refraining from speaking, and acts of failing to mention something. Two examples provided by Jaworski may suffice here:

Mother gave her approval in silence.

They moved to the next point of the agenda in silence

In examples ‘a’ and ‘b’ above, silence is conceptualized as part of an activity following certain speech acts. According to Jaworski [ 9 ] the three categories he proposed ‘are the most prototypical ones and seem to provide a good starting point for studying silence in interpersonal communication’. He believes that the categories ‘cover a wide range of forms and situations in which the concept of silence can be used to explain and account for problems of miscommunication and misunderstanding, indirectness, ritualized behavior, and cross-cultural communication’.

As Jaworski [ 9 ] approached silence from social and pragmatic perspectives, his classification centred mainly on the use of silence in social encounters, and the meaning that can be derived from using silence in the social context being talked about. His recognition of silence as communicative and non-communicative is, certainly, commendable because he acknowledges that not all silences are interpretable and meaningful. Silence of someone who is found alone, for example, is non-interpretable and meaningless unless preceded by talk or act which requires the silent person to talk but he chooses to remain silent. Silence is non-communicative when it serves linguistic function as where interlocutor pauses, interrupts or overlaps during conversation. Turn exchanges can occur in both local and foreign language use. In both the local and foreign language use interlocutors are expected to follow certain conventions depending on the situation.

4. The power of silence in conversation

In this section, an attempt has been made to show the power of silence in conversation from pragmatic perspective. The examples did not include the use of silence from conversation analysis perspective i.e. turn-taking. During conversation, it is pertinent for conversation partners to understand when to say something and when to remain silent. Also, in situations where silence is used instead of talk, conversation partners must try to infer meaning to the silence act in order to avoid misunderstanding and confrontation. The interpretation of the silence act, however, might not always be accurate due to its various nuances. The use of silence in similar situations, for example, may evoke different interpretations depending on culture, situation or setting. Saville-Troike [ 18 ] cited two examples as they occurred among the Japanese and the Igbo of Nigeria:

A: Please marry me

B: [Silence; head and eyes lowered] (Acceptance)

In Japanese culture, silence in the above context signifies acceptance because, according to Jaworski [ 9 ], young spouses who are deeply in love often express their affection for each other by nonverbal means and in silence. In the Igbo culture of Southern Nigeria, however, similar scenario can mean either rejection or acceptance as in the following example:

A: Are you still mad at me?

B: [Silence] (Affirmative)

In the preceding example, if the girl continues to stand there saying nothing it means denial, but acceptance if she ran away Nwoye [ 4 ] cited in Tannen [ 8 ]. The interpretation of silence in the two cultures cited above is rather convoluted because the scenarios are similar but the act of staying or running away interprets the silence act. This is parallel with what Davidson [ 20 ] cited in Jaworski [ 9 ] who states that ‘[s]ilences that occur immediately after the speech act of invitation, offer, request, or proposal are typically interpreted as rejections’. The silences in the above scenarios evoke different interpretations – acceptance in the case of the Japanese girl, and rejection and/or acceptance in the case of the Igbo girl. Apart from portraying the ambiguity of silence, the above examples show that silence is not an empty ‘locution’, but “a potent communicative weapon” [ 21 ] which is used in formal and social situations. Hence, silence often sends the most powerful message in a more safer and apt way than verbal communication.

In situations where communication is involved or is perceived to be taking place, there should be the sender and the receiver of the message. Such message can either in verbal or non-verbal forms. Silence, therefore, is a non-verbal communication which carries symbolic significance, and it is interpretable based on the intent, situation and context of its use. Consider again the following situation by Jaworski [ 9 ]:

Speaker A: How do you see this shirt?

Speaker B: [looks at the shirt, silence (0.1)]. Yeah, it’s good.

Speaker A: No. You didn’t like it.

The slight silence of speaker B sends a powerful message to speaker A who concluded that the intention of speaker B has been hidden, and therefore interpreted the silence of 0.1 seconds as dislike despite an utterance which likely conceals the real intent of B. Nakane [ 22 ], citing Crown and Feldstein [ 23 ] believes that lengths of pauses and tempo of speech can be associated with personal traits and can contribute to listener’s impression of the speaker. The use of silence and the act of looking at the shirt in the above example created an impression in the mind of speaker A that his shirt was not liked despite the response of B in the affirmative.

Looking at silence as a stimulus, it can often be less demanding particularly on the part of the addresser and the addressee, and particularly when the context is clear to both of them. Consider this example provided by Jaworski [ 9 ]:

Peter: How much do you earn at this new place?

Mary: [Silence]

Peter: Well, you don’t have to tell me.

In the above example, Peter presumably asked a question which he should not have asked because one’s wages is confidential and personal. Though the relationship of Peter to Mary is not stated, it can be said that the relationship was very strong to the extent that Peter feels that asking such a question might not lead to a confrontation. Peter, however, received a big surprise with silence which indicated the unwillingness of Mary to reveal her salary status to him. The communicators achieved both their communicative and informative intentions in a more optimal way. Peter inferred meaning from the silence of Mary; and on her part, Mary has passed information to Peter in a more solid and concise way possible. Peter immediately infers Mary’s silence as unwillingness to expose her salary information to him, therefore the information [silence] is worth Peter’s effort to process and interpret it. On her part, it was Mary’s choice and preference to express her intention with silence, which might be safer for her than to give a verbal response.

In another situation below, A wants to use B’s umbrella but the silence of the latter sends a powerful message to B which compels the former to withdraw his earlier request. This situation confirms what Davidson [ 20 ] says about silences that come after requests, proposals and offers as rejections. Although B did not say anything, her silence is obvious – a resounding ‘no’. Had it been B uses the word ‘no’, A might feel more offended as the answer might sound offensive and defiant:

A: Can I use your umbrella?

B: [silence]

A: Well, I can use Ben’s.

In the above example, A interprets B’s silence as a warning or order which implies ‘no don’t take it’ (a warning), or simply ‘I ordered you not use it’. As B did not use verbal response, the tendency of hot feeling is reduced, and A quickly changes his decision of using B’s umbrella to Ben’s.

However, not all similar situations like the above can end smoothly. Sometimes the silence act might end up embarrassing the conversational partner. For example, Jaworski [ 9 ] narrated that his neighbor’s daughter was married out, and after the wedding the neighbor visited him and his wife. As their discussion unfolds, the neighbor asked him how much she owed him. This is what he said after the woman asked him that question:

I was genuinely appalled at that question

so I did not say anything and just looked

peeved at the woman . After a moment she said

“Do you want me to jump out of the window”.

I said “Yes” . [italics mine]

The above incidence shows how the author felt after the question, and therefore remained silent, but disgustingly, continued to look at the woman. The woman, on her side felt embarrassed and ashamed of the question she asked due the silence act that followed her question, and asked if she could jump out of the window. The reply of the author in the affirmative indicates how dismayed he was. He stated that:

“I knew she did not intend to be rude to me,

but I felt insulted. If I had decided to tell her

that I thought she was being rude to me at that moment,

I may have hurt her in turn” [ 9 ]

In the above example, silence serves as a repair mechanism of a seeming confrontation. On the side of the author, his silence serves a referential function which might be interpreted as “You shouldn’t have asked this question”; or “Why do you asked me this question?” or “I didn’t like what you asked”. On her side, the woman felt very much embarrassed by the question she asked, and quickly changed the matter to a joke by asking whether she could jump out of the window. The author instantly accepted the change of the topic, thereby repairing the conversation. Any verbal response to that type of request which appears to be disgusting might mess up the whole situation and brings confrontation and dissonance. The most powerful thing that might repair the interaction is silence. From the foregoing examples, it can be suggested that most uses of conversational silence are negative. The interpretation of the silence act can either be rejection, order, warning or defiance.

