Whoever asks does not offend. Either you’re curious, or you know the answer.
Does silence satisfy curiosity? As. I have never had a teacher answer me with silence and I would have learned little if I had followed that method.
When the answer is known, silence represents a violent response by rejecting the question that explicitly aims to resolve a conflict.
Silence is also ignorance. Ignorance of self or others does not seem to me to be positive behavior in any of its extremes.
I am not able to see how silence as a response improves human relationships. Rather, I think it destroys them in any case, and I couldn’t blame those who want to express themselves.