In the left's continuing move towards totalitarianism, silencing dissension is an important step, even more important than the total disruption brought about by riots, etc. If you said something 20 years ago that is now deemed racist, if you wore blackface on Halloween, any number of things, you can be punished. You can lose your job. You'll lose customers. You may even be charged with a crime. But, it seems if you are right of center, the repercussions are more likely and more severe.
As shown below, the left is winning this war. Staunch liberals are mostly quite comfortable in expressing their views. And why not? It's unlikely they'll face any retribution. And companies, more and more often, cave to these ridiculous demands
You don't need the law, facts, logic or even history on your side. You just need to be loud. And "We The People" are just as guilty as we are too cowardly to stand up to the nonsense.
“There have been shifts across the board, where more people among all political groups feel they are walking on eggshells,” the CATO survey found, adding, “majorities of Democrats (52%), independents (59%) and Republicans (77%) who all agree they have political opinions they are afraid to share.”
“Strong liberals stand out, however, as the only political group who feel they can express themselves. Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of staunch liberals feel they can say what they believe,” the CATO survey found.
From the source:
“There have been shifts across the board, where more people among all political groups feel they are walking on eggshells,” the CATO survey found, adding, “majorities of Democrats (52%), independents (59%) and Republicans (77%) who all agree they have political opinions they are afraid to share.”
“Strong liberals stand out, however, as the only political group who feel they can express themselves. Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of staunch liberals feel they can say what they believe,” the CATO survey found."
There are several reasons for this. STRONG liberals and their rebellious nature which by design, contradicts mainstream views, will always speak out......it's part of who they are.
With regards to the other groups, mainly the republicans, the atmosphere created by the MSM and other media that tries to punish Trump supporters like Goya........actually, has been successful at it, is responsible.
i don't fear expressing an opinion. but... here is what i have noticed.
30 years ago, liberals were less likely to get offended if i disagreed with them. today, some libs get very angry if i disagree with them.
30 years ago libs were more likely to respect your freedom to express an opinion. but today more libs are far less likely to respect your freedom to express an opinion.
and today it is the libs who are far More likely to go online and greatly exaggerate, and say how horrible you are for saying something that they do not like. yes, some of them will just outright Lie to make you look horrible.
My perception too bear.
My wife insists that all her customers(that own big companies and are Trump supporters) insist that Trump will win because of people afraid to express pro Trump views in public or in polls, voting for him in November.
I agree with that but think there are not enough of them to make up the deficit.
However, Trump doing a 180 on his huge, losing COVID position this month, should gain him some turn around points.
He reinstated the daily updates with him as the source for all the information as part of that changed strategy.............to change peoples views about him mismanaging COVID.
This could work.
People have short memories and the enemy MSM has been disarmed because they can't attack him relentlessly for having the exact same position as they have...............they will twist it to make an attack of some sort but not like before, when the distinction between Trump and the MSM was clear on this.
It's no coincidence that every leftist regime of the last century+ has made silence of dissension a cornerstone, and this is no different. It's essential because the basic ideas and ideals of leftism do not stand up to scrutiny.
Now, we have about half of dems concerned. A few more independents and nearly 80% of pubs fearing reprisal for expressing their opinions.. And extreme leftists? A little over 40% apparently fear repercussion, probably because they fear for their fragile belief structure, but certainly are not likely to experience a loss of livelihood or freedom. Quite the opposite for right wingers. A day doesn't go by where you don't hear a story of some pub losing a job because of a social media post that is considered "inappropriate". And this in a climate where political correctness has been taking steroids.
You dare think there are 2 sexes? HOMOPHOBE!!!
Dare to think life begins at conceptions? MYSOGINIST MARGINALIZING WOMEN AND INFRINGING ON THEIR RIGHTS!!!
Dare to utter that marriage is between a man and a women? HOMOPHOBE!!!
Criticize a protected minority for any reason? RACIST!!!
Disagree with anything anyone associated with BLM does? again.. RACIST!!!
The list goes on and on and on and grows daily.
And any of these offenses can lead to boycotts of your business, firing from your job, harassment in the streets. And it gets worse by the day.
Most of us seem to think "If we just play nice, they'll stop".. But that's not how it works. The more we play nice, the more offenses they'll manufacture until freedom of speech is a thing of the past. Thought crime will likely follow. Eventually, leftist ideas will be the mainstream because no other ideas will be tolerated.
"1984" is no longer a fictional work.