Oh, pardon me ... what I meant was, do you belong to the Vocal Minority or the Silent Majority? The government believes that the Vocal Minority (VM) are the pain-in-the-arses who are "losers" that make all the noise. The Silent Majority (SM) must then be "winners" who make no noise at all.
According to the Wikipedia, the term Silent Majority is a hypothetical large number of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly. It was first used by Richard Nixon in 1969 to refer to those Americans who did not join in the large demonstrations against the Vietnam War at the time, engage in riots and attack the police, join in the counter-culture or participate enthusiastically in public discourse or the media.
In short, the Silent Majority keeps quiet on everything that happens around them. There's no leader or no follower amongst them. The Silent Majority is just a term, a loose phrase, not a registered society or body.
So I am confused. Last week, I noticed these two reports in our two mainstream English language newspapers:
I don't know what's happening but who are these folks who claim to speak for the Silent Majority? If they are so silent, why are they making a statement now? Aren't they contradicting themselves? And do I need them to represent me? No, thank you. I never elected or chose you to represent me. Don't claim to represent me. And if you don't represent me, don't claim to speak on my behalf. Go away, shoo! You just make yourself a laughing stock. Silent majority, indeed! Just shut up, okay?
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