“Keeping Your Mouth Shut: Spiraling Self-Censorship in the United States”

Eugene Volokh
The Volokh Conspiracy, Reason Magazine

Excerpt: A very interesting new article, by Profs. James L. Gibson (Wash. U.) and Joseph L. Sutherland (Emory). What struck me is the magnitude of the felt lack of freedom among the three most moderate segments, even setting aside the different reactions on the extremes:

And here's an excerpt from the introduction to the article: “While some might understand these data to indicate that those with ‘bad’ views are no longer free to express themselves, which may be a good thing, we have no means of discerning whether the speech lost is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ speech. Owing to the benefits of deliberations among citizens for democratic politics, most democratic theorists would regard these results as too important to ignore…”

Click here for link to full article