5. Conclusion

This chapter discussed the power of silence in conversation by bringing an overview of the classification of silence, its function in communication, and how it is (mis)interpreted in various contexts. The result of this discussion shows that silence is ambiguous and its interpretation varies even within similar contexts. In many of the situations cited above silence was used as rejection, order, warning or defiance which are apparently unpleasant in human interactions. Use of verbal means to express such negative acts might increase the unpleasantness in the social interaction. The most suitable alternative could be the use of silence in order to reduce the pain of using verbal communication. Silence could, of course, be a ‘reliever’ of social tension that might occur in many human interactions, and an effective tool of sending a powerful message. Future studies may consider how silence accompanied with other non-verbal acts such as a grin or a smirk contributes to the interpretation of the silence act.

• 1. Trudgill, P. (1974). Sociolinguistics: An introduction to language and society. Middlesex, England: Penguin books
• 2. Schegloff, E. A. (2000). Overlapping talk and the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language in society , 29 (1), 1-63
• 3. Agyekum, K. (2002). The communicative role of silence in Akan. Pragmatics , 12 (1), 31-32
• 4. Nwoye, G. O. (1978) Unpublished manuscript. Georgetown University. Ref. in Saville- Troike, M. (1985)
• 5. Bell, S., & Collins, P. (2014). Religious silence: British Quakerism and British Buddhism compared. Quaker Studies , 3 (1), pp. 1-26
• 6. Kurzon, D. (1995). The right of silence: A socio-pragmatic model of interpretation. Journal of pragmatics , 23 (1), 55-69
• 7. Trudgill, P. (1983). On dialect: Social and geographical perspectives . Wiley-Blackwell
• 8. Tannen, D. (1985). Silence: Anything but. In D. Tannen, & M. Saville-Trioke, (Eds.), Perspective on Silence . Norwood, NJ: Ablex PublishingCorporation
• 9. Jaworski, A. (1993). The power of silence. Newbury Park, London: Sage Publications
• 10. Scollon, R. (1985). ‘The Machine Stops: Silence in the Metaphor of Malfunction’. In D. Tannen, & M. Saville-Trioke, (Eds.), Perspective on Silence .Norwood, NJ: Ablex PublishingCorporation
• 11. Basso, K. H. (1970). “ To give up on words”: Silence in western apache culture. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology , 26 (3), 213-230
• 12. Scollon, R., & S. W. Scollon (1983) Face in interethnic communication. In Richards, J., & R. Schmidt (eds), Language and Communication . London: Longman, pp. 156-188
• 13. Nakane, I. (2003). Silence in Japanese-Australian Classroom Interaction: Perceptions and Performance . (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of Sydney
• 14. Anderson, F. E. (1992) The enigma of the college classroom: nails that don’t stick up. InWadden, P. (ed.), A Handbook for Teaching English at Japanese Colleges andUniversities . Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 101-110
• 15. Miller, L. (2000) Negative assessments in Japanese-American workplace interaction. InSpencer-Oatley, H. (ed.), Culturally Speaking: managing rapport in talk acrosscultures . London: Continuum, pp. 240-254
• 16. Bao, D. (2014). Understanding silence and reticence: Ways of participating in second language acquisition . United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• 17. Perniola, M. (2010). Silence, the utmost in ambiguity. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture , 12 (4), 2. http://dx.doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.1670
• 18. Saville-Troike, M. (1985) The place of silence in an integrated theory of communication. In Tannen, D. & M. Saville-Troike (eds), Perspectives on Silence . Norwood, NJ: Alex, pp. 3-18
• 19. Kurzon, D. (2007). Towards a typology of silence. Journal of Pragmatics , 39 (10), 1673-1688. doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2007.07.003
• 20. Davison, J. (1984). Subsequent versions of invitations, offers, requests, and proposals dealing with potential or actual rejection. In J. M. Atkinson & J. M. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversational analysis (pp. 102-128). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
• 21. Wardhaugh, R. (1985). How Conversation works . New York, USA:Basil Blackwell
• 22. Nakane, I. (2012). Silence. In Paulston, C.B, Kiesling, S.F., & Rangel, E.S. (Eds)., The Handbook of Intercultural Discourse and Communication . UK: Wiley-Blackwell
• 23. Crown, C. L., & S. Feldstein (1985) Psychological correlates of silence and sound in conversational interaction. In Tannen, D., & M. Saville-Troike (eds), Perspectives on Silence . Norwood, NJ: Ablex, pp. 31-54

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The Importance of Silence: Benefits for the Mind

By: Author angela @marathonsandmotivation

Posted on Published: February 19, 2020

The importance of silence and how it benefits the mind are explored in this short article. Read on to discover some of the positive effects silence will have on the mind.

Whether you’re an introvert or someone who loves being surrounded by people, each one of us, at one point of time or another has craved for a bit of solitude- silence. Silence can be comforting and nourishing- that’s true, but it  also has the potential to heal and transform you.  The importance of silence can sometimes be overlooked, check out some these benefits that silence provides for the mind.

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How does silence benefit the mind?

Silence creates space.

One of the most obvious ways silence can affect you is that it can create a sort of space for you. This distraction free time can heal you, relax you and bring about a number of changes within you- not just on the physical level, but on the mental level too. Silence can promote introspection and help you find meaningful life connections in your everyday life. When you make it a point to spend even a short part of your day in silence, you’ll find your motivation levels may increase as well.

Silence Can Improve Cognitive Function

Yes, that’s right. Several studies have now confirmed the link between silence and improved cognitive abilities . This is because, with silence, there are lower levels of sensory input. This give the mind a chance to relax and nourish its cognitive resources.   When the brain gets a chance to release itself from its state of constant focus, it is able to perform much better.  

Silence Can Aid in Relaxation

When your body and mind get the chance to be away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and relish a few moments of silence, it can be deeply healing and relaxing. This can be exceptionally helpful for individuals suffering from anxiety and other related stress disorders. Practices like progressive muscle relaxation are all based on diving deep into a noise-free environment. This has also been found to be helpful in reducing muscle tension, fatigue, anxiety and stress and their effects on the body.  

Silence (or lack of) can impact your health

If you are working in an industry that is noisy, like a factory, it may be hard to find peace and quiet during the day.  In addition, you could be exposed to other safety issues causing stress or repetitive motion injuries that lead to discomfort. If your chronic pain is in any way a result of the hazards, hardworking personal injury attorneys can help you. Other things you can do is to find a quiet place to take lunch breaks away from the noise and distraction.

Of course, if you are in any way struggling with your health in an immediate manner, then you should be sure to get all the necessary help you might need. That might mean that you need to seek out urgent care , or even that you need to change up your lifestyle in other ways, so be sure to do that as necessary.

Silence Can Boost Creativity

When you’re surrounded by silence and your thoughts are uninterrupted, your creativity gets the chance to flow. It isn’t surprising to find answers to long term problems  when you allow yourself to have time for complete silence. You may also find yourself getting more creative ideas to work or find solutions to tricky issues in your day to daily life, that you usually had trouble with.  

Silence Can Promote Self Awareness

Being in a noise-free environment on a daily basis, even if it is just for a short time, can help promote self awareness. This in turn, can also help boost emotional intelligence, improved critical thinking, decision making skills and better empathy.   This improved self awareness can empower you, help you build your strength and identify areas and aspects in yourself and your life where you could make changes.  

So Tell Me…

Were you aware of the importance of silence and how it can benefit the mind? Do you make sure to have some quiet time each day? How do you create space for silent time?

Thank you so much for stopping by. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. Have a great week!

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Monday 6th of December 2021

I like to be silent and also try to talk less every time and its benefit for me is since I started being silent I felt my value in my family and friends increased then before.

The Accidental Marathoner

Tuesday 7th of April 2020

It's good to know there are so many benefits to silence! I have a 22 mile commute to work and I very often drive with the radio off just to enjoy that time. I am a nurse practitioner so now, more than ever, I enjoy the quiet after a stressful day at work.

