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Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

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Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#71

Post by brsg »

Zenst wrote: post #35
TMWNN wrote: post #8

The final Democracy Institute poll ( https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1354506/us-election-202... ) that came out Saturday predicts a Trump victory contrary to most other polls, because it found that 79% of Trump voters do not tell others that they support him, while only 21% of Biden voters are shy. USC's poll predicts a Biden victory, but when experimental questions are asked to figure out how those polled reall…

Well, polls are IMHO not good, betting odds are better I have found, for example the last UK general election the bettering odds had conservatists to win. Yet if you looked at Twitter or Facebook, you would be convinced Labour would win with complete dominance in posts upon those platforms. That day I learned that social media is not representative of the populous at large and only a slanted snapshot and polls are eq…

Weren't polls actually quite accurate for the UK in 2019?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2019_U...

Obviously social media is a terrible barometer for political mood. It's designed to build a self-co gratulatory bubble, but I'm not sure I buy the argument that polling is rigged or unscientific.

Polling is a statistical model of a rare event of human behavior - of course there's uncertainty!

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#72

Post by [deleted] »

golergka wrote: post #65
Cass wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's plenty of political views so toxic and harmful they don't deserve civility. An easy litmus test: are you advocating harm to a person for merely existing in the world, living with the skin color and sexuality they were born with, or making choices that don't harm anyone else? Then I have no interest in hearing your toxic and hateful opinion and I sure hope you'll be afraid to voice it around me. It's a great t…

I would completely stand behind this comment if the word "harm" wasn't completely redefined in the last few years. Just in case: speech, however abusive, or denial of association or services is never "harm". Replying to a deleted comment: I think that white-only service is asshole behavior, just as holocaust denial and other stuff. I fight and would continue to fight it with education, counter-propaganda and civil bo…

[deleted]

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#73

Post by question000 »

Yeah well when you have a president who openly supports the police shooting unarmed people, unarmed people become afraid of saying anything against the president. When you have a president who's openly calling immigrants thieves and rapists, immigrants and their American kin become afraid of saying anything against the president. If you have a president who openly calls your religion "a religion of death" you're going to be afraid. I support firing Trump supporters, of course I do I'm the son of the an immigrant and people like me are being locked up by him for nothing. Why would I ever want to work with someone who openly wants to throw me in jail?

Edit: ug I mean identity politics has really been tainting the discussion! Who could be causing this?!

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#74

Post by blog_throwaway »

Is it because most Americans don't actually know Political theory? The 'left' wing of the US is comparable to the moderately centre of the UK (maybe a bit to the right actually). They can't think as one group or groups yet because they are just beginning to actually get a grip of the fundamentals.

Adding in, before US folks bite this comment. Please understand that Socialism is not universal healthcare, it is not the right to reliable and inexpensive housing and it is not feeding the children of your country before they starve. These are basic human rights. When you parade around wanting to defend free speech, why not defend these basic human principles? You cant speak if you are unable to due to rent prices going up and not being able to feed your family. Or going to the doctors or university costs you your whole life.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#75

Post by tremon »

youareostriches wrote: post #58
tremon wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or ostracizing other people.

No, sorry. Ostracizing others is absolutely not equivalent to attempted murder.

In this discussion, I don't see why they're not equivalent. We're talking about reasons why people hide their political beliefs, not abstract ethics.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#76

Post by ethanbond »

mdifrgechd wrote: post #22
viraptor wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a nice ideal, but once the views become too extreme, it's not practical. Not many people will maintain basic civility towards a person telling them they don't deserve basic rights for example.

I dont think that's quite fair, basic civility would mean not immediately trying to frame something you disagree with as denying basic rights, and trying to have a more practical discussion about the issues.

But... there are actually people who believe that those with a certain skin color or of a certain sexual orientation or religion actually should not have basic rights.

Not everyone who gets targeted as such holds those beliefs, sure, but they absolutely do exist in America. Until fairly recently, those people’s beliefs actually drove real policies in America that had real teeth and caused real suffering for real people. Of course we still see remnants of these policies and we certainly see knock-on effects of them today.

It would certainly help if the left did a better job at isolating those who actually hold the beliefs I listed above versus those who hold beliefs that are merely “in the orbit” of them. It would be great also if the right did a better job of isolating themselves and their own respectable beliefs from those beliefs that are not respectable.

But in any case to act like any belief that someone holds needs to be treated with respect and never framed as a direct affront to human rights, even if it is, shows a lack of knowledge about the range of things that people actually believe.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#78

Post by chromatin »

I would absolutely be denied opportunities for projects, publicity, promotion, and advancement in my field if I were known to have political views that deviated from the norm in my industry, which I will state for the record is hard left.

Consequently, I express no personal non-work related opinions not only at work but in fact not even with “friendlies,” as loose lips sink ships.

It is a shitty way to live, given how much time one spends at work.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#79

Post by andromeduck »

The Lincoln report is also worth a look but tl;dr:

- everyone agrees that there should be more viewpoint diversity - but most people still support silencing "dangerous opinions" - and far right and far left more likely to support termination for offensive views

https://joinlincoln.org/pdfs/lincoln-2019-viewpoint-report.p...

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#80

Post by another_sock »

A better question to ask, rather than the one this poll puts forth (why are Americans scared to share their political views), is "why do people feel the need to share their political views at all?"

The reason for this is because people do not spend their time wisely. Instead of trying to convince equally powerless people to see reality in some manner which doesn't matter, the logical thing to do is work to increase your locus of control over your surroundings.

Politics don't matter, they are downstream from structures and incentives. Whether you like the police, lgbtq+ rights, abortion, equality, etc is completely irrelevant, how those things make you feel is irrelevant, stop wasting time on them and let other people waste their time on trying to validate themselves and their feelings with political games. Do real activities and increase your influence and control over your surroundings, then exert your values over that sphere. Caring about people agreeing with you is the position of the victim and slave.

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