Possibly. Though I'm more inclined to think it was just poorly designed because the complexities of the issue weren't examined and fully thought through ahead of time.
If you feel comfortable voicing your political opinions all the time in front of friends and colleagues, you either need more interesting political opinions or a more diverse group of friends and colleagues. Common sense self-editing is not a sign of lack of free speech.
I agree. That's another thing the survey elides. It simply asks, "Are there views you hold that you feel uncomfortable expressing?" It doesn't get at how many of your views you're keeping to yourself. And it would be awfully odd to find someone who is comfortable expressing every last view they hold. So you're correct that a finding that lots of people have a least *one* view they keep to themselves doesn't actually tell us anything meaningful about the state of free speech.
This is exactly what I was thinking when I saw the survey! Like, my dad grew up in rural Iowa in the 60s and 70s. Everyone he knew was white and most were specifically Scandinavian. The religious conflict in town was between the Swedish and Danish Lutheran churches. LGBT people were so closeted they probably wouldn't admit on a survey like this that they couldn't express their sexuality: they just took it for granted. Everyone got their news from Walter Cronkite.
The world he grew up in was simply too small for people to have disagreements! Conflict is an unavoidable part of a liberal, dynamic society!
Kind of makes you wonder whether a poll so constructed was designed at the outset to reach a specific conclusion, doesn't it? :)
Possibly. Though I'm more inclined to think it was just poorly designed because the complexities of the issue weren't examined and fully thought through ahead of time.
If you feel comfortable voicing your political opinions all the time in front of friends and colleagues, you either need more interesting political opinions or a more diverse group of friends and colleagues. Common sense self-editing is not a sign of lack of free speech.
I agree. That's another thing the survey elides. It simply asks, "Are there views you hold that you feel uncomfortable expressing?" It doesn't get at how many of your views you're keeping to yourself. And it would be awfully odd to find someone who is comfortable expressing every last view they hold. So you're correct that a finding that lots of people have a least *one* view they keep to themselves doesn't actually tell us anything meaningful about the state of free speech.
This is exactly what I was thinking when I saw the survey! Like, my dad grew up in rural Iowa in the 60s and 70s. Everyone he knew was white and most were specifically Scandinavian. The religious conflict in town was between the Swedish and Danish Lutheran churches. LGBT people were so closeted they probably wouldn't admit on a survey like this that they couldn't express their sexuality: they just took it for granted. Everyone got their news from Walter Cronkite.
The world he grew up in was simply too small for people to have disagreements! Conflict is an unavoidable part of a liberal, dynamic society!