4 ms·

Spiraling Self-Censorship in the United States

33 points by admiralspoo 6y ago

rbecker 6y ago
A few comments in that thread are guessing that it could be because the 1955 study might not have polled minorities. But they forget that even if that was the case, the US was only 11% non-White in 1955: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_racial_and_ethnic_demographics_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_racial_and_ethnic_d... So even if all of that 11% were to say they self-censored, it would only sum to 13.4% + 11% = 24.4%, compared to 2019's 40% self-censorship.
errantspark 6y ago
I'm guessing that as pg puts it, orthodox privilege was more widespread back then. I wasn't anywhere near being alive during McCarthyism but I would be surprised if this is a result of 2-4x greater pressure to self censor now vs 70 years back; but rather a result of a much more heterogeneous US population. Someone more familiar please fact check me on that though.
tdeck 6y ago
I expect survey responses like this are very context dependent. This makes me think of happiness research. In some countries, it's considered a bit self-indulgent and tacky to be happy all the time, whereas in others it's considered antisocial to be unhappy - you should be happy constantly. Guess which countries' citizens report higher levels of happiness when surveyed? That doesn't necessarily mean that those countries are happier, because there's this confounding variable of value judgment associated with the two answers. It's a lot "cooler" today to have edgy and polarizing opinions, so people make that a part of their identity. This is why even some people with mass media audiences in the millions complain constantly about how they're being silenced/censored. Imagine the reception such a complain would have gotten from a media personality (on their own show) in 1955 vs today.
- nojs 6y ago
  Can you give some examples of polarizing opinions that you think are considered “cool”?
  - tdeck 6y ago
    Sure, look at the self-styled "intellectual dark web".
    - nojs 6y ago
      (Genuinely curious) in what sense do you mean that it’s considered cool? I don’t think most of these people are treated with admiration and respect in popular culture in the way normally associated with the word “cool”.
addicted 6y ago
The simple reason this is true is because people didn’t hold very unorthodox viewpoints at the time. They didn’t really feel space sores because US society all largely agreed on everything. It was the 60s the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement that led to large numbers of Americans questioning the US and the orthodoxy. In the decade or so following the end of WW2 Americans did not really hold views that were outside the norm.

33 points by admiralspoo 6y ago

A few comments in that thread are guessing that it could be because the 1955 study might not have polled minorities. But they forget that even if that was the case, the US was only 11% non-White in 1955: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_racial_and_ethnic_demographics_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_racial_and_ethnic_d... So even if all of that 11% were to say they self-censored, it would only sum to 13.4% + 11% = 24.4%, compared to 2019's 40% self-censorship.

errantspark 6y ago

I'm guessing that as pg puts it, orthodox privilege was more widespread back then. I wasn't anywhere near being alive during McCarthyism but I would be surprised if this is a result of 2-4x greater pressure to self censor now vs 70 years back; but rather a result of a much more heterogeneous US population. Someone more familiar please fact check me on that though.

tdeck 6y ago

I expect survey responses like this are very context dependent. This makes me think of happiness research. In some countries, it's considered a bit self-indulgent and tacky to be happy all the time, whereas in others it's considered antisocial to be unhappy - you should be happy constantly. Guess which countries' citizens report higher levels of happiness when surveyed? That doesn't necessarily mean that those countries are happier, because there's this confounding variable of value judgment associated with the two answers. It's a lot "cooler" today to have edgy and polarizing opinions, so people make that a part of their identity. This is why even some people with mass media audiences in the millions complain constantly about how they're being silenced/censored. Imagine the reception such a complain would have gotten from a media personality (on their own show) in 1955 vs today.

nojs 6y ago
Can you give some examples of polarizing opinions that you think are considered “cool”?
- tdeck 6y ago
  Sure, look at the self-styled "intellectual dark web".
  - nojs 6y ago
    (Genuinely curious) in what sense do you mean that it’s considered cool? I don’t think most of these people are treated with admiration and respect in popular culture in the way normally associated with the word “cool”.

addicted 6y ago

The simple reason this is true is because people didn’t hold very unorthodox viewpoints at the time. They didn’t really feel space sores because US society all largely agreed on everything. It was the 60s the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement that led to large numbers of Americans questioning the US and the orthodoxy. In the decade or so following the end of WW2 Americans did not really hold views that were outside the norm.