You have probably heard of this term in relationship articles that describe the vanishing act of people that you used to date and the silence that follows after that. You thought you were all great together and perfect for each other, and then one day your guy or girl vanishes from your world without a word of explanation. You desperately try to contact them, sit alone in your room and wreck your brain to try to figure out what went wrong, where you missed the warning signs, and what you did to upset them. But you have no answer because the other side is on radio silence mode. They say indifference is worse than hate. And I completely agree with that. People need to care enough to hate somebody. Whatever you have done that made them hate you mattered to them, and has hurt their feelings. With indifference, you do not even deserve to be hated. Whatever you think you have done wrong did not matter enough for them to give you a space of their minds for what you have done wrong. On the other way around, when people feel indifferent towards you, they do not take responsibility for their wrongdoings or acknowledge it. They do not care about what their actions did to you. And they complement that with radio silence to your pleads for answers, explanations and justice. And that just makes you crazy! The radio silence that follows can sometimes be worse than the wrong that was done to you.
I remember I used to hate the times I had to wait to hear about my exam results back in high school. I was not a bright student back then to tell the truth. So, for me, waiting to hear about my grades was traumatizing. But the funny thing is, right after I hear about my results, and it doesn’t matter if I completely failed, I feel complete peace and completely at ease. And I came to realize just how much knowing the worst is better than not knowing and waiting to hear about the worst.
I thought of bringing the issue of radio silence after reading an article on the Ethiopian Reporter about the silence treatment that the government gave to winners of the 20/80 government constructed condominium houses. Not being able to receive answers on the status of the houses is even worse than not being able to receive the titles on the houses. I read that a woman was not able to sleep at night because she wasn’t sure whether she actually had rights on the house she was told to have won. I am sure she would be better off knowing that she no longer has rights on the house than struggling to find peace of mind and sleep at night.
I have to say that our government has perfected the art of giving its citizens the radio silence treatment. We do not know for sure whether the national election will be held this year, we do not know for sure who was behind the bombing during the speech of our Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) in Meskel Square, we do not know for sure what happened to those behind the killing of the government officials, and the list goes on. And we have mastered the art of living in the dark and endless patience. I see too much indifference in the radio silence treatment. And one should care enough to respond to one’s pleads.