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• Social Media and the ‘Spiral of Silence’
• Main Analysis: Political Issues and the Spiral of Silence

Table of Contents

• Appendix: Regressions

It has long been clear in the research community that people’s willingness to discuss political issues depends on their access to news and on the social climate for discussion. This study explores people’s willingness to share their opinions on and offline about an important political issue. The report is built on Pew Research Center survey findings related to how people use social media, as well as traditional media, to get information on one political issue that dominated the news in the summer of 2013: the revelations by defense contractor Edward Snowden. In June 2013, Snowden leaked classified documents to The Washington Post and Britain’s Guardian newspaper about surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency and some allied governments into the phone calling records and email exchanges of untold numbers of persons. 6

Where people got news about the Snowden-NSA surveillance story

We asked people where they were getting information about the debates swirling around the Snowden revelations, and found that social media was not a common source of news for most Americans. Traditional broadcast news sources were by far the most common sources. In contrast, social media sources (Facebook and Twitter) were the least commonly identified sources for news on this issue.

• 58% of all adults got at least some information about this topic from TV or radio.
• 34% got at least some information from online sources other than social media. 7
• 31% got at least some information from friends and family.
• 19% got at least some information from a print newspaper.
• 15% got at least some information while on Facebook.
• 3% got at least some information from Twitter.

Looking only at those Americans who use either Facebook or Twitter, 26% of Facebook users and 22% of Twitter users reported being exposed to at least some information about the government’s surveillance program on these platforms.

A relatively small number of Americans—12%—reported receiving no information about the debates over the government’s telephone and digital surveillance program. Some 15% of Americans said they relied on a single source of information about this issue. The majority relied on at least three information sources.

This reported use of Facebook and Twitter for news about the Snowden revelations is substantively lower than what has been reported previously for use of these platforms to access news more broadly. Data from the Pew Research Center’s 2013 report on “ News Use across Social Media Platforms ,” conducted over the same time period as our survey, found that 47% of Facebook users and 52% of Twitter users use these platforms to consume news. One explanation for the difference in our findings likely relates to the fact that in this survey we were asking about a single public issue, while the other Pew Research survey included broader types of news, including entertainment, sports, and politics. 8

• Some might expect that internet users in general and social media users in particular are less likely to rely on traditional media sources for news on political issues because they have alternative sources. But, for internet users in general, and for most social media users, we find the opposite to be true. Using regression analysis to control for demographic characteristics, we find: Internet users are more likely than non-users to get news on the surveillance story from TV and radio. An internet user is 1.63 times more likely to have obtained even a little news on the Snowden-NSA revelations from radio and television than a non-internet user.
• Twitter users are more likely than non-Twitter users to get news on the surveillance story from TV and radio. A typical Twitter user (someone who uses the site a few times per day) is 2.25 times more likely to have obtained news on this issue through TV and radio than an internet user who does not use this platform, and 3.67 times more likely than a non-internet user.
• Instagram users were also more likely to get news on the surveillance story from traditional broadcast sources. A typical user of Instagram (someone who uses the site a few times per day) was 2.46 times more likely to have received television and radio news on this topic in comparison with an internet users who does not use Instagram, and 4.02 times more likely than a non-internet user.

This contrasts with the situation that applies to users of some other social media platforms:

• The typical Pinterest user (who uses the site a couple of times per week) is 0.92 times less likely to get news about the government’s surveillance program from TV and radio in comparison with an internet user who does not use this platform, but he or she is still 1.51 times more likely to get news from TV and radio than a non-internet user.
• Similarly, someone who uses LinkedIn a couple of times per week is 0.87 times less likely to get news on this issue from television and radio compared to an internet user who does not use LinkedIn, but still 1.41 times higher than for a non-internet user.

Facebook users are no more or less likely to obtain news through TV and radio than other internet users.

While some social media do seem to distract from traditional media sources, on the whole, these effects are relatively small. Someone who uses multiple social media sites at a typical level of use—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn—is about 8 times more likely than non-internet users and 5 times more likely than internet users who do not use social media to get information about the government’s surveillance program through TV and radio (See Appendix , Table A). 9 For the most part, social media users did not get their news through social media, they got it through television and radio.

Controlling for other factors, internet and social media use do not account for any of the difference in use of print newspapers to find information on the topic of the government’s surveillance program. Internet users, including those who use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, are as likely as anyone else to use newspapers for news about the government’s surveillance program.

Social media did not provide an alternative outlet for the 14% of Americans who were not willing to discuss the Snowden-NSA issue in person

While it has been suggested that social media might provide new channels for communication about important political issues, our survey suggests that few people are willing to deliberate online who would not also do so in person. Almost everyone in our sample who reported that they would be willing to discuss something on Twitter or Facebook also indicated that they would be willing to have a conversation on this topic in an offline setting. Only 0.3% of Americans reported that they were not willing to have a conversation about the government surveillance program when people were physically present, but were willing to have such a conversation through social media.

People’s overall willingness to share their views

There are many social situations where people might have the opportunity to discuss political issues. We asked respondents to tell us how willing they would be to join a conversation “if the topic of the government’s surveillance programs came up” in a variety of settings, online and offline. We asked them how willing they would be to join in the conversation at a community meeting, at work, at a restaurant with friends, at a family dinner, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

In most social settings, the majority of Americans reported that they would be willing to join a conversation about the Snowden-NSA revelations. The only settings where most people were not willing to discuss their opinion was on Facebook and Twitter.

• 74% of all adults said they would be “very” or “somewhat” willing to join the conversation if the Snowden-NSA story came up at a family dinner.
• 74% of all adults said they would be “very” or “somewhat” willing to join the conversation if the Snowden-NSA story came up at a restaurant with friends.
• 66% of all adults said they would be “very” or “somewhat” willing to join the conversation if the Snowden-NSA story came up at a community meeting.
• 65% of employed adults said they would be “very” or “somewhat” willing to join the conversation if the Snowden-NSA story came up at work .
• 42% of Facebook users said they would be “very” or “somewhat” willing to join the conversation on Facebook . 10
• 41% of Twitter users said they would be “very” or “somewhat” willing to join the conversation if the Snowden-NSA story came up on Twitter.

In all, 86% of Americans were willing to have a conversation in the physical presence of others—that is, at a public meeting, at a family dinner, at a restaurant with friends, or at work on the topic of the government’s surveillance program. Only 42% of those who use Facebook and 41% of Twitter users felt comfortable discussing this same issue through social media.

Exploring the conditions under which people are willing to speak

Previous research showed that when people decide whether to speak out about an issue, they rely on reference groups—friendships and community ties—and weigh their opinion relative to these groups before speaking out in a setting. Other factors also play a role in people’s willingness to discuss issues. Our survey found that if people had a strong interest in the topic of the Snowden-NSA revelations, held a strong opinion, and felt knowledgeable about it, they were generally more willing to join a conversation about this issue.

What follows is our detailed exploration of the various circumstances that might affect someone’s willingness to speak about issues—in this case, the Snowden-NSA revelations.

In most settings, people’s level of interest in the Snowden-NSA revelations was related to their willingness to discuss this topic

In the summer of 2013, interest in information leaked by Edward Snowden about the U.S. government’s telephone and digital surveillance programs was high.

In our survey, respondents were asked how interested they were in debates about “a government program with the aim of collecting information about people’s telephone calls, emails, and other online communications.” Some 60% of American adults reported they were very or somewhat interested in this topic. Only 20% of Americans reported that they were not interested at all.

Using regression analysis to control for demographic differences, we found that someone who was “very interested” in the government surveillance program was 1.78 times more likely to be willing to join a conversation at a community meeting than someone who has no interest at all (See Appendix , Table B).

Similarly, compared with someone who was uninterested in this topic, someone who was very interested was 2.64 times more likely to speak up during a conversation with friends at a restaurant, and 2.88 times more likely to speak up when talking with family at dinner.

