Friday, April 16, 2010

Social Pressure


I would have to agree with Harvey Silvergate’s view that “the first amendment should protect your right to say what you wish, but that you are not immune to what happens after that. You may be subjected to angry retorts, public shunning, and social pressure, but you should not be officially punished for your language.” Its pretty obvious that social pressure will always be much more effective at influencing what people say than official mandates or rules. Our natural tendency is to censor ourselves according to our social surroundings. If you walk into a church you’re not going to be shouting the f-word because you know that it would put you in a very uncomfortable and awkward situation. You wouldn’t try to tell a bunch of sexist jokes around a group of women or a bunch of racist jokes around people of that race. Being an offensive person is just not very socially acceptable so people will more naturally avoid it.
Hateful language eventually just fails because it is wrong and people either have personal conviction against it or are afraid of the social consequences. No one wants to be perceived as a bigot, so they avoid using words that would make them look like one. Undoubtedly the same may be true that when a group of people agrees that a racist or sexist attitude is okay that they won’t change their language, but this is usually only in the case that the group is very exclusive, and such language would most likely be limited to the group where it would feel safe to use such language but not in the whole of society.
Take for example the act of flag-burning. A lot of people are offended by someone burning the American flag. The fact that most people will hate you for burning the flag is a much bigger deterrent from burning the flag than if there were a law against it. Restrictive laws and rules about what you can or can’t say tend to bring out a rebellious nature in people that will make them just find a more creative way to avoid getting caught rather than convicting people that what they are doing is wrong. Usually rules don’t make you feel bad about what you did, the disapproval of people around is what can make you feel awful and seek to rectify the situation on your own.
So, leaving natural consequences to take care of things seems the simplest and smartest thing to do. Why put extra effort into tracking down all these offenders when they’re just going to end up learning their lesson on their own anyways? It just seems like a waste of resources to be out policing what people say. Let public opinion and social pressure be the censor, let people censor themselves accordingly if need be. People will because it helps them survive and fit in with their environment. Let people make their own battles and figure out what is appropriate to say or not say.

3 comments:

  1. I appreciate how you incorporated a photo with you passage it always does add a little more excitement. I took the same side as you did, I agreed with Harvey Silvergate’s view on this freedom of speech issue. It is unfortunate that we are told we can say whatever we like but there is always a repercussion to what we say if it is considered unacceptable. You talk about how a person would not go into a church cursing up a storm because they know it is not right, however if speech is free, why couldn’t we do that. This is what irritates me, the fact that speech is only free basically when we are all alone and talking to ourselves. I am not suggesting that we go into churches talking how we do on an everyday basis, thankfully we have the common sense to realize that is not ok, but society is losing track of what respect ever was. With this said just like I mentioned in my blog it is essential for freedom of speech to be redefined.

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  2. "Let public opinion and social pressure be the censor, let people censor themselves accordingly if need be. People will because it helps them survive and fit in with their environment. Let people make their own battles and figure out what is appropriate to say or not say."

    Let people make their own battles.... That's what Los Angeles said after four cops were acquitted and battle they did. They spoke their mind, they acted out in frustration and viciousness and they showed their asses. That's what happens when people make their own battles: they search for a battle. Having some accountability for what is said and also for the aftermath BECAUSE of what was said is an aspect of censorship not really touched upon too much. It's refreshing that you did.

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