Poll: Millennials Cool With Restricting Free Speech
Silencing the opposition.
Polling released by Pew late last week reiterates a disturbing trend among the millennial crowd — the desire to censor free speech.
Pew looked specifically at statements offensive to minorities.
We asked whether people believe that citizens should be able to make public statements that are offensive to minority groups, or whether the government should be able to prevent people from saying these things. Four-in-ten Millennials say the government should be able to prevent people publicly making statements that are offensive to minority groups, while 58% said such speech is OK.
Even though a larger share of Millennials favor allowing offensive speech against minorities, the 40% who oppose it is striking given that only around a quarter of Gen Xers (27%) and Boomers (24%) and roughly one-in-ten Silents (12%) say the government should be able to prevent such speech.
The findings also show women are more likely to want government censorship of offensive speech than men and that the belief in limited free speech increases as level of education decreases.
Despite millennial preference for censorship, America’s first amendment love is still well above the global par. 95% of Americans polled believe being able to publicly criticize the government is a-okay. That number shrinks to 67% when it comes to public speech offensive to minority groups. Interestingly, people are less tolerant of sexually explicit speech than anything that might offend minority groups.
Pew summarizes:
Even though broad democratic values are popular, people in different parts of the world have different ways of conceptualizing individual rights and the parameters of free expression. Publics tend to support free speech in principle, but they also want limitations on certain types of speech. While a global median of 80% believe people should be allowed to freely criticize government policies, only 35% think they should be allowed to make public statements that are offensive to minority groups, or that are religiously offensive. Even fewer support allowing sexually explicit statements or calls for violent protests.
Americans, however, are more willing than the rest of the world to tolerate these forms of speech. Large majorities in the U.S. think people should be able to say things that are offensive to minority groups or their religious beliefs. About half (52%) say this about sexually explicit statements, and more than four-in-ten (44%) think calls for violent protests should be allowed.
These are among the main findings of a new Pew Research Center survey, conducted in 38 nations among 40,786 respondents from April 5 to May 21, 2015.
Collectively, we have our work cut out for us. Free speech, regardless of who it offends, is an essential component to the longevity of the great American heritage. Finding a way to communicate the importance of free speech, even the most offensive variety, is something we must do and quickly.
[Featured Image: Brown University protesters shout down former NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly]
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Comments
Ok. Let’s restrict their speech!
The Democrats have people thinking crap like this up to use in the name of political arm twisting just to see if it will stick and if it doesn’t, then no biggie.
Every one of these astro-uprisngs has failed since the rabble rouser in chief took office.
I forsee Barack going wild with community instigations after he leaves office and for many years. He may even decide to formally convert to Islam for political advantage. I don’t see him as Religious at all but he likes to virualize as he decides. He has a god complex projection. My personal analyse? He is insane.
“People should be able to make statements that are sexually explicit publicly*”
*Not asked in Malaysia
Dafuq? (^.0)
Fair enough: then they shouldn’t mind signing a form abdicating their right to vote, thereby preventing them from further participation in voting against this (and other) constitutionally protected rights.
Why on earth wouldn’t they mind signing away their right to vote? What makes you think they don’t value that right?
I was going to make a blanket statement blaming the whole of the Millennial generation for being coddled from birth onward. “Everybody wins a prize!” Remember the anti-dodgeball movement?
But that’s not the problem. The problem, as always, is The Left. It’s actually heartening that well over 55% of the Millennial generation still does believe in the practice and protections of the 1st Amendment. I have hope it will get better. If we haven’t reached Peak Leftism, we’re probably pretty close to it when Bill Maher is getting more critical of the fascist elements in the Democrat party.
Literally too stupid to know how stupid they are! What a sin and what an indictment of our education system, as a result of their move to the far left.
Let’s be crystal clear though. They mean to censor only speech they personally disagree with whatever it is.
Trust me, this I know. I teach Constitutional Law on the undergrad level to Poly Sci and Criminal Justice majors, something which I’ve been doing for about 20 years. In the last 5 years or so a new type of student has appeared in the form of young people who do not believe in freedom of speech, who have no problem locking people up for “hate speech,” and who practically get the vapors when one expresses the Voltairian notion, “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” These young people would much rather just kill the speaker they disagree with, and believe that they’re right to do so. It takes a special patience to teach 1st Amendment law to these students.
They don’t need critical speech or opposing views; their opinions are settled science.
I wonder if it was their speech being denied, That they would still feel the same way. What they really mean is ” We will only allow Left-winged Politics.” We only want our own views. “No critical Thinking,” allowed. This is what the mature Left New Democrat/Marxist/Communist Party has been pushing.
I want to see how many of them get jobs. Their little “safe” zones won’t cut it in the work place.