For Many Americans, Cancel Culture is Self-InflictedPeople not only conceal their true beliefs, but often mouth opinions they don’t hold.
J.D. TUCCILLE
8.24.2022
Free societies emphasize the ability to voice opinions and debate with those who disagree without fear of penalty. Political systems that punish people for espousing "wrong" ideas are unfree no matter how they try to justify the constraints they impose on speech. But what happens when a society retains the forms of freedom, but its culture becomes intolerant of dissent and imposes unofficial penalties on those who stray in their public statements? Americans are finding out what it means to live that way with the resurgence of an old flaw called out early in this country's history.
"Social pressure to have the 'right' opinion is pervasive in America today," notes Populace, a social-research organization, in a report published this summer. "In recent years, polls have consistently found that most Americans, across all demographics, feel they cannot share their honest opinions in public for fear of offending others or incurring retribution."
"One important, but underappreciated, consequence of a culture of censorship is that it can lead individuals not only to self-silence, but also publicly misrepresent their own private views (what scholars call preference falsification)," the authors add.
Given the events of recent years, it's no surprise that some big disconnects are over COVID-19 responses and the management of public schools, which have become merciless battlefields.
"A majority of people say publicly that mask wearing was effective, but they don't believe it in private," Populace notes. "Whereas 59 percent of Americans publicly agree that wearing a mask was an effective way to stop the spread of COVID-19, only 47 percent privately hold that view (a 12-point gap)."
The pressures people face vary by demographic group. Americans of parenting age often feel compelled to take public stances at odds with their private beliefs as to what goes on in classrooms.
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These varying pressures can exaggerate disagreements in weird ways, as white and black Americans feel conflicting social pressure when it comes to the opinions they voice about the treatment of race.
"About 1 in 2 White Americans (50 percent) agrees public schools focus too much on racism in the U.S., but only 38 percent agree with the same statement when granted privacy through a list experiment. The opposite effect holds true for Black Americans—despite 16 percent of Black Americans agreeing with the statement publicly, more than one-quarter (28 percent) agree privately."
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"As Milosz had himself observed about intellectuals under totalitarianism, the need for survival often involved more than just keeping your mouth shut. Tough moments could often arise where you had to make positive, public affirmations of loyalty and even enthusiasm," the late Christopher Hitchens commented in 2004 about the Polish writer and diplomat Czeslaw Milosz, who defected to the West in 1951. Milosz's The Captive Mind (1953) is a classic study of oppressive political systems.
But Milosz described societies in which dissidents could be arrested, imprisoned, or shot for challenging acceptable opinion. That's not the case in the United States of 2022. Instead of secret police, Americans face Twitter mobs, sniffy neighbors, outraged co-workers, and upset bosses. That's enough to nudge many people to conform with the prevailing views in their communities so as to avoid opprobrium. It's an unfortunate weakness, but one observed about this country long ago.
"I know of no country where, in general, there reigns less independence of mind and true freedom of discussion than in America," Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in Volume 2, Chapter 7, of Democracy in America. "In America, the majority draws a formidable circle around thought. Within these limits, the writer is free; but woe to him if he dares to go beyond them. It isn't that he has to fear an auto-da-fé, but he is exposed to all types of distasteful things and to everyday persecutions."
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Source:
https://reason.com/2022/08/24/for-many-americans-cancel-culture-is-self-inflicted/