People’s level of interest in the Snowden-NSA story was not related to willingness to speak up in the workplace or on Facebook. The regression analyses showed that the interested and the uninterested were equally as likely to say they would voice their opinions on Facebook and at work. 11

Those with more fervent opinions about the Snowden-NSA story were more likely to say they would speak out

In addition to asking about their interest in the Snowden-NSA story, we asked whether respondents favored or opposed “a government program to collect nearly all communications in the U.S. as part of anti-terrorism efforts?” Some 37% of Americans strongly or somewhat favored the surveillance programs and 52% strongly or somewhat opposed them. Another 10% said they didn’t know or refused to answer the question. 12

We found that those who had stronger opinions on the topic of the Snowden-NSA revelations were more willing to speak out on this issue at public meetings, with family over dinner, and on Facebook (See Appendix , Table B). In comparison with those with less intense opinions, someone who either “strongly” favors or opposes the collection of domestic communications as part of government surveillance program was 1.56 times more likely to be willing to speak out at a public meeting, 1.35 times more likely to be would willingly discuss the issue with family over dinner, and 2.40 times more likely to have said they would join a conversation on Facebook.

Those who felt more knowledgeable were more willing to discuss the Snowden-NSA story

When a new, potentially important issue appears in the news, those who feel knowledgeable tend to show greater willingness to have a conversation with others. Indeed, feeling knowledgeable about this issue increased the likelihood that someone would be willing to join a conversation about the government’s surveillance program in all of the settings we explored.

In this survey, participants were asked to report on how knowledgeable they felt about the debate surrounding “government programs aimed at collecting information about people’s calls, emails and other online communication.”

Some 54% of adults reported that they felt very or somewhat knowledgeable about the government surveillance programs and 45% said they felt they had little or no knowledge of this topic.

Compared with someone who did not feel that they had any knowledge about the topic, those who described themselves as “very knowledgeable” were 2.68 times more likely to join a conversation at a public meeting, 3.19 times more likely in the workplace, 2.01 times more likely with friends at a restaurant, 1.79 times more likely over dinner with family, and 2.36 times more likely on Facebook (See Appendix , Table B).

People’s awareness of the opinions of those around them: Those who use social media tend to be more aware of others’ views

The level of awareness that people have of other people’s opinions plays a significant role in how willing they are to share their opinions. It has long been established that when people are surrounded by those who are likely to disagree with their opinion, they are more likely to self-censor.

We examined the awareness that people felt they had about the opinions of family, friends, coworkers, and others about the Snowden-NSA story—and the degree to which people think these other connections agree or disagree with them. We find that people were most likely to say they were aware of others’ views when it involved a very close relationship, such as a spouse/partner or close friends. Fully 96% of those who are married or living with a partner believe they know their spouse’s/partner’s opinion on the topic of the government’s surveillance program.

For other kinds of relationships, though, there was more variance in respondents’ answers.

• 96% of people who are married or living with a partner report that they know their partner’s opinion.
• 88% of people reported knowing the opinions of their close friends.
• 87% of people feel they know the opinions of their family members.
• 80% of people who are employed reported knowing the opinions of their coworkers.
• 62% of people feel they know their neighbors’ opinions on this issue.

The awareness that people have of the opinions of their followers on social media tends to be lower than for most other types of relationships.

• Of Facebook users, 76% felt they knew the opinions of people in their network.
• Of Twitter users, 68% felt they knew the opinions of those who followed them.

Interestingly enough, social media users are more likely than others to report they are aware of the opinions of different people in their lives.

• 93% of Twitter users and 90% of Facebook users say they know the opinions of family members on the Snowden-NSA issue. This compares with 82% of non-internet users and 84% of internet users who do not use social media.
• 94% of Twitter users and 91% of Facebook users say they are aware of their close friends’ opinions on the Snowden-NSA topic. This compares with 82% of non-internet users and 85% of internet users who do not use these social media sites.
• 66% of Facebook users, and 71% of Twitter users say they know their neighbors’ opinions about the government’s surveillance programs. This compares with 60% of internet users who are not social media users.

The more social media platforms people use, the greater their awareness of opinions in their extended network. When asked to report on the opinions of the people in their Facebook network, 79% of Facebook users say they know the opinions of their Facebook friends. Of those who use Twitter and Facebook, 86% say they know the opinions of their Facebook friends.

One exception to the trend of internet users knowing more about those in their social networks is coworkers. Employed non-internet users tend to be a bit more aware of colleagues’ opinions than internet users. Some 85% of employed non-internet users say they are aware of their coworkers’ opinions, compared with 78% of internet users who do not use social media, 82% of Facebook users, and 84% of Twitter users who say they know the opinions of coworkers.

How much people think they agree with the views of family members, friends, and colleagues

A crucial issue affecting whether someone will be willing to discuss a controversial subject is the degree to which a speaker feels his or her views line up with their audience. Some research has found that people have a tendency to associate with those who share their opinions. That is, even though broad public opinion may be divided on an issue, people are more likely to believe that their acquaintances support their position on that issue. Some of this similarity is a result of homophily, the penchant for people to associate with people like themselves; some is a result of the influence of opinion leaders; and some is a result of the tendency for people to assume more agreement than there is in reality. 13

This survey shows that people have different notions about how much agreement they have with close family and friends, compared with associates that are less close, including those in their Facebook and Twitter networks. In addition, the more socially distant an audience is, the more likely it is that respondents did not know the views of their potential audience.

• 86% of those who are married or living with a partner believe their spouse’s/partner’s views “mostly” or “somewhat” agree with theirs about the Snowden-NSA revelations.
• 74% of all adults believe their close friends “mostly” or “somewhat” agree with their views about the Snowden-NSA revelations.
• 70% of all adults believe their family members “mostly” or “somewhat” agree with their views about the Snowden-NSA revelations. (This includes family members who are not a spouse or partner.)
• 64% of those who are employed think that their coworkers agree with their position on the government’s surveillance program.
• 63% of Facebook users believe that the people in their Facebook network “mostly” or “somewhat” agree with their views about the Snowden-NSA revelations.
• 56% of Twitter users believe that the people who follow them on Twitter “mostly” or “somewhat” agree with their views.
• 47% of all adults believe their neighbors “mostly or “somewhat” agree with their views.

Facebook users were more likely to feel that friends, family and acquaintances share their opinion. Regression analysis was used to control for demographic characteristics, interest in the topic, knowledge of the topic, strength of opinion on this issue, and social media use when predicting agreement with different types of acquaintances. We find that Facebook use is related to perceived agreement with the opinions of friends, family, and other acquaintances (See Appendix , Table C). Users who contribute content and read other people’s content on Facebook are more likely to believe that other people agree with their opinions.

• Someone who frequently uses the “like button” on Facebook content contributed by other Facebook users (they use it a few times per day) is 1.88 times more likely to feel that their family members share their views, and they are 1.72 times more likely to feel they share the opinions of people in their Facebook network, when compared to those who do not use the like button.
• Someone who updates their status on Facebook a half dozen times per month, compared to someone who does not update at all, is 1.10 times more likely to feel they share the opinions of family members, and 1.13 times more likely to share the opinions of their close friends.

It is not immediately clear from our study why Facebook activities are related to perceptions of higher levels of agreement with Facebook friends. Two possible explanations are related to “cyberbalkanization.” 14 Facebook friendship networks may be more likely to consist of similar people, or their opinions may become more similar over time. However, we expect that a third option is most likely. Reading content contributed by other users, actively clicking the like button, as well as receiving feedback in response to status updates, provides for enhanced observation of others and confirmatory feedback from friends and family. In addition to people choosing to associate with people on Facebook who are similar to them, Facebook makes people more aware of existing opinion similarity.

The spiral of silence persists online and offline: People are less likely to speak when they think their audiences disagree with them

In many settings, it is not well understood how much people self-censor in response to such social pressures. Some early research has shown that the rate of self-censorship on Facebook is very high. One study found that people on Facebook start to write, but ultimately fail to share, 33% of posts and 13% of comments. 15 This self-censorship has been described as a response to “context collapse” 16 —that is, people deciding not to share content that is of personal interest, but is unlikely to appeal to a social media audience that focuses on narrow topics.

