The National Day of Silence

[Tentacruel]

Meh. Not really my cup of tea, but I wish the rest of you luck with your pro-active lives. *Cries*

[Marisa Kirisame-ze]

Got my duct tape, my black and red markers, my purple and rainbow colored ribbon, and my conversation/legal papers.

I'M READY~

[Clair]

Got my papers, notecards, and markers. Not as prepared as Mira over there. ;D

Now all that's left is to-
;x

[Marisa Kirisame-ze]

Ohh, I should bring notecards too! I'd be at such a loss if I didn't have anything to write down stuff xD

&yes! First thing tomorrow, "x"ing my mouth~

[TheComposer]

I'll try to be silent, but I'm a very talkative person, so I might just have to settle for talking less :/

Also I have a forgetfulness streak about as long as they come so I'll probably forget tomorrow morning, but I agree with what you guys are doing and you guys have my support. Even though I'm straight, I hate the fact that people are bullied just because they believe/do something we don't, which is why I'll try to keep my mouth shut (I know I'll slip up though, I'm too talkative) and is why I give you guys my support.

And if you guys don't realize, your bashing Halu for having a different opinion than your own, but isn't that in fact what you are trying to stop? Just some food for thought.

[Tentacruel]

[quote name='TheComposer' timestamp='1302841862' post='5139654']
And if you guys don't realize, your bashing Halu for having a different opinion than your own, but isn't that in fact what you are trying to stop? Just some food for thought.
[/quote]
This.

Oh, and I probably won't be partaking in it, but only because this is just something I've never really cared about. Bullying should stop, yes, but how in the hell is me not talking going to help? I'm not going anywhere tomorrow, soooo.... why?

[Marisa Kirisame-ze]

TheComposer; Anything with Halu is now put behind us, I've already talked to him over the profile commenting system, so that situation is over.

ADHD; Well, if you're not going anywhere, why not do it out of the silent respect in your household? At least keep the knowledge that that's what's going on in public tomorrow.

[I-dreezyAFG]

i've never heard of it.

[Dismal Euphony]

Kill the non-believers. Kill them with fire.

No, just kidding. I participated in this last year, but I won't be able to do it this year. It was easy when I was in school, but now that I've graduated and will be doing errands today, I can't NOT talk. I do commend the people that are doing it this year; I wish I could be doing it as well!

[Βyakuya]

I went on silent from the beginning until 6th period where I had to blurt things out. I also remembered if I wanted to do this for the cause. I just did it for fun.

[D.A._Sakuyamon]

how was day of silence for you all?

[Marisa Kirisame-ze]

Beautiful. Today was just such a beautiful, beautiful day.

I got a huge group of my friends to do this, so basically it was a nice, quiet day. It was fun too~ Since we all tried our best to communicate with notepads and texting, etc. It was actually harder than I thought it would be, but when you have so many of your closest friends supporting this cause with you, it takes the hardship out of it.

Sure, there were those share of morons who tried to make us speak or put down the event, but that didn't faze us. We were complimented for the most part, by people who weren't able to do the event or broke it during the middle of the day.

It was perfect~

[Dark]

If you don't know already, I'm all for homosexual rights and whatnot, but I have to pose a serious and honest question. How does getting a group of people to be silent for a day do anything? Does it raise awareness? Not in the slightest. Many people in my school were trying to stay silent the whole day, and I didn't really know (or care, at that point) why. Only when I logged onto MSN and Mira told me did I realize that they were taking part in this day of silence. If a majority of the people completely don't even know about this day, how is awareness raised whatsoever?

Also, despite Halu making some stupid comments, I feel like the one intellectual thing he said was that speaking out results in a larger effect than staying silent. I'm not saying you should punch ignorant people for bullying those with different sexualities, but staying "silent" is wholly avoiding the problem at hand. When workers go on strike, they attempt to annoy people in higher power to the point where they get pissed off and make rash decisions. Think about it: most protests are effective when somebody either gets injured or dies. I'm not saying homosexuals should go suicide to promote awareness, but staying silent isn't promoting anything. I find it hard to believe that anything actually changed about homosexual bullying because of these days of silence.

