First, to those of you who think that what we do is nonsense:
"For those of you who think this is stupid, let me say this. My friend and her family have lost their son due to this horrific shooting tragedy and we were discussing this campaign via phone this morning. Her family is very touched by this. So when you say this is stupid and serves no purpose, at least one family says you are wrong, people are touched by this. I am grateful to whomever created this and so is my friends family. Any tribute to these people at all is a way of reaching out and saying we care."
Dariana
That alone was worth it.
But then, I would like to support a blogger that don´t want to be silent on 30th of April. I
want to support Plane Jane Mom with her initiative to those who want
to post about Virginia Tech on the One Day Blog Silence.
That´s a great idea. The One Day Blog Silence was never against
writting on 30th April. You can do whatever you want to - it is a way
for those who choose, to stand together still for a moment of respect.
That´s it. So for those of you who want to blog on that day about the tragedy - go to this blog and join the initiative rather then flaming others who don´t.
What happened to respect and tolerance?
Let everyone be the way they choose - not the way you want them to choose.
The last 40 hours were emotionally a wild roller coaster drive for me. It´s weird but when we started the One Day Blog Silence campaign we did that from a impulse to help & do good. And we would have never believed that this would become such a controversy. Never!
We thought that people will either join or ignore it. Boy, that was so wrong. People who disliked the idea spoke up so loud I can´t believe it. From sending me messages to call me a "jerk", "idiot" and other things I won´t go into detail here, to forum posts about speculations that our intention was to make money and sell the website after the 30th April or that behind all this, there is a hidden big media company standing.
That was against us - ok. But when I started to read comments of hate & anger on other peoples blogs who wanted to support us it was one of the most terrible experiences I made as a blogger. I felt so sad and guilty - I didn´t wanted other bloggers to have to deal with hate - I wanted them to become a part of something filled with love.
It reminded me of a horrible event in childhood. Once, a older boy in school wanted to have my launch box. I refused to give it to him and as he started to push me around, an older boy came to help me. Suddenly, my hero was surrounded by 3 other kids who started to beat him hard. It was so horrible. I felt guilty and sad.
I had moments where I felt the same guilt again. I received messages like this:
"Hey Steli. Noticed you visited my site. I just wrote another long reply to someone about your idea and I am completely drained. Been doing it all day. I don't understand the anger some people have for something so simple and unselfish. Sorry but I had to vent for a moment, it's got me in a very bad mood. Cheers"
I thought about stopping the initiative.
BUT WE WON´T! WE REFUSE TO!
The positive response was and continues to be much higher then those who disliked the idea - and the number of people discussing this in a good and respectful manner is too. No matter if they like it or not - most bloggers are tolerant and express their opinion wonderfully.
And I am grateful for that.
Just to name a few: Lorelle, Liz, Mihaela and Andy wrote some of the most touching and beautiful things about this event. I can´t thank you enough for your support.
And to all of the countless people who emailed me to support the idea I say THANK YOU! You are wonderful.
Some made new graphics about the One Day Blog Silence event. How nice from you!
And even MTV News.com supported us with a link? How weird and funny :)
( I thought about 2 minutes if it is ok for me to put a smilie on this post. Isn´t that sick?)
And finally I have to end with a email I received from someone very special that just came in the right moment and made me decide to write this post:
"I wanted to personally thank you. As you have seen on my two blog posts about the day of silence, there have been a lot of people in favor, but a huge vocal group against it. I'm sure you are being assaulted with such posts and comments.
I think what you are doing is huge and rise up above all of the small minds on the web. Thank you so much for your decision to bring this issue to the fore.
What is even more amazing is how much people are missing the point, and I wanted to make sure you knew that someone out in the fuss got it. I did.
By promoting such a day, you have encouraged discussion. Instead of gossiping and rumor mongering over the incident in Virginia and other tragedies in the world, people are talking. They are talking loudly, voicing an opinion against such violence, whether they know it or not.
The silence isn't about shutting up. It is definitely about talking. Talking before, after and around the issue. Exploring individual feelings and beliefs, taking a stand and possibly using their voice and their blogs to express it. That is SO exciting and I honor you for starting the conversation with your moment of silence.
Stand tall against those who do not want to do this because they have the narrow thought about silence equaling denial of speech. They are talking more than they ever would have otherwise. Thank you for that gift."
How great that this campaign for silence has already created so much positive noise.
Much power to you!
Steli Efti
UPDATE: The wonderful Florence Meichel created this blog for all the french bloggers who want to participate at the One Day Blog Silence event. Merci beaucoup!
On
April 30th 2007, the Blogosphere will hold a One-Day Blog Silence in
honor towards the victims of Virginia. 33 died at the US college
massacre.
We did our best. Now we need your help - Find out what to do.