However, there is another possibility. Some self-censorship might be the result of feeling that social media followers are likely to object or disagree with their opinion. In other words, a user might know the content is relevant to some followers, but decide not to share it on social media for fear of inviting disagreement among their followers.

• At work, those who felt their coworkers agreed with their opinion were 2.92 times more likely to say they would join a conversation on the Snowden-NSA topic than for those who did not feel they would agree with their coworkers’ opinion on the government’s surveillance program.
• At a family dinner, those who felt that family members agreed with their opinion were 1.90 times more likely to speak out about Snowden-NSA issue.
• At a restaurant with friends, those who felt that their close friends agreed with their opinion were 1.42 times more likely to share their opinions.
• On Facebook, if the person felt that people in their Facebook network agreed with their position on this issue, they were 1.91 times more likely to join a conversation about Snowden-NSA.

However, the social pressure from some types of relationships carried across multiple settings. For example, when at a restaurant with friends, people’s willingness to speak out was tied to the opinions of their family members. That might possibly be the case because close friends and family tend to have similar opinions. Or it might be the case because a meal with friends at a restaurant may include family. Additionally, it might be the case because people felt they knew they had supportive family members kind of “standing by” them. Whatever the reason, those who had family that shared their opinions were 1.42 times more likely to join a conversation about this issue at a restaurant with friends, even when friends did not agree.

When social media followers disagree, people are more likely to self-censor offline

In some offline settings, we found that when compared to non-internet users, online Americans in general were more willing to join a conversation about the Snowden-NSA story. An internet user was 2.41 times more likely to be willing to have a conversation at work, and 1.49 times more likely to have a conversation with family about the government’s surveillance program. A typical LinkedIn user, who accesses the site a half dozen times per month, was 1.20 times more likely to discuss this political issue in a restaurant with friends than other internet users or non-internet users.

However, we found many more examples to suggest that social media use is associated with a lower likelihood that people would have a conversation on a political issue in physical settings. When controlling for demographic traits such as gender, age, race, educational attainment, and marital status, as well as variation in interest, opinion strength, knowledge, and other sources of information exposure we found:

Facebook users were less willing to discuss the government’s surveillance program at a public meeting. Someone who uses Facebook several times per day is 0.53 times less likely to be willing to discuss the Snowden-NSA topic at a public meeting than someone who does not use the Facebook platform at all.

Instagam users were less likely to say they would discuss the government’s surveillance program at a family dinner or at a restaurant with friends. A typical Instagram user (who uses the platform several times per day) is 0.49 times less likely to be willing to join a conversation about the government’s surveillance program with family at dinner, and 0.44 times less likely with friends at a restaurant, than for people who do not use Instagram.

It is not completely clear why some users of social media would be less willing to share an opinion in physical settings. However, since we have controlled for demographic differences, and variation in interest, opinion strength, knowledge, and other sources of information exposure, it is possible that this heightened self-censorship might be tied to social media users’ greater awareness of the opinions of others in their network (on this and other topics). Thus, they could be more aware of views that oppose their own.

If their use of social media gives them broader exposure to the views of friends, family, and workmates, this might increase the likelihood that people will choose to withhold their opinion because they know more about the people who will object to it.

There are two additional examples from our data that most clearly demonstrate this relationship.

Twitter users were less willing to engage in a conversation in the workplace, especially if they felt those following them on Twitter did not agree with their opinion on the government’s surveillance program . A typical Twitter user, who uses the platform several times per day, was0.24 times less likely to be willing to join a conversation on the Snowden-NSA story at work than other internet users. However, if they felt their Twitter followers agreed with their opinion, then they were only 0.69 times less likely to be willing to engage in a discussion at work. This relationship was in addition to the lower likelihood that someone would speak out at work if they felt their coworkers did not share their opinions.

Facebook users and those who do not feel their Facebook friends agree with their opinion were less willing to engage in an in-person discussion with friends on this issue . A typical Facebook user, someone who accesses the platform several times per day, is 0.53 times less likely to be willing to discuss the government’s surveillance program with friends at a restaurant than those who do not use Facebook. If they feel that people in their Facebook network agree with their opinion, they are only 0.74 times less likely to discuss this topic in-person with friends when compared with those who do not use Facebook at all. This relationship is in addition to the lower likelihood that people have of speaking out when at a restaurant if they do not believe their close friends agree with their opinion. Facebook likely increases awareness of the diversity of opinions in people’s friendship network beyond their closest friends. This awareness reduces certainty in the similarity of opinions between friends and increases the fear of isolation or ostracism that might result from sharing a divergent point of view.

Social media use does encourage more discussion among some groups

While social media use may be linked to a muting effect on discussions of political issues in some physical settings, for some it is associated with new opportunities for discussion.

Unsurprisingly, the heaviest users of Facebook, in terms of frequency of commenting and private messaging, were also those who were most likely to be willing to discuss the government’s surveillance program on the Facebook platform. However, for all but the most intensive users, the relationship to discussing political issues is relatively small. Someone who comments on other people’s Facebook statuses, photos, links, and other content about twice per week was only 1.04 times more likely to be willing to discuss the Snowden-NSA story on Facebook in comparison with someone who does none of these things.

One type of social media use was associated with a lower level of willingness to join a conversation about public affairs on Facebook. Possibly as a result of the diversity they observed through images contributed to Instagram, Instagram users were less willing than other Facebook users to use the Facebook platform to discuss the government’s surveillance program. A typical Instagram user, someone who uses the platform several times per day, was 0.49 times less likely to be willing to discuss the government’s surveillance program on Facebook.

There are some indications that Facebook may democratize discussion of political issues in at least some respects. Unlike many physical settings, on Facebook, those with fewer years of formal education were the most likely to speak up about an important political issue. When discussing political issues with friends at a restaurant, and family over dinner, it is those with the most education who are most willing to join in on a conversation. The opposite is true on Facebook. Those with the most years of formal education are more likely to fall silent when discussing the Snowden-NSA issue. Someone with only a high school diploma was 1.34 times less likely to be willing to join a conversation on Facebook about the government’s surveillance program when compared to someone with an undergraduate university degree. Similarly, on Facebook, women are as likely as men to feel comfortable discussing an important political issue. This contrasts with discussions at community meetings and at work where women tend to feel less comfortable discussing a political issue such as the government’s surveillance program.

• We also asked about people’s use of mobile devices, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn and that material is a core part of the analysis. In this survey, 80% of adults say they are internet users and 89% said they have cell phones. A detailed demographic breakdown of the demographics of users of various social media platforms in this survey can be found here . ↩
• In this survey, 80% of adults said they were internet users, 71% of the internet users are Facebook users, and 18% of internet users are Twitter users. ↩
• See for instance: “Low marks for the 2012 election” available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2012/11/15/section-4-news-sources-election-night-and-views-of-press-coverage/  Also: “Internet Gains Most as Campaign News Source but Cable TV Still Leads” available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2012/10/25/social-media-doubles-remains-limited/ Also: “Internet Gains on Television as Public’s Main News Source” available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2011/01/04/internet-gains-on-television-as-publics-main-news-source/ . ↩
• Typical use of the social media in this example includes logging into the Twitter and Instagram platforms a few times a day, using Pinterest a half dozen times per month, and using LinkedIn a couple of times per month (frequency of Facebook use was not statistically significant). ↩
• This figure does not match the figure in the chart below because of rounding. ↩
• We were unable to perform a regression analysis on willingness to discuss the government’s surveillance program on Twitter because of the small number of Twitter users in our sample, and the even smaller number who expressed a willingness to discuss public affairs on this platform. ↩
• When designing a question about the government’s surveillance program, we based the question on the findings of the Pew Research report on “Government Surveillance: A Question Wording Experiment” that was conducted in the weeks prior to our survey. We designed our question with the intent that roughly equal numbers of Americans would agree and disagree. It was important to pick a topic about which Americans were likely to be split in their opinions, so that we could observe variation in people’s behavior as they considered sharing their views with those around them. ↩
• Goel, S., W. Mason, et al. (2010). “Real and Perceived Attitude Agreement in Social Networks.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 99 (4): 611-621. ↩
• Sunstein, C. R. (2001). Republic.com. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press. ↩
• Das, S. and A. Kramer (2013). “Self-censorship on Facebook.” Proc. of ICWSM 2013: 120-127. ↩
• Marwick, A. E. and d. boyd (2010). “I Tweet Honestly, I Tweet Passionately: Twitter Users, Context Collapse, and the Imagined Audience.” New Media & Society 13 (1): 114-133. ↩

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by Shusaku Endo

Silence essay questions.

