Silence Is Violence

About

Silence Is Violence, also known as Silence Is Violence Mute People, refers to a series of exploitable image macro memes revolved around how the phrase “silence is violence” can be used to create humorous circumstances in certain contexts. Memes typically include an exploitable featuring a protester holding a sign that reads “silence is violence” with another object labeling meme below showing the reaction of different people based on the quote. It’s typically used in the context of deaf or mute individuals, but can also be attributed to those known for not being silent. The phrase and such memes saw a resurgence during the protests that occurred following the death of George Floyd in late May 2020.

Origin

The use of “silence is violence” among social justice movements has been seen for many years, particularly surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, though the exact origins are unknown. The expression is used by members of these movements to attribute inaction to endorsement by not speaking out. In memes, some of the earliest examples relating the expression to deaf or mute individuals can be seen as early as 2019. One such example comes from Redditor^[1] MrPickles455 who posted a version on December 24th, 2019, to the r/memes subreddit under the title, “Deaf people living in a whole world of violence.” The meme (seen below) received over 31,000 upvotes and 100 comments.

Spread

On February 26th, 2020, Redditor^[2] Berzeck0 posted a variant using the photo of the protester’s sign to the r/Animemes sub, where it received over 6,200 upvotes and 30 comments. Redditor^[3] jonathanosv posted another example to the r/Animemes sub on February 27th, 2020, receiving over 12,700 upvotes and 90 comments (shown below).

Following the resurgence of the phrase in June 2020 during the George Floyd protests, the meme began reappearing online once again. Redditor^[4] RedCactusOwl posted one such example to the r/memes sub on June 7th, 2020, receiving over 24,000 upvotes and 61 comments. On June 8th, 2020, Redditor^[5] coltellochiave posted a version to the r/memes sub depicting a heavy metal singer’s reaction, which was upvoted over 83,000 times and commented on 600 times (seen below).

On June 8th, 2020, Redditor^[6] lissandraiceborn posted a meme using the photo of the sign to the r/memes subreddit under the title, “Bad teacher ruins your life,” receiving over 1,600 upvotes (shown below).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References