Also, someone who I was talking to over the phone brought up a good point. It defeats the entire purpose of the day of silence if you are using note cards or whiteboards like you and Clair said you were. You don't understand that people bullied by sexuality are completely outcasted from society, and completely cut off from all forms of communication. In the most extreme form, bullied kids have no friends to text, nobody to write notes to, and nobody to communicate with. How does it make sense that you still are able to talk to friends while trying to promote awareness for kids who have nobody? A day of silence doesn't mean not talking, it means cutting yourself off from communication. It means putting yourself in an outcast's shoes, and going an entire day without friends, without texting, without means of communication.

I have nothing against the people who took part in this event, but I find it completely stupid in principle when it changes nothing. It is an incorrect way of going about to change bullying against homosexuals, and considering most of the people still have fun "communicating" to friends, even the people who partake in it know nothing of how bullied people really feel.

[Marisa Kirisame-ze]

The awareness depends on you and your community. The majority of my school knew about this event because I tried my best to organize it and remind the administrators to allow teachers to announce reminders for it. We coordinated T-shirts to sell, stickers, and posters to put up around campus. By the time the day finally came, we got such a good number of students in on it, it obviously rose awareness. The teachers in each of our homeroom classes even had to show a short video on the story of a lesbian girl. It was beautiful and lovely to be so acknowledged and supported by so many people from a public school, whether it be the students, teachers, or administrators. But do you think people would've found out if my friends and I hadn't stepped up to coordinate this event? Of course not.

And trust me Dark, we do speak out. This is just one campaign in the many that we have for the LGBT community. This is the only campaign that echoes the silence of what others are doing when it comes to anti-LGBT bullying, and trust me, it works. Like I said though, it depends on where you live and the people who take part in it around you. And things have changed over the years. Teachers are becoming more supportive and open to talking to anyone about their sexuality, as well as presenting it as a wrongful thing to hurt others who are LGBTs. Before, we didn't even have an education or say on it.

I agree with what you said on your third paragraph, but you have to understand that we still have school matters to face. Although a lot of us tried to keep away from things like sign language and writing on white boards, sometimes, we had to go through with writing things down to understand what someone wants or is trying to do. For instance, sometimes it was even hard for me to detect when someone wanted a piece of duct tape or markers to write "NO H8", therefore, we resulted to writing that out. You have to understand that it's not like we were having full on conversations. We only used notecards or texting for tid bits that added on to this day. At least, that's how it was for me.

It wasn't fun because of the communication. What made it fun for me was knowing how many people were in full on support. We all stood tall together and were proud to take part in this event. And saying it doesn't change anything is such an overstatement. Although it might not change things for the world, it does change things for an individual and their community. It gets people in on a new campaign they may have never heard of before hand, therefore, now starting to take part in it this year and the next. It's a movement of one step at a time.

Also, I've heard a small number having the same opinion about the National Day of Silence as you do. Yet, all I can help to wonder is if you feel that way, why don't you make a difference and create a better campaign that you think can better our world and communities rather than sit there and think about how this one won't help us at all?

[Dark]

[quote name='Marisa Kirisame-ze' timestamp='1302936908' post='5142258']
The awareness depends on you and your community. The majority of my school knew about this event because I tried my best to organize it and remind the administrators to allow teachers to announce reminders for it. We coordinated T-shirts to sell, stickers, and posters to put up around campus. By the time the day finally came, we got such a good number of students in on it, it obviously rose awareness. The teachers in each of our homeroom classes even had to show a short video on the story of a lesbian girl. It was beautiful and lovely to be so acknowledged and supported by so many people from a public school.

