“Silence is praise.”

“Silence is praise.” is the editorial mantra Lindy West learned during her first week at The Stranger to understand Dan Savage’s approach to editing. It turns the absence of feedback into a sign of success, while its dry humor reflects an editor whose interventions were infrequent but unmistakable.

Meaning and Use

The phrase was offered to West as a way to manage expectations about Savage as an editor. Its rule is simple: “As long as you don’t know he exists, you’re killing it.” Silence therefore does not signify neglect or disapproval; it means the work has not given Savage a reason to step in. The mantra makes nonintervention legible as approval, even when approval is never directly spoken.

Editorial Context

Savage was not in the office consistently. He traveled for months at a time, but periodically ran productive, boisterous meetings, questioned local politicians at candidate interviews, or emerged with a precise instruction for a story that had stalled. Against that pattern, the mantra describes a workplace in which editorial authority could remain out of sight and then arrive with force. Its advice is practical because his presence was intermittent, and comic because success is measured by not attracting it.

Irony and Significance

The phrase sounds reassuring, but it offers no explicit praise to hold onto: the employee must infer approval from the editor’s silence. That tension suits the account of Savage’s management. West recalls a culture shaped by him even when he was absent, alongside a distinctive editorial sense for pointed satire and disobedience. “Silence is praise.” compresses that combination into a workplace rule: the editor’s influence is felt both in what he says and in the silence that means he has nothing to correct.