Some people are learning not to speak up and in academia, this is typically how one is coached: do not say anything, all you will do is ruin your credibility as a reasonable person.
I disagree and I think people should learn that to speak up, you do not have to be outraged or impassioned. Just register a view.
Of course if you are feeling outraged and making impassioned speeches about misconceptions, then you are wasting time. Asking the legal system to be reliably just, for example, is not reasonable or realistic, and those who expect legality and justice to be the same are poorly informed.
Otherwise I am convinced that one reason inanity persists is that people consider it unwise to protest.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
Yes! Great post. I also wonder whether those being coached not to say anything or disagree with anything realise that they are allowing an environment to grow whereby one group or view predominates…this is how its possible to have extreme things such as dicatorships. Why? Well, if people are refusing to speak up or register their view then they’re stop even questioning what they are hearing/listening to.
Academic culture is very conformist.
Maybe the “don’t speak up” dictum just means don’t get all hot every day and don’t put your foot in your mouth … and people take it literally, to mean one should be utterly silent?
Good point about academic culture being conformist but the problem is that by becoming acclimatized to not saying anything could mean that academics who should be speaking up, don’t do so when they really ought to.
The fear of speaking up is grounded in reality. I was punished for speaking my mind in an academic setting, but I am glad I did it anyway. I may not have gotten any prizes, but I saved my personal integrity.
Integrity, yes although as I say, I am not talking about being indiscreet, or going off on uninformed rants. I would also say one can be “punished” for the look in one’s eye, or have bad things happen even if one is obedient and quiet.
True enough, but there were really things going on that were not right, and someone had to say something. I had less to lose than most, that’s all. It wasn’t really a matter of courage.
There were law suits going on and other really bad stuff.
Yes, someone had to say something. And this whole culture of “discretion” works really well to keep people in their places…
It’s true, everything you say is true. And it pisses me off. But at a certain point, someone without power and already marginalized by race/sex/class/disability can only say so much without jeopardizing their position.
Yes, but the last person who said, in my presence, that he was afraid is a white male able bodied tenured dean.
But isn’t this also possibly bullying if people aren’t speaking out for fear of retribution of some sort especially if they’re already marginalized?
Ah yes, well that’s just BS.
Yes. And him saying it is just part of the machine. Someone in a safe position needs to say they are not afraid.
@Anthea, yes, these are my views. I do not believe one actually has anything to lose. (badacademic2 may have, but that dean, I am not at all convinced.)
All the Dean has to lose is power, prestige, and being accepted with the in-crowd who don’t want to rock the boat b/c they are benefitting.