If being silenced is really beginning to unnerve you, then you could always follow the example of many cartoon characters and turn your silence into a virtue which will have your followers loving every unspoken moment and your detractors falling over themselves to act upon your unspoken words of wisdom.
Take Dumbo for example. Whilst ridiculed for his huge ears, he spoke volumes through his hugely expressive eyes: try cultivating those kind of looks next time your detractors try to silence you into submission. It might not work on the hardest of hearts but you’ll develop a great fan base on Instagram and win you a lot of popularity far and wide. If that doesn’t work, just grow your ears to unbelievable proportions and you’ll get to fly around the world with your wondrous stories of expanding ears.
If the Dumbo Strategy doesn’t work, you could always opt for the Gromit Strategy. His silence highlights his intense intelligence and wordly-wise-ness. He doesn’t need to speak, bark or yap: he just has to look at you, quizzically raise one stop-mo eyebrow and you’ll follow his every bidding, convinced he’s the brightest spark in the show and worth following, however much silence he holds. Great for those strategy meetings when everyone all around you is barking, woofing or yapping.
Of course, if cutesy silent animals aren’t your bag, then you could do a lot worse than opt for the Maggie Simpson Strategy. Despite her silence, Maggie is frequently the focus of many episodes of The Simpsons and as such becomes the engine which drives the narrative with such a ferociousness logic you’re left gasping for breath at the end of the episode. She’s also clearly the most intelligent one in the Simpson Household / Springfield / World that it’s no wonder the writers muted her. Just imagine the havoc she could wreak if she were allowed to speak!
The Mighty Creatives staff team are going to support the campaign by taking part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, on the 5th October. If you want to join us on the day and take a vow of silence, then please check out the campaign here.
Of if the thought of donating your silence for 24 hours is really too much, then you can donate your hard-earned disposable income here.
Or if neither of these is possible (and heaven knows we’re all in tough financial times right now), then anything you can do to share and shout about the campaign would be equally welcome and appreciated.
So… come and help me to shut up, once and for all. You know you want to.
Dr Nick Owen MBE PLUS 