America's right-leaning pundit class is really worried that young people, especially students, have become "illiberal" and "intolerant" of free speech because they heckle and protest the likes of Richard Spencer.
But the 40+ years-and-counting General Social Survey shows that support for free expression is generally on the rise in the USA, especially among young people, especially especially on campus — but the mainstream is willing and ready to censor Muslim speakers who criticize the USA.
About 10 years ago, the GSS added a new hypothetical speaker to its list — “now consider a Muslim clergyman who preaches hatred of the United States. If such a person wanted to make a speech in your community preaching hatred of the United States, should he be allowed to speak, or not?”
Most Americans say he should not be allowed to speak, and that number seems roughly constant over the past decade.
An even larger share of the population, about 66 percent, says such a cleric should not be allowed to teach in a college, and a very slight majority, about 51 percent, says such a cleric’s books should be removed from a library.
Campus political correctness: Data paints a different picture [Matthew Yglesias/Vox]
(Image: David Shankbone, CC-BY)
(via Kottke)
