Thomas Weiss, a professor, coined the term 'anticipatory silence' to describe the behavior of international aid groups that remain silent amidst severe budget cuts by the Trump administration. These groups have been accused of wastefulness, leading to the halting of vital programs for HIV prevention, clean water provision, and child nutrition. Weiss links this silence to 'anticipatory obedience', which is when individuals adapt their behavior in hopes of appeasing a repressive authority without being explicitly instructed. This adaptation carries risks of normalizing authoritarian practices within society.
"Anticipatory silence describes behaving in a way the administration wants you to behave only without any specific demands to do so."
"Adapting can be a dangerous slippery slope to authoritarianism... The more people who get on this anticipatory obedience and anticipatory silence, the more dangerous it is."
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