Welcome to the State of Complaintless-ness

The ramifications of saying nothing were not thoroughly considered.

There should have been some mathematical formula inserted for careful study and examination; like the absence of complaint (-c) over time (t) will give rise to (=) inequality (i) and much greater (>>) silencing of the masses (mˢ). It is positively eerie that this has become a global norm that not one mathematician to my knowledge has routinely highlighted as having common jurisdictional subsets. Perhaps they too are fearful of repercussions i.e. scared shitless; and rightly so.

All over the world, governments, republics, monarchies, establishments and the like in both the public and private sector, want you to just shut up___as in stop complaining! Your voices raised in dissent and protest will not be tolerated at all in some corners of the globe, and can be systematically but equitably obliterated through bureaucracy and red tape during formal grievance procedure or legislative process should you wish to pursue it in others.

Admit it. At some point in your life, didn’t you have that one friend or relative that found a way to make every sentence they uttered a gripe in one way or another? Didn’t you really wish you could be anywhere else at the time, or at least block out the blah-blah-blabbity-blah-blah-blah??? Confession time: Yes, it was annoying. Yes, it made you at times question your reason for living. It did not however, require drastic action which restricted personal freedoms, because at some point in your life’s journey, you recognised that everyone deserved the right to express themselves as long as they harmed no one else by doing so.

Protest against unfavourable conditions is a part of the natural order of existence and arguably a useful characteristic of sentient beings. As infants we cried when distressed to bring a parent/carer to our rescue to alleviate our discomfort. To this day it still generates utter desolation in me to remember how my college sociology lecturer explained how babies would eventually stop crying altogether when they continued to experience unanswered sobs. The acceptance of futility for basic needs desecrates the quintessential sanctity of life.

Sometimes all you have is your voice.

The history of humanity is rife with individual and collective authority that sought to stifle protest in whatever form, and when that did not have the desired effect; suffocate it.

It’s not easy reading.

So how could it have been easy living for Shady Habash, a 24 year old filmmaker who died on May 2, 2020 in an Egyptian prison held for two years without trial, and arrested after directing a music video which criticised President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi by calling him…wait for it…a liar?

No easier for Wang Quanzhang a human rights lawyer in China who defended political activists and victims of land seizures, for which he was jailed for four and a half years and to date lives in confinement under surveillance away from his family.

And the opposition to countless black deaths which continued to a tipping point of an unarmed black 18 yr. old Michael Brown shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri; contributing to the start of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign, could surely by sheer mass crack the outer crust and mantle of the earth plunging the virtual page you are reading through to the inner core of the planet.

I live in a jurisdiction that has enacted legislation to protect whistle-blowers.

I would highly recommend brandishing this statutory documentation when confronted by the overwhelming forces opposed to you opening your mouth, so that business can continue as per usual without the interference of an investigation, or media attention, or having to resolve issues.

Yeah.

Exactly.

A national regulatory body reported that many in the sector face a culture of fear, through intimidation and bullying for speaking out at work. What kind of message does that send, and more importantly how can people feel supported and protected through the process should they choose to raise a concern? So more often than not, silence becomes the norm. It is a thick, heavy, insidious stillness that so thoroughly permeates those in its environment, that often they will turn a blind eye to avoid all knowledge of impropriety, thus eliminating any feelings of cognitive dissonance. When you haven’t seen anything, you don’t have to engage your conscience. Right?

There are huge worldwide stakes on the line, as a significant segment of ruling authorities have by definitive action made a declaration in favour of a state of complaintless-ness.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enacted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 protects freedom of expression in all of its forms, to all of humanity. But here’s the funny but simple thing about laws, regulations, policies and such; they are made by people, and only people can ensure compliance of them.

Now that you have this perspective, the real clear-cut truth about this ‘ball-in-your-court’ scenario, is that the actions of each of the planet’s 7.8 billion people will return the serve based on their response from this moment. So, the question is will you defend a basic human right to speak out minus threat of harm, torture, imprisonment or death, or will you just shut up?