Freedom of speech is a fundamental tenet of the United States of America, understood by our Founding Fathers as an “unalienable right” given to all human beings (“endowed”) by God (“their Creator”). As stated in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
An alarming percentage of U.S. Millennials, however, as many as 4 out of 10, support government censorship, i.e., abridging the Constitutional right of freedom of speech of anyone who makes public statements “offensive” to “minorities”.
Millennials are those born between 1981 and 1997 who are 18 to 34 years old in 2015.
Jacob Poushter reports for PewResearchCenter, Nov. 20, 2015, that American Millennials are far more likely than older generations to say the government should be able to prevent people from saying offensive statements about minority groups, according to a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data on free speech and media across the globe.
The poll comes at a time when America’s colleges and universities increasingly restrict free speech, in the name of racial and ethnic equality, “safe zones” and protecting delicate students from “micro-aggression”.
The survey asked people whether they believe that their fellow 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.
While Americans as a whole are less likely to favor government censorship of free speech than other countries, U.S. Millennials stood out as the group that most favors censorship. Here are the survey results for Americans:
- Overall, 28% of Americans are pro-censorship; 67% support free speech.
- 40% of Millennials are pro-censorship vs. 58% pro-free speech.
- The elderly (ages 70-87) are most pro-free speech: 80% are for vs. 12% who favor censorship.
- Women are more pro-censorship (33%) than men (23%).
- Democrats are more pro-censorship (35%) than Independents (27%) or Republicans (18%).
- Non-whites are more pro-censorship (38%) than white non-Hispanics (23%).
- The less educated — those with only a high school education or less — are more pro-censorship (31%) than those with some college (29%) and those with a college degree or more (22%).
Here’s how Americans compare with Europeans. No wonder Europe, especially Germany, seems helpless before the tide of Muslim “refugee” invaders.
It appears young Americans are just waiting for a demagogue to mold and mobilize them into a new Hitlerjeugend (Hitler Youth), Communist Youth League, or Maoist Red Guards.
Remember this?
~Eowyn
