Majorities of Democrats (52%), independents (59%) and Republicans (77%) all agree they have political opinions they are afraid to share.
In fact, there have been shifts across the board, where more people among all political groups feel they are walking on eggshells.
The survey finds that “cancel culture” goes both ways. Nearly a quarter (22%) of Americans support firing a business executive who personally donates to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign. This share rises to 36% among strong conservatives who support firing Biden donors.
All of these quotes suggest that since Trump has been in office, fewer people are willing to share their political views for fear of reprisal. Leaving aside 1A rights (the government isn’t stopping anyone from expressing their views) I don’t know whether it’s correlation or causation but it certainly seems like the political climate has gotten more hostile since 2016.
Time will tell whether that changes if Biden becomes president. If his presidency were to somehow signal a social reaction to the coarseness of the current administration, perhaps it would be less about free speech and more about a general desire to see a return of civility in public discourse.
I think a Biden victory will make things far worse.
I expect that Facebook style censorship will become universal if Democrats are able to appoint more justices to “reinterpret” the constitution. Free speech will mean that you can say anything you want unless a leftist censor finds it offensive. That is already what is happening in Europe and Canada.
Free speech and protecting the first amendment should cross political platforms without the slightest hesitation. It might be all fun and games now as most tech companies are left wing but that could change and they could start deplatform your side next.
It’s best just to let people talk out their grievances and debate, not silence people. This used to just be common knowledge and accepted among both parties or as Dennis Kucinich said (Yes I kinda liked him on certain issues). An airplane needs both a left and right wing to fly, without both it will crash to the ground.
First Hate speech law are civil complaint not criminal complaints.
he was charged specifically for targeting four high school student with flyers.
also the flyers were not “Simply quoting the bible”
they want far beyond that.
as defined by the Court.
Rothstein J began by considering the definition of “hatred” as contemplated in R v Taylor , where the Supreme Court had found that “hatred” as used in the Canadian Human Rights Act “refers to unusually strong and deep-felt emotions of detestation, calumny and vilification”.[8] Rothstein J identified two primary difficulties arising alongside the Taylor hatred doctrine; namely, that hatred is inherently subjective, which could conflict with the court’s attempt at objectivity, and that it could lead to a “mistaken propensity to focus on the ideas being expressed, rather than on the effect of the expression”.[9] In response to these criticisms, Rothstein J adapted the Taylor standard by holding that it should be conducted objectively, that “hatred” should be interpreted as “extreme manifestations of the emotion described by the words ‘detestation’ and ‘vilification’”,[10] a threshold which would not include merely repugnant or offensive expression, and that tribunals should consider the effect of the expression, not its inherent offensiveness.
in closing saying “Homosexuality is a sin” isn’t libel in Canada.
