Interesting demographic shift regarding censorship: Spike in Millennials who favor Censorship

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

This is a pew study that shows 40% of Millennials would favor Government banning (actual censorship) speech that is considered offensive to minority groups.

Here's the report from Pew:

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/20/40-of-millennials-ok-with-limiting-speech-offensive-to-minorities/

From the report:

 

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.

It is still a minority opinion but it is interesting to see the significant shift in favor of censorship among Millennials.  Will we move away from widespread support of the idea that censorhip is not something government should have the power to do?

[S John]

Not to split hairs over the generational divide, but I'm on the older end of that spectrum (18-34) and I think there is a big difference between what people who are my age think and what 18 or 19 year old college aged people think.  I'd like to see the same question but split the millennial group into two smaller parts, say 18-25 and 26-34.  

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

S John,

That would be interesting.

[JonSnow4President]

Not to split hairs over the generational divide, but I'm on the older end of that spectrum (18-34) and I think there is a big difference between what people who are my age think and what 18 or 19 year old college aged people think.  I'd like to see the same question but split the millennial group into two smaller parts, say 18-25 and 26-34.  

Maybe it's just because I'm in a more conservative and anti-PC part of the country, but I'd want that split even lower.  At 24 (25 in 3 months), I'm a very different person than I was 6 years ago, especially in my political views. 

[SeanF]

This is a pew study that shows 40% of Millenials would favor Government banning (actual censorship) speech that is considered offensive to minority groups.

Here's the report from Pew:

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/20/40-of-millennials-ok-with-limiting-speech-offensive-to-minorities/

From the report:

 

It is still a minority opinion but it is interesting to see the significant shift in favor of censorship among Millenials.  Will we move away from widespread support of the idea that censorhip is not something government should have the power to do?

One thing about opinion polling is that one should be wary about reading too much into sub-samples.  They have huge margins of error, and aren't weighted to be representative.

That said, in both the USA and UK there do seem to be significant numbers of university students who are hostile to the idea of free speech.

[JonSnow4President]

One thing about opinion polling is that one should be wary about reading too much into sub-samples.  They have huge margins of error, and aren't weighted to be representative.

That said, in both the USA and UK there do seem to be significant numbers of university students who are hostile to the idea of free speech.

Free speech that says something they don't like.  God forbid you try and censor something they like though.

[SeanF]

Free speech that says something they don't like.  God forbid you try and censor something they like though.

When I was at University (1985-88) , it was called No Platform for Racists and Fascists (basically, no platform for anyone to the Right of Tony Benn).  Now it's called Safe Spaces and the Right to be Comfortable.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I'm curious to see if these numbers stay consistent over the years.  I wonder if the age demographics make the biggest difference or if it is the generation.  If it is truely generational what is the cause for this shift?

[OnionAhaiReborn]

What's interesting is that this appears to be a trend, not a spike. As the demographic gets younger, support for the Government limiting offensive speech goes up. Granted, at 13%, the largest gap is between 'Gen X' and 'Millenials' (I'm reminded how moronic generation names are), but not by much, with the gap between 'Silent' and 'Boomer' at 12%.

This appears to track roughly with racism (and homophobia) becoming less acceptable, so that presumably is the 'cause.' But my guess is that this is a shallow view- you can get people to support anything if you phrase the question right- if actual specific censorship legislation were proposed I bet you wouldn't get 40% support from 'Millenials.'

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

OAR,

I believe it was phrased "Do you support government banning speech that is offensive to minorities?"  That's government action to control speech, censorship.

[OnionAhaiReborn]

OAR,

I believe it was phrased "Do you support government banning speech that is offensive to minorities?"  That's government action to control speech, censorship.

The phrasing was actually 'Government should be able to prevent people from making statements that are offensive to minorities' vs 'people should be able to publicly make statements that are offensive to minorities.'

In any case, I agree that it's censorship in different words, that's not my point. My point is that it's a well known feature of polling that results depend heavily on wording. It's why you get asymmetrical questions like the above instead of a direct question like, 'Do you support government banning statements that are offensive to minorities, yes or no?' I guarantee you would get entirely different results from that question, because the word 'banning' makes people more squeamish than the soft, obscurantist, "should be able to prevent."

