In Silence and the Notion of the Commons, Ursula Franklin that modern sound technologies have created too much false silence, particularly in the common place like shops. The problem Franklin discusses is that no one seems to notice or care that their silence is being taken away from them without their consent. Nobody gave stores permission to play background music all the time, but they do it anyway, stealing people's silence in which they can think. Stealing people's silence is done as a way of manipulation with background sound so stores can sell more and people can be influenced to feel a certain way at sporting events. Franklin argues that silence is valuable and people should fight to perserve it. She asks why people aren't fighting for their right to silence like they fight for all other rights because silence is valuable. The Quakers believe that silence was necessary for people to worship, true silence that is. The problem with today is that many instances of silence are false silences, created by people shouting through microphones or megaphones so that a particular audience can be easily taught one idea. People are being robbed of their right to silence and no one even seems to notice what has been lost, what has been taken from them without their permission.
"Silence, in addition to being an absence of sound, is defined by a listener, by hearing" (Franklin 643).
Silence is generally defined as the absence of sound, no more or less than that. A person must be present, a listening person, in order for there to be a definition of silence. Sound must be known before silence can be.
"But in many cases silence is not taken on voluntarily and it is this false silence of which I am afraid" (Franklin 643).
Franklin goes on to define this false silence as the silence forced upon people by loudspeakers and megaphones. This silence is unnatural. It's there so people can experience a singular planned event instead of experiencing life as it would normally be.
"... we also have the right not to be assaulted by sound, and in particular, not to be assaulted by sound that is there solely for the purpose of profit" (Franklin 645).
Sometimes sound is piped into stores so people feel happy and want to buy things. In doing this, the store takes people's silence away and assaults its shoppers with sounds, just for the sake of profit. The use of the word "assault" is an interesting choice because assault has a violent connotation and generally background store music isn't thought of as violent.
"We are programmed. And we don't even ask for a quiet space anymore" (Franklin 646).
Do we really never ask for quiet spaces anymore? Isn't this too extreme? Some people prefer to study in silence or do work in silence.
"Flying is no longer a big deal, but a handmade dress or a home-cooked meal may well be special" (Franklin 645).
Once again, isn't this too extreme of a statement? Some people could get home-cooked meals almost every night, but are rarely ever on planes, yet they're still one-hundred percent involved in the modern world.
(I didn't know how to cite this source, like the Eiseley one, without a copy right page.)
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