[b]Okay, in my Drivers Education class, we saw a bunch of short videos about people who didn't wear their seat belts and died in an accident. And still, many people who leave my school will eventually get into an accident and die because they weren't wearing a seat belt. It's unfair to say whatsoever that watching a "short video" will do much to deter the actual bullies from bullying. I'm sure that if I was a bully of homosexuals, I would be laughing at all of you sitting silent for a day and expending a ton of effort to make something nice, when the chances are I'm going to continue my old, ignorant ways. It shows people that other people are being bullied, but don't we all know that by now? Instead of trying to "raise awareness", it would be infinitely more effective to tackle the problem at its source. Target the bullies causing the damage, and don't try to raise awareness, because I'm pretty sure we all get the picture. We know people are bullied due to sexuality, that isn't old news.[/b]

And trust me Dark, we do speak out. This is just one campaign in the many that we have for the LGBT community. This is the only campaign that echoes the silence of what others are doing when it comes to anti-LGBT bullying, and trust me, it works. Like I said though, it depends on where you live and the people who take part in it around you. And things have changed over the years. Teachers are becoming more supportive and open to talking to anyone about their sexuality, as well as presenting it as a wrongful thing to hurt others who are LGBTs. Before, we didn't even have an education on it.

[b]So tell me, what was the point of this? Analyze your school or college for the next day, week, month, year, and tell me if anything changed at all. Are less people being bullied because of such activism? I doubt it. Do more people know about bullying due to sexuality? Maybe a few, but nothing significant. I feel this was a waste of a campaign because it doesn't seem to have any beneficial effects for the LGBT community. I'm willing to bet my life that the number of bullies in your school will remain almost completely unscathed, because you didn't do anything to deter them from bullying these innocent people.[/b]

I agree with what you said on your third paragraph, but you have to understand that we still have school matters to face. Although a lot of us tried to keep away from things like sign language and writing on white boards, sometimes, we had to go through with writing things down to understand what someone wants or is trying to do. For instance, sometimes it was even hard for me to detect when someone wanted a piece of duct tape or markers to write "NO H8", therefore, we resulted to writing that out. You have to understand that it's not like we were having full on conversations. We only used notecards or texting for tid bits that added on to this day. At least, that's how it was for me.

[b]You formed little circles with your friends, right? I understand you wanted to get together and organize something, but think about what you were trying to do. You were trying to show everyone how a homosexual person might feel in such an invective society. If you formed little circles and laughed and had fun with your friends, what sort of image are you portraying? If I was completely oblivious to this and walked into your school, I would be shocked to see that the life of a homosexual person is all fun and games, albeit completely silent. In the most extreme cases, homosexuals don't have friends to talk to and laugh with. Instead of being silent, it should have been a day of complete solitude, because that is truly how a bullied person feels: solitary.[/b]

It wasn't fun because of the communication. What made it fun for me was knowing how many people were in full on support. We all stood tall together and were proud to take part in this event. And saying it doesn't change anything is such an overstatement. Although it might not change things for the world, it does change things for an individual and their community. It gets people in on a new campaign they may have never heard of before hand, therefore, now starting to take part in it this year and the next. It's a movement of one step at a time.

Also, I've heard a small number having the same opinion about the National Day of Silence as you do. Yet, all I can help to wonder is if you feel that way, why don't you make a difference and create a better campaign that you think can better our world and communities rather than sit there and think about how this one won't help us at all?

