As one of those "highly educated" mentioned here, I can state that I'm firmly swallowed up by the "spiral of silence." I hold at least half a dozen views that could get me fired or otherwise affect my reputation. They're humane, reasonable views of a centrist bent, overall. They're at least debatable. I used to debate them freely with all comers in the 80s, 90s and 00s. No longer.
In the US, people seem to be uncomfortable with the notion that multiple points around an issue or argument can be true at the same time. There seems to be a sort of default tribalism and assumption that one side will be completely right and the other wrong. More and more it seems like discussions are more about identifying your tribe rather than engaging in an actual debate or cooperative discovery of truths.
I got into a heated debate with my roommate in college once about whether truth was binary or a spectrum. He felt very strongly that things were simply true or false and that you couldn't quantify a statement with some kind of partial truth value. He was a philosophy major and a strong Christian, but I suspect that his religious background made him feel this way about truth.
This is all to say that I think many Americans have a simplistic view of truth and are uncomfortable debating in an open and vulnerable way. Individuals are held to a ridiculous standard and punished for ever contradicting their tribe or self-hypocrisy of any kind. Take Biden for example, the media contrasts who he was thirty years ago with who he is today, hunting for hypocrisy stories. Identifying "flip-flops" in politics became an obsession of the media for years. Instead of celebrating personal improvement in thought and changing beliefs, we punish them. I think these attitudes corrupt politics and professional lives.
So I'm not surprised that as people become more educated, they're more aware of these attitudes in American life and avoid speaking their mind to avoid ridicule and professional or political punishment. In America, among strangers and in media, when someone speaks their mind and is wrong in any way, the response is more often "you're an idiot" rather than "I disagree and here's why"; there's always a focus more on what the person is wrong about and picking it apart in a righteous and punitive way.
On Facebook, when I see someone in my network post a very dubious meme, I can ask, ‘what is your source for that information?’ And get a response of the sort like ‘I see it with my own eyes.’ I can also find a a source refuting said meme and get a response that the source in question is part of the bias fake media or something to the like. I know this is slightly different than self-censorship of my own views, but it does create a ‘why bother?’ attitude if we can’t even live in the same epistemological universe.
Intellectual elitism may cause self-censorship in that as we become more educated the idea that opposing views are either stupid or evil or both is reinforced. Why engage in debate with stupid people when my friends and I are clearly correct? It feeds my ego far more to preach to the choir and have all my view points reflected back at me. Great article, thank you.
Two of my few old friendships (25 and 30+- year long ones) have been damaged, perhaps irreparably, as a consequence of my sharing an Obama-ordered study on policing deemed by tjose friends to be dangerous and biased. Meanwhile, these ivy-educated friends'
politics are informed exclusively by opinion pieces and emotions. These bright women not only disregard facts and data... they also lack any meaningful professional or personal experiences to inform their views. My experiences (vast compared to theirs, but admittedly limited) are supported by data and, to me, suggest that BLM is a less than ideal force for change. There is no question that I care more about, have invested more in and am more passionately about using current social momentum to achieve a more equitable, just, and compassionate world - even the friends in question would admit that. But those are dated hippie ideals these days.
I asked the friend I was closest to to explain why she was suddenly so dismissive of my thoughts and experiences... asked how I could change my behavior or communication style to make our Zoom chats go more smoothly. She explained: because of coronavirus, everyone is mad and exhausted. They (and she) want to vent about Trump and to explore their newly discovered woke fragility. Hating Trump and taking the opposite of his every stance with religious fervor makes them feel good. Facts and nuances bore them at best. And frankly, the virtue signalling you may have already started to imagine bores me no less.
Until about January, I had thought I shared their sentiments about Trump, but it's clear that my disapproval pales in comparison to theirs, which is of an ilk that requires no reflection, no considerationonly... only hostillity and conviction.
My oldest friend in the group passive-aggressively and ominously encouraged me to keep my thoughts and studies to myself. So that's what I've done... that, and - despite how risky it feels - joining this forum.
