Week 5: Pictures of Silence

In the next section of the class, we move more from speaking into silence. This is a silence of force, during most of Gheryl Glenn's analysis, but she does not deny that there are passive and enforced silences as well.

For this week's blog, I want you to find an image that you think represents one view of silence. Put it in your blog post and reflect on it - perhaps connecting it to something we're read or discussed in class.

For example, I'm choosing the SOPA and PIPA Wikipedia blackout, which I mentioned on the first day of class. This was a day where Wikipedia - and other sites - silenced itself to protest legislation. A powerful silence indeed, and a successful one, though the issue is still being debated. Importantly, the issue is about information copywrite, the idea that we own what we write, record, and speak. Most rational people agree that there should be some protection for intellectual property, but th

ere are vast disagreements on how far this protection should extend, and who should be able to do what in order to enforce it. The protest, which included many internet giants, showed how the enforcement decided in SOPA and PIPA could lead to effective silencing, if passed. This caused an upstir, and helped stop the bill.