Sometimes I wonder how he gets his message out so quickly. I got his e-mail only hours after the event took place.

I can relate to both sides of the argument and often wonder why my father-in-law goes hunting just once or twice a year to retain his hunting license.

I know people who have been out in Iraq, both from the UK and from Poland, and I can relate to all kinds of other issues as well.

In many ways for this post I am a conveyor of information, and at the same time taking a day off from blogging just means I will end up doing something else important, such as spending more time with my wife.

One thing to note, as a marketer and a blogger you quite often tune into the wavelength of your readers and customers.

I know that if I was to write a post about a Polish children’s charity, I would hardly see any traffic or donations, but the moment I heard of the “hardship” of some internet marketers in New Orleans, I dropped $100 donation to a collection without thinking about it.

I wonder if this day of silence would have been called if the event hadn’t happened on US soil, to US citizens. I am NOT saying I begrudge them for this initiative… not at all. I support it completely.

But we should have the courage and honesty to acknowledge that this kind of carnage is happening DAILY in Iraq (to Iraqis), in Africa, against political dissidents in China, and so forth… and I don’t see days of silence initiated for these.

And what is happening in, say, Iraq is no less obscene, no less painful for human beings, no less taxing on our sense of humanity… it’s just not so “immediate”.

The Iraqi situation doesn’t get the day of silence because we’re all “over it”, which is to me as much a tragedy.

If the tragedy at VA Tech stops us blogging, then well and good. It may well be a very appropriate thing for many to do. But what about next week when we’ve done that and then another completely innocent 60-or-so Iraqis doing their daily shopping in a marketplace get blown up by a deeply disturbed suicide bomber?

My point is only to ask for people to weigh human lives on the SAME scales every time… not the scale of their own personal emotional response, but something more objective than that, where an Iraqi life (for example) weighs the same as a US one, or an Aussie one, and is honoured accordingly.

Again… I have no problems with this expression of grief/respect, but where are the similar blog(ger) memorials for innocent Iraqis slaughtered on a daily basis (for example)?

The imbalance of it all screams out at me, and I can’t not say so.

-Alister

Collective actions by a large number of participants can effect social change. The U.S. civil rights movement in the 1950s is a good example of what happens when groups of people share similar objectives and speak out at the same time. There’s power in collective social behavior.

What would happen if everyone blogged about their personal experiences or thoughts on violence in that one day? I’m sure this would have a large impact on numerous blog readers or internet users out there. A permanent post on a blog can lasts for years and the act of sharing or the statement against violence extends indefinitely across the social conscience, at least on the internet.

I totally respect the One day of Silence movement but given an option I would rather have a one day of protest. But like I’ve said, it’s just my pro-active personality and this has always been my way of dealing with stuff like that.

Vlad a compromise like you speak of would work just as well. If people want to blog against violence on that day I think they should. What would be nice to see however is a small acknowledgement of those who are observing a silence. People grieve in different ways, at the very least we can be repectful to one another.

You’re comments were nothing but respectful, which is a refreshing change from some of the messages I’ve been dealing with today.

“What is the point of attacking people who do?”

Daniel, I was attacing no one. Please read my comment again, I was just expressing my opinion and either way (blogging or being silence) I will remeber Virginia TECH.

Thank you for supporting the initiative, Andy.