Silent majorities think but have been deprived of the means of speaking

Evidence

I would say quite the opposite. The silent majorities do think; if they do not speak, it may be because we have taken their speech away from them, deprived them of the means of enunciation, not because they have nothing to say. I would argue that, in spite of the fact that the popular masses have never been able to become in any complete sense the subject-authors of the cultural practices in the twentieth century, their continuing presence, as a kind of passive historical-cultural force, has constantly interrupted, limited, and disrupted everything else. It is as if the masses have kept a secret to themselves while the intellectuals keep running around in circles trying to make out what it is, what is going on. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 732 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

They do not see me. It is broad daylight and many of the children are looking right at me. But they don’t—they can’t—see me. — Crews, Harry, A childhood the biography of a place, 387 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Masses stay silent because speech is taken away, not because of emptiness — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 732; Silent tragedies can be experienced yet remain unseen by others. — Crews, Harry, A childhood the biography of a place, 387; Universalizing black intellectuals abandon the masses who lack voice. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 661 (+5 more)

Related

• Masses stay silent because speech is taken away, not because of emptiness (similarity 0.88)
• Universalizing black intellectuals abandon the masses who lack voice. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Masses stay silent because speech is taken away, not because of emptiness #corroborates (0.90) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 732
• Silent tragedies can be experienced yet remain unseen by others. #expands (0.35) — Crews, Harry, A childhood the biography of a place, 387