No Such Thing As Cancel Culture, Eh?

To those who insist, absurdly, that cancel culture does not exist and that the discourse has not been chilled by a fear of being called out for Wrongthink, I offer these new results from a Cato Institute national survey on political expression. Note: for those inclined to discount a survey from Cato, I'd say (1) that's narrow-minded and (2) I personally know Emily Ekins, the political scientist who conducted the survey and she is a top-notch and fair-mined researcher.

"A new Cato national survey finds that self‐​censorship is on the rise in the United States. Nearly two-thirds—62%—of Americans say the political climate these days prevents them from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive. The share of Americans who self‐​censor has risen several points since 2017 when 58% of Americans agreed with this statement.

These fears cross partisan lines. Majorities of Democrats (52%), independents (59%) and Republicans (77%) 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. However, centrist liberals feel differently. A slim majority (52%) of liberals feel they have to self‐​censor, as do 64% of moderates, and 77% of conservatives. This demonstrates that political expression is an issue that divides the Democratic coalition between centrist Democrats and their left flank."

https://www.cato.org/…/poll-62-americans-say-they-have-poli…