Liberals once prided themselves on being open-minded. In contrast, today’s resurgent Left seeks to police opinion and ruin the lives of those who disagree with them. Whether it’s in the world of business or sports, on college campuses or within newsrooms, there has been a significant shrinking of discourse, thanks to efforts by so-called liberals to target those who disagree with them.
Now, a new poll provides some insight into why that may be. Put simply, liberals are eager to cancel those who disagree with them because they do not fear that those same tactics will be used against them. And they are right not to fear because non-liberals are not nearly as likely to be cancelers.
A national survey from the Cato Institute found that a staggering 62% of people in the United States overall agreed that “the political climate these days prevents me from saying things I believe because others find them offensive.” The poll showed that nearly every ideological group feared sharing their political opinions. It found by a wide 77% to 23%, conservatives felt the need to self-censor. The number was still high among centrists (64%-36%), and even a small majority of centrist liberals (52%-48%) feared sharing their views. The one exception was “strong liberals,” with 42% saying they were afraid to share their opinions, compared to a solid majority of 58% who said they did not have that fear.
Asked, “Are you worried about losing your job or missing out on job opportunities if your political opinions became known?” 60% of Republicans with a post-graduate school degree said they were worried, compared to just 25% of Democrats.
The poll also found that those who were more liberal were not only less fearful of retribution but were also more supportive of making others suffer personal and professional consequences for their beliefs. Specifically, 50% of strong liberals said that they would support firing business executives who donated money to President Trump. That compares to 36% of strong conservatives who supported firing Biden donors.
These numbers are quite revealing. Those on the Left control academia, much of the media, and the entertainment industry. All of these institutions reinforce each other. They set parameters for the ever-broadening definition of what qualifies as “offensive,” and then they impose consequences on the violators. They are much more careless about ruining other people’s lives because they feel more confident that they will be inoculated from the outrage mobs. If those on the far left had more reason to fear their own livelihoods, they would perhaps be more reluctant to shut down others based on their political beliefs.
Of course, as believers in free speech and open debate, we would not want to advocate an environment in which even more people are fearful of speaking up. That is the path toward authoritarianism. Instead, there needs to be a shift in the culture in which individuals and institutions are willing to stand up to and defy the outrage mobs, which will stop forming once people realize such tactics are not effective.
