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The idea that silence is violence originated, as far as I can tell, from the Black Lives Matter movement. Just like that movement’s name, one cannot deny that the phrase has a certain persuasive combination of simplicity and partial truth. When glaring injustice is present, to remain silent is suspect. As the left-wing historian Howard Zinn once said, ‘you can’t be neutral on a moving train’. Of course, what constitutes “glaring injustice” is subjective and, as we’ve seen with the radical woke activists, increasingly subject to mission creep.
Former England international and BT Sport commentator Austin Healey found this out for himself on the weekend when Jack Duncan, a socialist & LGBT activist, targeted Healey not for something he said, but for what he didn’t say whilst commentating.
Duncan tweeted (see below) that he had previously berated Healey for saying nothing in support of the Rainbow Laces campaign.
Healey replied, stating: ‘It’s not my job to mention it and I’m just doing my job. I’m against all forms of discrimination and always have been.’