What does silence symbolize in the novel?

Silence primarily refers to the silence of God amidst great suffering of his Christian followers. Silence symbolizes Rodrigues's fear that God may not exist. It is frequently displayed in examples from nature: of birds continuing to sing, the waves of the ocean continuing to break, etc, while the world around Rodrigues falls apart with violence and fear.

What makes Rodrigues begin to doubt the existence of God?

He sees many Japanese Christians die as martyrs for their faith without any sign from the heavens that God is aware of their suffering. Though Rodrigues believes in a heavenly afterlife for the martyrs, he is shocked by the banality of their deaths and the indifference of the world. He finds it hard to reconcile their horrible deaths with a God that exists.

What role does the ocean play in Silence ?

The ocean serves as an ever-present symbol of the natural world. Rodrigues finds it especially troubling that the ocean looks the save as ever when he sees various martyrdoms occurring. The ocean is ever-present, since Rodrigues is usually in coastal Japan, and its placid similarity day after day changes from a comforting image to one of despair, since the waves beat on after martyrs have died for a silent God. Water also influences Rodrigues's thoughts: he frequently describes things using water imagery.

What role does the fumie play in Rodrigues's inability to apostatize?

Since he was a boy, the face of Christ has been an especially potent religious symbol to Rodrigues. He fell in love with the face of Christ long ago, and imagines it in his head to keep himself calm and obedient to God at all times. It is the most precious face in the world to him. In Silence , Christians are made to apostatize by trampling on a fumie , a crudely rendered face of Christ. This makes apostasy especially upsetting for Rodrigues.

How does Rodrigues's definition of what constitutes sin change throughout the novel?

At first he cleaves to Scripture, believes sin to be only that which is explicitly written in the Bible. As he begins to question his faith, however, he realizes that a great deal of sin is hidden in the everyday actions of man that have no celestial moral bearing (like cheating or stealing). Rather, something as banal as being able to laugh while another person suffers is also a sin.

What role does tree imagery play in Rodrigues's quest and ultimate failure as a missionary?

Inoue says that Christianity cannot take root in Japan because Japanese society is fundamentally inhospitable to the beliefs of Christianity. It cannot take root, he says, because the soil cannot support it. Rodrigues tries to counter by saying that perhaps the soil has not had proper fertilizer. Shusaku Endo often uses language that describes Japan as a swamp in which Christianity cannot take root.

What role does "bad timing" (i.e., practicing their belief decades after its heyday, and now in an era of persecution) play in the lives of the Japanese Christians and missionaries?

Kichijiro says that in another time more accepting of Christians, he might have been a good Christian, but as he is a weak man he will succumb to badness in a time of persecution. Rodrigues backs this up in his thoughts, realizing that many men are weak-willed but in times when their will is not tested, they would have lived good faithful lives and been rewarded in heaven. Rodrigues also applies this to himself: he feels bad about praying to God to help him, and always complaining to God, while he should have been praising God instead. Yet only a few decades previously, Christianity was lauded and widely accepted in Japan, and missionaries enjoyed lives of leisure. Under those circumstances, Rodrigues's relationship with God could have been all one of praise and not one of resentment and questioning.

How is truth shown to be subjective in the novel?

Rodrigues has always taken Christian doctrine to be an absolute truth, but Inoue argues that some truths only apply to certain environments. Rodrigues argues that this means it was never truthful in the first place, for all truths are universal. This challenges Rodrigues's beliefs, especially when he learns that the form of Christianity practiced in Japan was never the beliefs taught by the missionaries, since the Japanese could not conceive of a Christ that was not a man.

What does the idea of God not existing imply for Rodrigues?

If God does not exist, Rodrigues believes that his whole life will have meant nothing. His long journey to Japan will have been in pursuit of something that does not even exist. His entire existence will have been absurd. More than that, the sufferings of many Japanese Christian martyrs will also have been in vain. If God does not exist, Rodrigues is stunned to think how much of what he has witnesses is for no higher purpose, and a life of suffering on earth is all the Christians of Japan will ever experience.

What effects do the various perspectives of the book have on its effectiveness as a piece of historical fiction?

They lend authenticity to the tale. There is both an historical explanation of the author's for the context of the novel, then a half of the book told in epistolary form from Rodrigues's point of view, then a half told as from an omniscient historian, and finally the records of the clerk. All of this situates the novel in its historical perspective, showing various ways in which history might be interpreted: facts, hearsay, tidbits, records, all of which point at some version of the truth. It mirrors the world that Rodrigues experiences, one in which he is never entirely certain what happened to the missionaries in Japan who came before him.

Silence Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Silence is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What were the people called that practiced Catholocism in secret?

Catholics who kept practicing their religion in secret were called "Kakure Kirishitan," or Underground Christians.

Why did the Japanese keep Ferreira alive and working?

Christovao Ferreira was kept alive after he apostatized, denied his faith. The Japanese used him as an example.

Why does father Rodrigues begin to doubt God?

The young priest sees many Japanese Christians die as martyrs for their faith without any sign from the heavens that God is aware of their suffering. Though Rodrigues believes in a heavenly afterlife for the martyrs, he is shocked by the banality...

Study Guide for Silence

Silence study guide contains a biography of Shusaku Endo, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Silence
• Silence Summary
• Character List

Essays for Silence

Silence essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Silence by Shusaku Endo.

• The Other Side of Happiness
• Theological and Literary Analysis of Endo’s Silence
• The Symbolism of Nature, Biblical Lessons, and Tests of Faith in Silence

Lesson Plan for Silence

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Silence
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Silence Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Silence

• Introduction

Break the Silence: Domestic Violence Case Essay (Critical Writing)

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Case report.

Nowadays, domestic violence happens to be a universal problem that is addressed worldwide. The case “Break the Silence” describes a campaign that was organized in the early 2000s to tackle the problem in one of the US states. The case gives an insight into the history, overview, planning, accomplishment, and evaluation of the campaign as well as describes its strategies and outcomes.

This is a complex campaign that aims to increase domestic violence awareness. It takes into account cultural and linguistic aspects. To reach the target audience, it uses different strategies, namely, non-commercial-sustained publicity, and grassroots and business partnership.

It started in October 2002. The campaign in question aimed to instruct victims of domestic violence on how to cope with the problem and where to address to get assistance. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) was used. The information about it was provided on different kinds of materials which had been prepared for the campaign. People who called NDVH were explained what to do. Therefore, the hotline was aimed to rescue them from a violent situation at home. To make the target auditory know about the campaign, 4 million “discreet” hotline cards were issued in the first two years. Apart from that, the information in English and Spanish was available in churches and the media.

Besides, a special “Guide for Family and Friends” was created, whereas the Domestic Violence Awareness Month event took place. As for the strategies which the campaign used, there are five of them. The first is to prevent people from considering the situation as shameful. The second one is to ensure victims that there was somebody eager to give them a hand. The third is to make everyone know that domestic violence is terrible. The fourth is to supply information on where to address for assistance. The final one is to make more people informed by involving them personally. In the first 16 months, the campaign resulted in a substantial increase in calls to the hotline. More people found the issue crucial and could give three definitions of domestic violence. Besides, it attracted more than 40 local organizations, with educational institutions among them, to distribute the information about the campaign. Moreover, Verizon Wireless and Texas Broadcasting Association got involved as business partners.

The campaign influences society as it appeals to it with a message to prevent domestic violence from happening. The action can be considered as right because no one has claimed to have been harmed by it, due to its social assistance orientation. From this case, it is possible to learn how to organize a non-commercial-sustained campaign with grassroots organizations and business partners involved in its accomplishment.

