Tony Cooper
Consider the situation where you are sitting there eating your breakfast and your wife loosens a tirade of charges that you don't pick up your dirty laundry from the floor, don't help out around the house, and spend too much time on the computer. You sit there in stony silence and continue to eat your Croonchy Stars. You offer no response.

Are you not ignoring her?

Sandman
Of course. But if I have my headset on at the time and didn't hear her, then I'm not.

Me ignoring her is a choice and an action, even though I am passive as far as speech or response goes. One can be passive with regards to something while at the same time being active with regards to something. You slouching on the sofa means you're passive in term of movement, but you're actively learning something from the book you're actively reading.