Self-censorship and the ‘spiral of silence’: Why Americans are less likely to publicly voice their opinions on political issues
"I’m a political scientist, and I found that Americans were far less likely to publicly voice their opinions than even during the height of the McCarthy-era Red Scare."
Link: James L. Gibson at The Conversation.
Americans are apparently withholding their political views more than ever before:
"About three to four times more Americans said they did not feel free to express themselves, compared with the number of those who said so during the McCarthy era."
Lest you think this is about people who harbor bigoted opinions feeling like they're less able to share them, it's not:
"Fearful of consequences, many people are withholding their views on Israel – whether Israel has committed war crimes, for instance, or whether Israeli members of government should be sanctioned – because they fear being branded as antisemitic.
Many Americans are also biting their tongues when it comes to DEI, affirmative action and even whether political tolerance is essential for democracy."
It's hard to know exactly how to unpick this. One of the challenges that the internet has brought with it is that we can be exposed to the political opinions of our friends and neighbors more than ever before, often with a knee-jerk "they think what?!" response. Another challenge is that dunking on people via social media, rather than engaging in conversation with them, is celebrated.
That's not to say that every opinion should be granted oxygen or debate. Sometimes an opinion really is just bigotry, and platforming it for discussion just serves to elevate it to a legitimacy that it doesn't deserve. But surely we should all be able to discuss the effects of the Israeli occupation of Gaza or why diversity, equity, and inclusion are important. And if we can't, where does that lead us, and can we really consider ourselves to have anything close to either democracy or the right to free expression?
[Link]