The objective of the research was to investigate the issue of domestic violence in Texas. The first step was to create 34 focus groups, with African Americans, Anglos, and Hispanics in them. Then, 1,200 citizens of Texas were interviewed by phone. 74 percent of them stated to have suffered from domestic violence or to be acquainted with somebody who had had such an experience. 31 percent admitted that the problem in their family was very serious. 84 percent were sure they could change the situation themselves. Some people accepted to have addressed for help to somebody they knew, but in many cases, nobody could imagine how to assist in the matter.

Besides, the majority of the abused people could not break up with their aggressive partners, did not realize how violence affects their kids’ conduct, and found violence a usual routine. The following reasons for keeping silent in case of domestic violence were discovered. First, abused people happened to be isolated. Second, they were afraid of their aggressor. So, they did not go to the police because they were scared to get abused again before the police could help them. Third, interrogated victims of domestic violence tended to feel guilty for what had happened to them. Finally, in many cases, they did not know what was supposed to be done from their part. Apart from the above-said, since Texas is a multinational state, the research revealed some critical cultural issues. Hence, the research resulted in the necessity to enlighten the state-citizen on the issue and to provide qualified anonymous assistance to victims.

• The pre-campaign research revealed that people suffering from domestic violence were unlikely to report until something horrible happened. This can be considered as the result of victims’ isolation and shame coupled with their feeling guilty for the situation. Therefore, the campaign was supposed to find ways to address victims effectively so that they broke the silence and made the call.
• If I was expected to develop a similar campaign, I would try to arrange for some victims to be spokespeople. First, they were involved in the situation and know how it is to suffer from domestic violence. Second, they can share their experience on how to manage to tackle the problem. Finally, they might serve a positive example of how to arrive at a positive outcome.
• The campaign’s slogan is an effective message because it addresses victims directly. It lets them know that they are not alone and people are willing to listen to their matters and ready to give them a hand to help them out of the situation. So, victims can just make a call to break the silence. Some other slogans might be “Say no to domestic violence!” or “Home WHYlence? We will save you!”
• The main strengths of the campaign’s private communication strategies are that it reaches the target audience effectively but preserve anonymity, which is crucial. Messages were located in the places where a victim could get them easily. However, for the aggressor, it is kept secret. Other strategies of this kind that can be used are to involve maternity welfare clinics to educate women on how to deal with domestic violence. Besides, it might be of use to install special information counters or even cabins in supermarkets.
• The question is expected to be skipped.
• Grassroot partners can provide more educational insight into the issues. For example, it might be useful to elaborate on a special course to study at schools, colleges, and universities which is aimed to instruct everyone what to do if they come across domestic violence. Besides, grassroots companies can participate in the organization of special events and host them on their premises.
• Apart from the distribution of materials, business partners could participate in the organization of special events, like walks and marathons.
• In might be reasonable to show some real-life stories of domestic violence in the news from time to time with the presenter giving information on how to tackle the problem.
• In this case, non-commercial-sustained advertising manages to achieve the goals of the campaign as it reaches the target audience successfully.

In conclusion, it is necessary to point out that, unfortunately, children are not concerned about the campaign. Despite this, it was successful due to its great organization and strategies. However, the problem is still topical worldwide. Therefore, the experience which was obtained from this campaign can be applied to other campaigns of this kind.

• Violence Against Women from the Global Perspective
• Implications of Youth Violence
• Nursing Volunteering in Vietnam
• Improving Work Place Ethics
• Human Growth and Development: Teenage Suicide
• Domestic Violence and Social Interventions
• Legal Recourse for Victims of Child Abuse and Domestic Violence
• Domestic Abusers' Characteristics and Roles
• Domestic Violence and Child's Brain Development
• The Impact of Domestic Violence Laws: Social Norms and Legal Consequences
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, November 15). Break the Silence: Domestic Violence Case. https://ivypanda.com/essays/break-the-silence-domestic-violence-case/

"Break the Silence: Domestic Violence Case." IvyPanda , 15 Nov. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/break-the-silence-domestic-violence-case/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Break the Silence: Domestic Violence Case'. 15 November.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Break the Silence: Domestic Violence Case." November 15, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/break-the-silence-domestic-violence-case/.

1. IvyPanda . "Break the Silence: Domestic Violence Case." November 15, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/break-the-silence-domestic-violence-case/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Break the Silence: Domestic Violence Case." November 15, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/break-the-silence-domestic-violence-case/.

China’s CCTV stunned into silence with LGBTQ scene at Paris Olympics opening ceremony

• Such sights are rare on public platforms given the topic remains a taboo in Chinese mainstream media

The decision by Chinese state television to broadcast LGBTQ related content during the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony quickly became a hot topic on social media.

Such sights are rare on public platforms given the topic remains a taboo in Chinese mainstream media.

The scene in question, which sparked the most heated discussions on Chinese social media, involved three dancers with a clear romantic relationship.

The group, all in bright-coloured outfits, then began reading romantic-themed French literature in the French National Library.

“This is the only time in life when you can see drag queens and pride-themed performances on China Central Television,” a user wrote on Instagram-like platform Xiaohongshu.

The trio then went up a spiral staircase as they hugged and almost kissed. The scene ended with one of the performers shutting the viewer out with the suggestion the rest of the act would be better performed behind closed doors.

Many netizens believed it hinted at a Menage a trois.

The commentators on the China Central Television (CCTV)’s sports channel, which broadcast the ceremony live, did not say a word during the segment.

Users who missed the awkward moment live feared they would not have an opportunity to view.

However, the clip remained in the edited version on CCTV on Saturday.

Paris 2024: Summer Games opening ceremony held on Seine River in Olympic first

The official Olympic Games X account shared an image of the trio with a quote from legendary author Victor Hugo: “The freedom to love is no less sacred than the freedom to think.”

The costume designer of the sequence De Vilmorin, said the trio were a tribute to the French New Wave classic “Jules et Jim.”

But for Chinese netizens, the closer reference is a movie called The Breaking Ice. The clip was labelled the “French version of the Breaking Ice” on Weibo – the Chinese version of X.

Other content that raised discussion included the semi-naked blue singer Philippe Katerine recreating the painting “Jesus Last Supper”, and drag queen Nicky Doll’s performance in the runways.

Many Chinese netizens praised the queer presentation on a global stage, while others questioned whether France put the LGBTQ agenda too high on what was a sporting event.

Nicole Jacky Breaks Silence After ‘Love Island USA’ Kendall Video Leak

Nicole Jacky breaks silence amid her 'Love Island' partner Kendall Washington's private video leaked.

Love Island USA’s Nicole Jacky has got a text, and unfortunately, it reads, “things have not been easy since leaving the villa.”

The 26-year-old reality star left the show with her island bombshell Kendall Washington , who recently has been circulating the internet for a leaked video of him naked lying on a bed. This went viral while the 27-year-old was filming the show and did not have his phone with him.

When the show ended on Sunday, July 21, he came to learn about the situation. “What a way to get my phone back, y’all. I just want to address the content that came out from my past. That was something I shared with someone in confidence and trust. It’s unfortunate that it’s no longer private, but it is what it is,” he expressed on his Instagram stories.

Although this video exposed him, he shared that the Love Island experience topped it all. He wrote in an Instagram carousel as a recap of his time at the villa, “I want to take the time to thank @loveislandusa for the best summer of my life. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of islanders to have done it with either. I truly left that experience with a new family. I am so grateful for the encouraging and loving messages I’ve been receiving from you guys. You have no idea how much it means to me to read through them. It’s been overwhelming to get back to everyone, but I promise I will. Here’s to the next chapter.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kendall Washington (@kendallwashington)

Over a week after he spoke out, his partner Nicole shared on Instagram , after a bit of silence, “Some of you have noticed that I’ve been quiet and not posting much, so I just wanted to provide an update.” She continued, “While Love Island was an amazing experience, things have not been easy since leaving the villa. There’s much more to share on what has happened since coming home, and for now, I’ve been taking time to process – these are real feelings and my real life.”

