So Thursday Nov. 30, there was this little event on campus called “Silent Solidarity.”

For those of you who don’t know what it is, or who didn’t know that it was happening, it is an annual event participated in by hundreds of students. The students wear T-shirts that say “Silent Solidarity,” and are representing a group in society who doesn’t have a voice, and so the students don’t talk for the entire day. The point is to raise “awareness.”

When they say people who don’t have voices, they mean groups like the homeless, minorities, the elderly, bad singers who try out on American Idol, etc. The unrepresented sectors of society.

Now. Maybe it’s just me, but does anyone else think that the idea of raising awareness by not talking is kind of, I don’t know, stupid? The idea of not talking to raise awareness for these voiceless people has about the same effect as collecting placebos for the sick.

I’m sure that I’ll get hate mail asking how I could make fun of something as noble and earth impacting as Silent Solidarity, but blah, blah, blah. Hey Gandhi, you wore a freaking t-shirt and didn’t talk for a few hours, it’s not like you went on a hunger strike for world peace or walked across the country.

And these groups who don’t have voices, such as the homeless: oh yeah, we never hear about the homeless, only every single day for the entire month of December. Aside from that, the only time we ever hear about groups who don’t have voices, and people who are oppressed, and who have been screwed by the system are in EVERY SINGLE COLLEGE CLASS KNOWN TO MAN.

I’m not even saying that being “aware” of these groups is a bad thing, but seriously, not talking for a day – does anyone really care? Again, maybe I shouldn’t say all of this, but if I were to silence myself in my disdain for Silent Solidarity, and thus take away my own voice, would that not be contradictory to the entire premise of the event?

They raise several thousand dollars to buy the T-shirts with. Wouldn’t that money be better spent going to an actual cause, as opposed to going towards “raising awareness?” Especially when the thing they’re raising awareness for is as broad and ubiquitous as every “silent” group known to man.

I hate to break it to you, but there are always going to be voiceless groups. Furthermore, even if everything is “equal” like in communism, for instance, a lot of those places don’t have freedom of religion, so even their people don’t have voices.

I’m not saying this fact should be celebrated, but it is reality. There are a couple groups whose being silenced could actually be good, such as the University of Toledo. Then there’s the elderly, they’re all going to die soon, who really cares what they think? (Shout out to all of my friends in the gerontology department ” if you can hear me.)

Maybe you participated and you have a new appreciation for the oppressed, and it has completely changed your outlook on life, and you learned a valuable lesson from the event. If that is the case, I can respect that. In all sincerity, I can. Otherwise, I think it’s relatively pointless. But it is not my point to offend people.

You could fire off an angry e-mail, or you could not send an e-mail, and hope that awareness of your hatred of this column is raised.