As one of those "highly educated" mentioned here, I can state that I'm firmly swallowed up by the "spiral of silence." I hold at least half a dozen views that could get me fired or otherwise affect my reputation. They're humane, reasonable views of a centrist bent, overall. They're at least debatable. I used to debate them freely with all comers in the 80s, 90s and 00s. No longer.
In the US, people seem to be uncomfortable with the notion that multiple points around an issue or argument can be true at the same time. There seems to be a sort of default tribalism and assumption that one side will be completely right and the other wrong. More and more it seems like discussions are more about identifying your tribe rather than engaging in an actual debate or cooperative discovery of truths.
I got into a heated debate with my roommate in college once about whether truth was binary or a spectrum. He felt very strongly that things were simply true or false and that you couldn't quantify a statement with some kind of partial truth value. He was a philosophy major and a strong Christian, but I suspect that his religious background made him feel this way about truth.
This is all to say that I think many Americans have a simplistic view of truth and are uncomfortable debating in an open and vulnerable way. Individuals are held to a ridiculous standard and punished for ever contradicting their tribe or self-hypocrisy of any kind. Take Biden for example, the media contrasts who he was thirty years ago with who he is today, hunting for hypocrisy stories. Identifying "flip-flops" in politics became an obsession of the media for years. Instead of celebrating personal improvement in thought and changing beliefs, we punish them. I think these attitudes corrupt politics and professional lives.
So I'm not surprised that as people become more educated, they're more aware of these attitudes in American life and avoid speaking their mind to avoid ridicule and professional or political punishment. In America, among strangers and in media, when someone speaks their mind and is wrong in any way, the response is more often "you're an idiot" rather than "I disagree and here's why"; there's always a focus more on what the person is wrong about and picking it apart in a righteous and punitive way.
On Facebook, when I see someone in my network post a very dubious meme, I can ask, ‘what is your source for that information?’ And get a response of the sort like ‘I see it with my own eyes.’ I can also find a a source refuting said meme and get a response that the source in question is part of the bias fake media or something to the like. I know this is slightly different than self-censorship of my own views, but it does create a ‘why bother?’ attitude if we can’t even live in the same epistemological universe.
Intellectual elitism may cause self-censorship in that as we become more educated the idea that opposing views are either stupid or evil or both is reinforced. Why engage in debate with stupid people when my friends and I are clearly correct? It feeds my ego far more to preach to the choir and have all my view points reflected back at me. Great article, thank you.
Two of my few old friendships (25 and 30+- year long ones) have been damaged, perhaps irreparably, as a consequence of my sharing an Obama-ordered study on policing deemed by tjose friends to be dangerous and biased. Meanwhile, these ivy-educated friends'
politics are informed exclusively by opinion pieces and emotions. These bright women not only disregard facts and data... they also lack any meaningful professional or personal experiences to inform their views. My experiences (vast compared to theirs, but admittedly limited) are supported by data and, to me, suggest that BLM is a less than ideal force for change. There is no question that I care more about, have invested more in and am more passionately about using current social momentum to achieve a more equitable, just, and compassionate world - even the friends in question would admit that. But those are dated hippie ideals these days.
I asked the friend I was closest to to explain why she was suddenly so dismissive of my thoughts and experiences... asked how I could change my behavior or communication style to make our Zoom chats go more smoothly. She explained: because of coronavirus, everyone is mad and exhausted. They (and she) want to vent about Trump and to explore their newly discovered woke fragility. Hating Trump and taking the opposite of his every stance with religious fervor makes them feel good. Facts and nuances bore them at best. And frankly, the virtue signalling you may have already started to imagine bores me no less.
Until about January, I had thought I shared their sentiments about Trump, but it's clear that my disapproval pales in comparison to theirs, which is of an ilk that requires no reflection, no considerationonly... only hostillity and conviction.
My oldest friend in the group passive-aggressively and ominously encouraged me to keep my thoughts and studies to myself. So that's what I've done... that, and - despite how risky it feels - joining this forum.