The Pew Research Center conducted a survey that asked Americans whether or not they would be in favor of the government preventing people from saying offensive things about minorities. The results were nothing short of shocking.
“We asked whether people believe that citizens should be able to make public statements that are offensive to minority groups, or whether the government should be able to prevent people from saying these things. Four-in-ten Millennials say the government should be able to prevent people publicly making statements that are offensive to minority groups, while 58% said such speech is OK.”
That means that 40 percent of millennials think that Americans should not be able to speak offensively toward minorities. When all the age groups were factored in, only 28 percent said they believed the government should control speech.
The study found that those with only a High School diploma or less were more likely to welcome government control over speech than those with higher education. There is a 9 percentage point difference between non-college graduates and college graduates.
Pewfound a racial divide among the respondents to the survey. Non-white respondents were more likely to favor offensive speech restrictions by 15 percentage points.
“In the U.S., our findings also show a racial divide on this question, with non-whites more likely (38%) to support government prevention of such speech than non-Hispanic whites (23%).”
Democrats are twice as likely to favor limits on offensive speech as Republicans. Some 35 percent of Democrats favor such a law, while 18 percent of Republicans would be in favor of the proposed rules. Independents were in the middle.
In Europe, things are much different. Nearly half of six EU countries favor protecting minorities from offensive speech.
“In Europe, where long-simmering racial tensions are of a different nature, compounded by the recent flow of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East, people are more willing than Americans to accept government controls on speech against minorities. A median of 49% across the six EU nations surveyed say this compared with 28% of Americans.”
Not all young Europeans favor such restrictions. Millennials in Germany and Spain were more supportive of the freedom to say offensive things than American Millennials. Millennials in the UK were close to the U.S. with many suggesting the government should get involved.
“In contrast with American Millennials, those ages 18 to 34 in Germany and Spain are more likely to say people should be able to say things offensive to minorities compared with those ages 35 and older.”
In the United States, the Constitution protects its citizens’ right to free speech. There is perhaps no other right so central to the U.S. as the right to freedom of speech guaranteed to its citizens through the First Amendment. That right has been affirmed to protect even offensive, unpopular speech.
Many people say that unpopular speech is the only speech that needs to be protected. The ACLU said that the First Amendment is there to protect the intolerable, offensive speech that people don’t want to hear.
Missouri Students Association Vice-President Brenda Smith-Lezama told MSNBCthat she was sick of hearing aboutFirst Amendment rights. That comment came after days of racially charged protests at the University of Missouri.
“I personally am tired of hearing that first amendment rights protect students when they are creating a hostile and unsafe learning environment for myself and for other students here.”
Still, the overwhelming majority of the American public like the idea of freedom of speech. Sixty-seven percent of Americans still believe that offensive language should not be prohibited.
[Photo by Michael B. Thomas / Getty Images]
