A new poll finds Americans very anxious about the state of free speech.
However you define cancel culture, Americans know it exists and feel its burden. In a new national poll commissioned by Times Opinion and Siena College, only 34 percent of Americans said they believed that all Americans enjoyed freedom of speech completely. The poll found that 84 percent of adults said it is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem that some Americans do not speak freely in everyday situations because of fear of retaliation or harsh criticism.
Our speech is a free as it ever was, but, as I’ve said repeatedly, everyone now has a platform in which to disagree with your speech. This is overwhelmingly a good thing. And of course it can be abused.
The most remarkable thing about this poll is that while people “feel” increasingly stifled, most haven’t (or are not admitting to) participating in online callout culture:
Women are more likely to have held back opinions they felt were unpalatable, but again, this is not surprising and indicative of women’s interactions with each other in general.
This is the third article I’ve read in less than a month published at a major, liberal news outlet lamenting the death of free speech. Um, kind of hypocritical.
