Societies don't just shut up.
Silence comes gradually.
An injustice happens. There is an immediate reaction. “This is wrong”. Because they still believe that the system can be fixed. But if the same injustice happens again, people look not at the incident but at the aftermath: Who objected, did they stand alone, who paid the price? This is the breaking point. People no longer look at the injustice, but at the outcome of the reaction to the injustice.
This is not a new situation.
This is what happened in history. When Socrates was put on trial for asking questions, it was not only the court that silenced him; society was also silent. It was not a matter of not liking him, it was a fear of paying the price. Asking questions made them uncomfortable. There was a price for standing up for oneself. Silence was safe.
Over time this lesson becomes ingrained.
Silence is more about calculation than fear. No one defends injustice, but those who see that those who object are left alone retreat. Silence is presented as “wise” and speaking out as a costly choice. Good people step back, rules remain on paper, merit is replaced by compliance. Silence ceases to be a temporary attitude and turns into a habit that sustains order.
This does not only affect today.
Without a reaction, the mechanism to stop wrongdoing does not work. Mistakes are not corrected, they accumulate. Small problems become big. Gradually, society's direction is determined not by those who speak out, but by those who do not.
But this is not unique to us.
When we look at the world today, we see a common apathy. Wars continue, the economy is not recovering, the climate crisis is looming. Big words are spoken, but they have less and less meaning in people's lives.
“Nothing will change anyway” is the most common excuse for silence. Yet history shows the opposite. No wrong is righted at the first objection, but no wrong can be righted without objection. Struggles for rights do not yield results in a day. The first voices are often ignored, even at great cost. But every persistent objection forces the system to retreat, even if only slightly. Change does not happen all at once; it is the result of accumulated objections.
For years, violence in health was considered a “professional risk”. Physicians and health workers did not shut up. As a result of persistent objections, Code White was implemented; violence was institutionally recognized for the first time and the legal process became automatic. It is not perfect, but it showed this fact: When the silence is broken, the system can take a step back.
My suggestion to society is simple and realistic.
We must not be silent about the injustice closest to us. If we cannot make big exits, we must stand side by side in small spaces. Because most of the time it is not the power of evil that sustains the order; it is the silence of the good. And once silence becomes a habit, those who keep silent to avoid paying the price eventually turn into those who pay the price by keeping silent.