"The Spiral of Silence" is a theory developed by German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann in the 1970s.
The theory explains how people fear social isolation to the point that they generally go along with what they think is the popular opinion — even if they object to that opinion themselves.
Instead of speaking up, they remain silent. Their silence then encourages others to remain silent.
Even worse, as silence spirals up, the cost to those who speak up also increases.
Noelle-Neumann articulated this in her classic book The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion – Our Social Skin.
In it, Noelle-Neumann describes how our perception of public opinion through news and media can give a false impression that certain beliefs and attitudes are more unpopular than they really are.
Based on this false impression from the media and popular culture, people may not speak out their true views because they feel that those views are too unpopular and too far outside of the mainstream to be taken seriously.
This only exacerbates the “spiral of silence,” because individuals fear social isolation and will not want to speak their views.
That leads to more and more people believing their own views are unpopular.
Unfortunately, irrespective of what causes, triggers or perpetuates one’s reticence to make a stand and speak up, “silence in the face of evil, is itself evil” and results in disaster. It never ends well!
It’s all about cause and effect; it’s as simple as that. An estimated 35 million to 60 million people died from World War II (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
Could many millions of lives worldwide have been saved if the silent 12000 Protestant pastors across Germany had made a different choice: If they had chosen to take a stand against what was taking place?
Of the 18,000 Protestant pastors in Germany during the early 1930s, 3000 sided with the Nazis and only 3000 opposed Hitler and his Nazi regime.
Naturally, the brave 3000 pastors were easily picked off by the silence of the 12000.
‘Letter to the American Church’ is a recommended book by Eric Metaxas for all to read.
It carries an essential message for those Christians who think we should do nothing during these perilous times – or do a Neville Chamberlain by appeasing an evil monster (Adolf Hitler and Nazism, Munich 1938).
Now back to 2023. The evil these days is a massive and cleverly orchestrated movement that has invaded many of the institutions of society with its sights on destroying Christianity and, with it, Western society.
"The civilised world has been thoroughly saturated with Christianity for 2000 years. Any country grounded in Christian values cannot be overthrown therefore, until those roots are cut, but to cut the roots, to change culture, a long march through the institutions is necessary. Only then will power fall into our laps like ripened fruit."
(Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci - recognised by some as the father of Cultural Marxism)
Many in the German church of the early 1930s were oblivious to Hitler's desire to obliterate the church.
Unfortunately, many Christians today are asleep in the face of the same atheistic objectives of Marxists as stated by Antonio Gramsci.
These latter day totalitarians now use the tools of Social Justice, Political Correctness, Critical Race Theory, Queer theory, Post-Colonial Theory and other Marxist theories, to attack the foundations supporting Christianity and thus Western society.
Karl Marx’s Classical Marxism failed; the Cultural Marxism originating in the 1930s from Italian Antonio Gramsci and the Frankfurt School of Germany (which relocated to America thanks to Hitler’s persecution of Jews) has spread through the West like a cancer.
The goal of this cancer is the destruction of the Judeo-Christian roots of Western Civilisation, with what Attorney Alexander Zubatov referred to as its “coherent intellectual program, a constellation of dangerous ideas”.
Why must we be aware of these patterns and phenomena? BE AWARE because the futures of our families are at stake. Your family is firmly in its sights as one of the major targets marked for destruction.
The Family unit - along with Christianity - constitutes one of the biggest obstacles to those wanting to restructure society. “Families care for their own, not some abstract principle of imposed equality”. Thomas Sowell
Are you going to be silent and just let your family unit be destroyed?
The Atheistic Marxist movements such as LGBTQIA+++ (the acronym keeps growing doesn’t it!) and Critical Race Theory (dividing us on racial grounds) appears as an impenetrable wall or a wave that will sweep us away if we don’t kowtow to them.
We must not be cowered. The easy, non-confrontational response is to acquiesce - to succumb to political correctness and thus to say nothing. We must not tolerate and be afraid to question and challenge unethical choices and immoral people - to push back against a powerful immoral movement/enemy of ever evolving sexualities. What we are faced with is an enemy that portrays itself as peaceful and loving but is in reality a Marxist Trojan horse, designed to bring down Western civilisation. That’s what we have before us; we must stare it down.
We must never forget that trusting in God, a shepherd boy called David took on what was believed to be a perfectly indomitable giant named Goliath, whilst the Israelite soldiers cowered with fear. We all know how that ended, with a well-directed rock to the head. (1 Samuel 17)
Christian or non-Christian if you love your family and you want your children /grandchildren to have the same opportunities you have had, YOU are faced with a decision to make, and both options are painful.
“If I say the truth, I am going to get into trouble. If you abide by the lie, you will also get into trouble.”
Dr Jordan Peterson
We all have non-threatening opportunities to speak up, whether it be talking with our children/grandchildren, talking with neighbours, talking across the dinner table with relatives who disagree, daily interactions with people, speaking up on social media and writing to politicians. These opportunities matter.
We must break the spiral of silence, speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), and not be afraid to offend.
As Thomas Paine (an American political activist) said, “he who dares not offend cannot be honest”.
John MacArthur made a similar point:
“Don't ever water down the gospel. If the truth offends, then let it offend. People have been living their whole lives in offence to God; let them be offended for a while”.
At what point does our silence encourage people to go down a sinful path?
At what point does our silence support and thus perpetuate evil - or even invite it to ramp up?
The following quote is attributed to one of the brave 3000 German pastors who spoke up. The spiral of silence eventually cost him his life. This quote is at the core of Eric Mataxes' book ‘Letter to the American church.’
This book is a must-read for everybody, Christians and non-Christians alike, and especially for anyone involved in Christian leadership in Australia. I am arguing that the book could easily be titled ‘Letter to the Australian Church’. But in 2023 it has something crucial to say to us all.
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:
God will not hold us guiltless.
Not to speak is to speak.
Not to act is to act.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Initially posted on 30 December 2022 and titled Friday Rave 17 - We Must Break the Spiral of Silence
If you agree with the contents of the Friday Rave, don't inadvertently become complicit in evil by being silent. Stand with me - as boldly as you are able - in speaking up. For example, you can start by liking and sharing The Rave through social media and email. You can discuss its contents with people… by asking questions and answering their questions from the volumes of knowledge provided in the Friday Rave Blog and the links to other quality sources contained in each Friday Rave.
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