Does Silence Equate To Loyalty And Approval?


Confusing loyalty with silence
Some organizations demand total fealty, and often that means never questioning those in authority.

Those organizations are ultimately doomed.

Respectfully challenging the status quo, combined with relentlessly iterating new ideas is the hallmark of the vibrant tribe.

this post orignally appeared at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/02/confusing-loyalty-with-silence.html

As most readers of this blog would know, I am a big fan of Seth Godin.

The things he says whilst having a marketing intent can be applied equally to the philospohy of modern life, and even the animal rights/vegan movement.

None more so than the one above.

As I have written in previous posts, there seems to be a bit of a growing trend amongst the self appointed leaders of this movement to stifle and silence those who choose to challenge the status quo or their forced doctrine.

Sadly, these self appointed leaders are of the impression that because others are not speaking out against their behaviour that they must ‘approve’ of it. When in actual fact it is highly likely that they are silently leaving these groups, or are too afraid to ‘speak up’ out of fear of becoming the next target.

Silencing discussion or commentary does nothing to solidify a movement.

Having the status quo challenged, discussed, and changed, if need be, is what will shore up support for those leaders who embrace it.

A movement as important as the animal rights/social justice one is, cannot allow and neither should those within it, any sort of discussion relevant to social justice for all animals to be suppressed.

1 thought on “Does Silence Equate To Loyalty And Approval?”

  1. Hi Cam. I think that to a large extent ‘leadership’ is more about ego. This is to the extent that many post their thoughts, opinions and so on not to promote genuine discussion but to seek confirmation of their own views. You are right to note that people who may disagree drift away or remain silent, it can get emotionally draining to enter into disagreement with these people. It does make you think why people do what they do. You commented in an earlier post about education, yes I think a degree often becomes a badge of self identified superiority rather than just something you have achieved which doesn’t necessarily make you more right than others. But where there is an ego or narcissistic motive behind a blog, there will be misinterpetation of others reactions because it becomes ‘all about me.’ It’s a Catch 22, unless people do find the courage to speak up it isn’t going to change.

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