Preserving silence paradoxically requires inviting people into it

Evidence

Many people have been critical of my effort to save silence by inviting people to One Square Inch and posting its very location on my website. There is no other choice. Either silence changes us or silence will go extinct. If one thousand people walk silently to OSI in a month, could we ask for any greater tribute? Surely the silence of the Hoh Valley would walk out with us. — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 1704

Categorization

• SEED: An essay angle: the paradox of conservation that succeeds through visitation rather than exclusion.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 1704
• XREF: connects to: Silence is an active presence that must be experienced, not imagined — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 26; A park’s central feature can be a building dedicated to silence — Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic Environment…, 852; Secrecy suppresses knowledge, enforcing historical amnesia. — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 1085 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Silence is an active presence that must be experienced, not imagined #expands (0.75) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 26