Home > Arts & Culture > Silence is Not Golden
Silence is Not Golden
By Shoshanna Stern, California
Nothing annoys the bejesus out of me more than one phrase - "I don't know." It's an acceptable answer at times, because we don't always know everything, and we should never presume that we do. "I don't know" can be an honest answer.
"Untrue things can be turned into facts when no questions are asked and things are just accepted silently - when people don't care to know the truth." -Shoshanna Stern
But sometimes "I don't know" really means, "I don't care to know." Not caring to know promotes silence. Silence is the reason that only 38% of 18 to 24 year olds turned out to vote in the last election. Many of us didn't know enough to vote, but more importantly, most of us didn't care to know enough, and as a result, we lost our voice.
The reason why the phrase bothers me so much is because it's a phrase that is somewhat foreign to me. When my sister, brother and I were born, we represented the fourth generation in my family who were born deaf. Everyone crucial in my world used sign language from the day that I was born until the day that I left Gallaudet. Contrary to what you might think, however, my world has never been silent.
When you use a minority language, the opportunity to communicate is never taken for granted. Language is the foundation upon which the deaf community is built. Everything revolves around language as it is the only way to express our opinions and share our internal dialogue freely and fluidly. Because of that, I always had a voice, even though I didn't speak. People can speak without having an actual voice.
There are so many shows on television intended to spark dialogue. Weeds is that kind of show. In fact, I wanted to talk about the show even before I was booked for the role of Megan. The subject matter is controversial, and when I told friends I was going on an audition for a show about marijuana, you can't imagine the conversation it sparked.
Weeds deals with controversial topics like oral sex, but not in a preachy-if-you-do-this, then this will happen to you-Beverly-Hill- 90210ish way. While Megan didn't have a word to say in the audition, her character nonetheless has a strong, internal voice.
After two seasons working on the show, it's not hard to find people to talk about every plot twist, every monologue and every character. Weeds has positively impacted the public simply because it makes people talk - something that people should do everyday.
Eminem showed us that sometimes controversy can be the best way to start dialogues. Weeds has more than enough of that, but I don't think that's all it has. For every almost implausible thing that happens on the show, there's an underlying truth and vulnerability. Megan has drunk alcohol, smoked weed, tried ecstasy, and had plenty of sex on the show. What happens when these choices are made? Sometimes, nothing. Sometimes, lives are altered forever. But every choice is motivated by a reason, and that reason is always valid, no matter how stupid it might be.
Even though Megan is not a real person and her character is not who I am, I feel like I know her and understand her reasons for making the choices that she does. Megan is described as being slutty - something I remember boys saying about girls when I went to high school - something I remember being said about me when, in truth, I had yet to even kiss someone.
Untrue things can be turned into facts when no questions are asked and things are just accepted silently - when people don't care to know the truth. Is Megan even as sexually experienced as people think she is? I don't think so. Even if she had some experience in sexual areas, why should she be reduced to only that? Megan is also spunky, intelligent and she's strong.
She's also the only deaf person in her high school, and, seemingly in all of Agrestic - the place where she lives. She's automatically different from everyone else and this isolates and defines her. If she's not the slut, then she's the deaf girl. But if you remove that stigma, how is she really different from anybody else her age?
I remember feeling different from everybody else - that nobody could understand me. After thinking about it I realized that I was never "the deaf girl" because everyone else was deaf too. Almost everyone feels a kind of deaf isolation at some point in their lives. Caring to ask questions helped me trust
That's why I'm proud of Megan and of Weeds. When I watch the show with other people sometimes they laugh, sometimes they gasp, sometimes they groan. But most importantly, they talk. They have passionate opinions. They have discussions. They are not neutral about the show or about the choices that the characters make. Weeds is neutral about absolutely nothing and this breaks the silence. If you asked a viewer what they thought about Weeds after having they've seen it - they might say they loved it, they might say they hated it. But I don't think the answer will ever be, "I don't know."
Showtime’s hit series WEEDS airs with news episodes every Monday at 10PM. Its second season finale is October 30th.