Now, the phrasing the pollster chose may be better at assessing underlying attitudes and therefore the best way to get at what they want to get at. My point (one of them, anyway) is that if it actually came down to proposed legislation, I suspect you'd see a very different reaction, because specific censorship is very different than a general view.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

OAR,

We might, not to mention the howls of Civil Libertarians on both sides of the spectrum, myself included.  I'm simply surprised by the jump to 40% favoring such a move among Millennials.  I do wonder if this is a factor of age or if it is genuinely a generational shift?

[DireWolfSpirit]

Ask that same demo group if we should be able to censor violent video game content and watch the responses flip flop (from for to against) like a carp on the bank.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

DWS,

Or song lyrics.  I'm still surprised by the large percentage willing to use government to control speech.  That's why I'm wondering if this is generational or just kids who haven't thought through the question very hard.

[Shryke]

OAR,

We might, not to mention the howls of Civil Libertarians on both sides of the spectrum, myself included.  I'm simply surprised by the jump to 40% favoring such a move among Millennials.  I do wonder if this is a factor of age or if it is genuinely a generational shift?

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a generational shift. Opinions on free speech aren't constant geographically so there's no reason you wouldn't also be able to see changes generationally.

My first suspicion is that it's related to the internet and other widespread communications networks being a thing for those groups since always basically, the way that can often be used by people and the greater shift against bigotry you see in younger generations. But that's obviously just based on nothing but supposition.

[OnionAhaiReborn]

OAR,

We might, not to mention the howls of Civil Libertarians on both sides of the spectrum, myself included.  I'm simply surprised by the jump to 40% favoring such a move among Millennials.  I do wonder if this is a factor of age or if it is genuinely a generational shift?

It seems clearly to be generational. If it were just age you'd see 40% among 'Millenials' (because it happens, right now, to contain a certain age), and the same or very similar percentage across the other generations. Instead there's an increase from each generation to the next. It appears to track with racism and other forms of prejudice becoming much less publicly acceptable. I suspect this leads to more people understanding racism (or others 'isms' and phobias') as a bigger problem than Government censorship, which has not been a major public issue for several generations. Indeed, it's interesting to consider that the 'Silent Generation' (together with the unpolled 'Greatest Generation') went perhaps the farthest of any of the polled demographics in actually enacting censorship- suppressing Socialist, Communist, and otherwise radical opinions. Yet when asked about racism they're opposed- again, I suspect it's not really down to core principles on censorship but to attitudes toward the thing to be, in the poll's phrasing, 'prevented.'

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

OAR,

And what is worse is the speech they banned and restricted was political exactly what the 1st amendment was created to protect.  Regardless of their hypocrisy I think it is dangerous to support government regulating speech based upon content rather than content neutral time, place, and manner restrictions.

[OnionAhaiReborn]

OAR,

And what is worse is the speech they banned and restricted was political exactly what the 1st amendment was created to protect.  Regardless of their hypocrisy I think it is dangerous to support government regulating speech based upon content rather than content neutral time, place, and manner restrictions.

I agree, and I take a fairly hard line stance on free speech. I do not support censoring racist speech, for instance.

I'm just skeptical that this poll shows a divide on censorship as such- I think it shows a generational divide on racism, manifested in support for softly phrased, general censorship of prejudice against minorities. But suppose the poll asked about preventing public preaching/practice of Islam? I find it hard to imagine the 'Silent Generation' would be holding the same line.

[zelticgar]

I wonder how much of this is coming out of well intentioned programs in school? I know over the last 5 to 10 years there has been big initiatives to make students aware of the issue of bullying.  I find a lot of the anti-bullying curriculum centers around words and the feelings they create. This change in cultural views on bullying could be a contributing factor.

 

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Zelt,

Interesting question.  I wonder if a causal link could actually be made between anti-bullying programs and rise in the people who favor censorship?