Silence

"Its, oh, so quiet
shhhh
shhhh
its, oh, so still
shhhh
shhhh
you are all alone
shhhh
shhhh
and so peaceful until......"
Bjork - It's oh so quiet


Thinking about silence, I remembered a political science class where we were discussing freedom of press and expression. Silence is deceiving.

A democratic country where the government is doing a good job will be less likely to find loud opposition in the press. At the same time, an authoritarian regime where the government is oppressing the press will probably lack in public criticism as well.

The same goes with relationships. A good relationship is full of silence. It means you are comfortable with one another and you do not need fill voids with vain words.

But silence can also result from the concealing of one's thoughts, for any given reason. Silence can be expressing any sort of discomfort or discontent with the other. Sometimes, people bear a sort of authoritarian regime within, hiding criticism towards their partner.

Political scientists have debated over centuries on an appropriate definition that would classify types of political systems. There is of course no agreement on how to classify what constitutes a democracy, but there is agreement on the fact that freedom of press and expression are a requirement of any good government. It is reading the silence what complicates judging whether there is a healthy freedom of speech.

The same goes with a new relationship. While one silence means everything is more than OK, the other silence is an avalanche of emotions waiting to be freed. A bulk of negative feelings that are camouflaged.

Political scientists have debated for a long time how to test the quality and nature of silence. Human beings have yet to find ways to understand each others' lack of expression.