[b]I'm entirely apathetic to the entire situation about bullying. It may seem selfish at best, but I admit I'm a selfish person. I was never bullied, and I won't be bullied because of my sexuality, so why is it my job to care about people being bullied? I'm not adding to the bullying, I'm just being entirely apathetic to the situation. But apparently people find that to be a dick move which I doubt understand in the slightest. It's not my job to think of new ways to spread homosexual activism, but I feel it is my job to tell you that this terrible method of campaigning simply isn't working. Call me selfish, call me an a[i][/i]sshole, but you and the entire LGBT community needs to realize that activism doesn't come with sitting silently and waiting for something to happen.[/b]
[/quote]

[Marisa Kirisame-ze]

Look, this whole debate can go on forever. We obviously have different views on the subject and I'm not good at putting my thoughts into words on here. I do feel differently about this than you because you've yet to see how the day was done the way I got to see it. I probably won't keep up with writing back to you on this, but just know, I am listening to what you have to say and taking your words in, but I shall defend the National Day of Silence and all the potential it has to changing the ways of other people as well as raising support.

You know people are bullied due to their sexual orientation; however, there are also tons of people who have yet to believe and choose not to believe that that's what truly happens at schools or around neighborhoods. This also educates them on it, even if you think everyone just somehow knows about the bullying taking place.

I'll have you know that the bullying gets better at my school every year. Whether it's because of this day or not, it's still something to feel hopeful about. We're moving along, we're getting better. I'd think this is because the number of straight students always constantly defending our LGBT students is intimidating to bullies. I doubt you could ever picture it, but we seriously prevail and get through it and it does always get better for us. And that might as well be selfish to say because I don't know about any other LGBT community and I know it'll be much harder in other places or surroundings, but like I said, one step at a time.

And you're wrong when you say I formed a circle with my friends. The picture in your head is entirely wrong. The majority of my classes are with my friends, therefore, we can sit next to each other and just look at each other for whatever reason there was, but out on campus, the majority of us had to walk alone because obviously, if we're not speaking, what's the point of being with someone else? I can't communicate to ask someone if they saw one of my friends, and searching for them wouldn't do anything since it's not like we can laugh or talk. Having them there might be comforting, but that's not what happened at all. Sure, you might see a couple of us walking together, but the idea in your head is incredibly off of what really goes on at my school. If one gets bullied here, they're not alone. Other LGBT kids protect them, while straight against hate kids will talk to the bully about it or report them, etc. It's not like out guard is down throughout the year and the only time of the year we discuss this issue would be on this campaign day. Honestly, you need to start thinking of it from a better angle. Although the National Day of Silence might not be a huge impact to you, which I know it's not, it still helps us show that we're still on top of things when it comes to the bullying at school.

And again, like I said, this is just one small campaign in the multiple bigger to smaller ones we have going on throughout the year. Although this campaign isn't the most effective, it's just one I'll take part in every year, along with the multiple other campaigns that are organized. And btw, I serve as the "go to person" when someone is in need of advice. And the majority of the kids who come to me? LGBTs dealing with their sexuality, the fear that they feel, trying to stop hating themselves for it, those unsure about being accepted, etc etc. I am doing my share to help these individuals overcome something that should've never been a problem in the first place - love. I know it's not a big active campaign, but I gladly take my time every day to not focus on my problems at hand, but to focus on theirs.

[~The Dark one~]

yesterday i took that vow and i was the only one sence i am gay as well i have enjoyed this day to show bullies that its no fun when i don't react

[Darth Revan of the Sith]

Wait so you guys were allowed to txt in school while you stayed silent? 0.o

[Marisa Kirisame-ze]

No, we weren't exactly "texting" to be honest. We used our phone's notepad or texting space to type something, then we showed it to each other. No messages where actually sent. And yes, we're in high school, we're allowed to use our phones on campus, just not in class during a lesson. But we didn't even have lessons since yesterday was the last day of school before Spring Break.

[Darth Revan of the Sith]

[quote name='Marisa Kirisame-ze' timestamp='1302993117' post='5143971']
No, we weren't exactly "texting" to be honest. We used our phone's notepad or texting space to type something, then we showed it to each other. No messages where actually sent. And yes, we're in high school, we're allowed to use our phones on campus, just not in class during a lesson. But we didn't even have lessons since yesterday was the last day of school before Spring Break.
[/quote]
Lucky >