Though the two may be facing this rough patch, Nicole relayed during an interview on “Virtual Reali-Tea” that they are still “going strong.”

Trump accepts Harris' challenge, hours after he said 'she happened to turn Black'

Editors' Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was accepting Vice President Kamala Harris' challenge to compare their records while in office.

Former President Donald Trump "accepted" Vice President Kamala Harris ' call to compare their records during a rally in Pennsylvania on Wednesday evening, hours after accusing her of flip-flopping on her racial and ethnic identity for political leverage.

"Well, Kamala, let's go, challenge accepted," he said, to loud cheers from the crowd in Harrisburg.

Trump said he "would compare our records" as he criticized Harris' role in the Biden administration's immigration policy, support for electric vehicles, 80% tax rates and even taking away Americans' access to red meat.

"She is the most unpopular vice president in American history," Trump said.

Here are seven takeaways from Wednesday's rally and other political events.

Sharks, Hannibal Lecter, Christian voter Moments Trump foes say shows he's a 'weird' guy

1. Trump's discussion at Black journalists conference goes in 'horrible manner'

At the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago earlier Wednesday, Trump engaged in a flinty, at times tense interview in which he complained was "disgraceful" and carried out in a "horrible manner."

He lashed out at ABC News (one of the panelists was ABC News reporter Rachel Scott) as "fake news" and griped, and alleged, that a microphone issue delayed the start of the interview. He seethed he had been "invited under false pretenses."

Trump said his record showed he supported Black entrepreneurs via opportunity zones provided by legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina.

"I love the Black population of this country," he said. "I've done so much for the Black population of this country," he said.

He boasted: "I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln."

The Harris campaign scoffed at Trump's assertion and criticized his demeanor at the NABJ event.

“Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency — while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in. Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us," the campaign said in a statement.

2. Trump on Harris at Black journalist convention: 'She happened to turn Black'

Trump was asked if he believed Harris owes her position as vice president to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a statement first raised by Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett.

Trump equivocated before insulting Harris by lobbing a falsehood about how she has portrayed her ethnic and racial background in the past.

"I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black," Trump said. "Because she was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a Black person."

Harris has Indian and Jamaican-born parents and attended Howard University, a historically black university where joined the predominantly black Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She became a member of the Congressional Black Caucus after entering the Senate in 2017.

Trump also repeated his eyebrow-raising claim that illegal immigrants are taking "Black jobs."

"I will tell you coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking Black jobs," he said.

Asked to define what a "Black job" is, he said: "A Black job is anybody that has a job. They are taking the employment away from Black people."

3. Trump lays out key attack points against Harris at Pennsylvania rally

A key attack strategy against Harris will be her role in guiding the Biden administration's immigration policy.

During the Harrisburg rally, Trump said Harris supported sanctuary cities and called to abolish the Immigration Customs Enforcement arm in the Department of Homeland Security. He called Harris the "architect of the border invasion."

Trump also alleged that Harris supported ending private health insurance and "slash consumption of red meat." He also said Harris opposes the practice of fracking in energy production.

Trump brought up age in the election, as Biden is 81 and Trump is 78. He said the problem with Biden is that he is a "a bad 81." Trump said age in itself is not a factor, noting that a friend, Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, is 95 and still going strong.

But one Trump hit on Harris, that she is a "bought-and-controlled" politician, was odd considering Trump himself has accepted more than $100 million in contributions from some of the richest people on the planet.

Trump has often said his wealth allows him to run campaigns that are self-financed. But in reality, he has raised money from Americans of all walks of life. And during at least one evening this spring on the exclusive island of Palm Beach, where Trump's primary residence, Mar-a-Lago, sits, he raised $50 million among some of his wealthiest neighbors.

4. Trump defends references from 'Silence of the Lambs'

Trump's often repeated references to Hannibal Lecter, the fictional character from the 1991 Oscar-winning movie "Silence of the Lambs" have drawn ridicule, if not befuddlement.

In Harrisburg, Trump said the analogy to the serial killer was appropriate and accurate in describing people coming across the southern border with Mexico.

"It makes a lot of sense," he said. "They're coming into the country and they're coming from insane asylums."

5. Trump did not discuss Project 2025

Trump did not mention Project 2025, the so-called blueprint for a new Trump White House term that is heavy on extremist views and rhetoric. The Trump campaign has sought to disavow and distance itself from the 900-page plan.

"Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign — it will not end well for you," wrote Trump campaign officials Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita in a statement.

But the Harris campaign was having none of that.

“Project 2025 is on the ballot because Donald Trump is on the ballot. This is his agenda, written by his allies, for Donald Trump to inflict on our country," said Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez in a statement.

6. Trump also did not say much about the stumbles of running mate J.D. Vance

Trump's relative silence on Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance was peculiar since part of the reason Vance was added to the ticket was to help win Pennsylvania and other "blue wall" states.

Trump and Vance are scheduled to host a joint rally in Atlanta on Saturday.

A poll released Tuesday morning by Florida Atlantic University and Mainstreet Research suggests Trump's choice of Vance as his running mate has not "augmented" the ticket's appeal.

Vance, who has struggled to explain derogatory statements about women as "childless cat ladies," exited the convention as relatively unpopular and polarizing, FAU pollsters said. Just 23% of those surveyed viewed him as "strongly favorable" while 34% said they viewed him as "strongly unfavorable."

FAU pollster Luzmarina Garcia said Vance's choice was aimed at bringing youthfulness to the ticket. But the resurfacing of interviews in which Vance had been harshly critical of Trump and a New York Times story citing emails showing how Vance has flip-flopped on issues have been damaging.

"It also brought quite a bit of conflict," Garcia said of Vance's addition to the ticket. "The evidence is kind of really building up that this is a person who quickly changes their opinion and that really makes people hesitant to support that ticket with a second in command like that."

Overall, the poll had Trump and Harris in a "statistical tie" with each getting 46% support from the voters surveyed.

Harris showed strength among women, Black and Latino respondents, while Trump fared strongly with young voters ages 18 to 35.

7. Trump notes rally shooter 'disturbed' but still defends gun rights

Trump's Harrisburg rally was his first visit to Pennsylvania since he was nearly assassinated during an outdoor rally in Butler on July 13.

Trump thanked the crowd for their prayers and support, noted he was happy to hear the two others wounded in the mass shooting are recovering and held a moment of silence for Corey Comperatore, who was killed by gunfire while shielding his family.

Trump noted the assailant was a "disturbed" young man but did not otherwise discuss motives or controversies that surged about the U.S. Secret Service protection that day.

Late in the speech, however, he did insist he remains a Second Amendment rights advocate.

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at  The Palm Beach Post , part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at  [email protected] .  Help support our journalism. Subscribe today .

The Graduation Part II: Graduate School Graduation Rates

This paper documents several facts about graduate program graduation rates using administrative data covering public and nonprofit graduate students in Texas. Despite conventional wisdom that most graduate students complete their programs, only 58 percent of who started their program in 2004 graduated within 6 years. Between the 2004 and 2013 entering cohorts, graduate student completion rates grew by 10 percentage points. Graduation rates vary widely by field of study--ranging from an average of 81 percent for law programs to 53 percent for education programs. We also find large differences in graduation rates across institutions. On average, 72 percent of students who entered programs in flagship public universities graduated in 6 years compared to only 57 percent of those who entered programs in non-research intensive (non-R1) institutions. Graduate students who do not complete may face negative consequences due to lower average earnings and substantial levels of student debt.

The conclusions of this research do not necessarily reflect the opinion or official position of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Texas Workforce Commission, the State of Texas, or the National Bureau of Economic Research. This work was generously funded by Arnold Ventures.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Novel — Analyzing Silence from Literary and Theological Perspectives

Analyzing Silence from Literary and Theological Perspectives

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Published: Jun 29, 2018

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