Chapter 29 Spiral of Silence

After discussing this theory in class, and really putting some thought into it, I began thinking of times when I either caught myself or someone else getting wrapped into the spiral of silence. I began thinking of the awkward middle school years when the social scene had a huge effect on one's life. There were numerous instances in middle school were there would be a certain person or group that would have an opinion about someone or something else, and I can remember going along with that because I was afraid to be singled out. Instead of voicing my own opinion I stayed quiet and went along with the rest of the group. By doing this I got caught up in the spiral of silence because I was afraid of being isolated. As time has past I have (for the most part) grown out of that because I have gained more confidence in myself. That goes along with the theory's 6 reasons for being more willing to speak out. Along with that you then have the vocal minority, the hard core, and the avaunt-garde. One example that first comes to mind when I think of the hard core is a man that is from my home town who you often time see walking around passing out fliers or holding up signs saying "the end is near", or asking questions of whether or not you have been saved. He is an example of the hard core group because he has already been isolated from everyone else, so he therefore has nothing to lose by doing this and expressing his views and opinions. When I think of the avaunt-garde I think of people like Melissa Etherage, who speaks out and writes music expressing her views on things like global warming, and even Pamela Anderson who is a spokeswomen for P.I.T.A. They are considered the avaunt-garde because they are speaking out for the better of our society and country, they are new age.