The sector you work in is very important, because the non-tech people are much more likely to work with media and organize social movements. Tech people tend to keep our opinions to ourselves as we focus on exploring the physical realities (their respective trade) instead of politics.
This post will explore and investigate if there is any measureable basis to assert if and how progressives movements alienate other groups (with a focus on whites) on campus and in general.
Recap from last post: we agreed on colleges indeed skew left, and that conservatives on campus have a harder time.
What exactly constitutes as having a harder time on campus? And is it
only the conservatives likely to have a harder time?
I propose that if there is indeed discrimination (real or perceived) on campus, the issue of free speech would stand out, and that is where we should look for possible data. We have established that the colleges do indeed have a systematic left tilt, so one could reasonably expect any discrimination would show up as a "censorship against the right". Yet the reported anecdotal incidents, including Wilfrid Laurier, Evergreen, NYU, Yale, and many more, suggests moderates, and even liberals, are not immune to the institutional radical progressive identity politics.
In the 2017
Cato/YouGov Free Speech survey (N=2300, 769 being college students), Strong liberals (52%), racial minorities (54%), stand out with slim majorities who believe it’s more important for colleges to prohibit offensive and biased speech on campus. Conversely, majorities of regular liberals (66%), conservatives (73%), and white Americans (73%) think colleges need to expose students to a wide variety of perspectives even if they are offensive or prejudiced.
We now have data suggesting a group of minorities, consisting of mostly strong liberals (diff term, but likely radical progressives) and racial minorities promote (with a slim majority) the idea of censoring "offensive and biased speech", while the vast majority of other groups, liberals, moderates, conservatives, and whites alike are strongly against such idea. Note we have not yet explored what represents as "offensive and biased speech", which I will get to later.
But does censorship actually exist? Indeed,
most people outside of the strongly liberal group believe that PC is a problem and it silences necessary discussions and stops them from saying what they believe. This suggests the progressives are no longer "in sync" with the rest of the population, and they are now causing resentment even among the liberal group (near 50%). If there were no observed "ideology censorship", one would expect the lines to be either flat or looks like a tent /''''''\. Instead we are seeing the classic scissor chart, implies most people think censorship is high and ideology based.
A sizeable portion of
whites voters had voted for the Dems between 1976-2008, with a mean of ~40%. The Progressives are now alienating a very significant portion of these white voters, who are likely liberal and moderate, through PC "censorships" and movements.
To be fair, whites had long felt they had been subjected to "reverse racism" since the 70s as a direct response of affirmative and race based policies. I say felt, because most data still show whites are still dominating various competitions for grants, scholarships, and admissions (although an argument could be made regarding white men vs white women). If anything, Asians, are the biggest "net loser" of affirmative and race based policies in recent decades. But as we've come to realize, when identity politics get involved, people place perception above reality.
In a
multi-decade study published in 2011 (N=209), shows that several legal and social controversies regarding ‘‘reverse racism’’ highlight Whites’ increasing concern about anti-White bias. These changes in Whites’ conceptions of racism are extreme enough that Whites have now come to view anti-White bias as a bigger societal problem than anti-Black bias.
It is unfortunate that the study was published in 2011 and predates the latest wave of social justice movements (BML, gender issues, refugees, white privilege debates, etc), and we are unable to judge if these events altered whites perception of anti-white bias in any way. However, a 2016 Public Religion Research Institute poll indicates that half of all Americans, 57 percent of all white people, and 66 percent of the white working-class believe that discrimination against white people is as big a problem in America as discrimination against black people.
It is reasonable then, that given the markedly increased percentage of whites who view them as being discriminated against in recent years, if we were to remake the same chart (fig 1) today, the "whites rating anti-white bias" would be higher than before, perhaps between 6-7.
The 2011 study attributes white's anti-white perception to the their belief on the zero-sum nature of racism. While I do not personally subscribe to that view regarding racism and supports the view of Justice Powell, the practical nature of various affirmative and race based policies are indeed zero-sum (in the immediate result) in nature, given limited resources.
This study situates specific claims of persecution (exclusion)by White Americans in a broader belief in a new, generalized anti-White bias.We will now go back and focus on the nature of offensive and biased speech, as defined by various groups. In the same 2017
Cato/YouGov survey, it is found that among Dems (which I relate to progressives, liberals, and some moderates), there is a
whopping 28% point gap in "should it be illegal to say offensive things about blacks vs whites", taking first place and last place respectively. I should add, jews and latinos also out scored whites by at least 13%, more than the biggest gap on the Reps side.
On the Reps (likely includes some moderates, conservatives, and ultra conservatives. where whites make up 83% of
total Reps on avg) side, there is a measly
3% point gap regarding white vs black (white outscores by 3%), the biggest gap was between military and LGBT group, which was 12%. All races received relatively similar scores.
Another
recent survey N=994 shows whites, as a group, places the least amount of importance on their sense of identity (last graph). While 16% whites say it's very important, 70% of blacks and 40% of latinos say it's very important. Obviously there are many historical and cultural reasons for this, but the study nonetheless suggests that whites tend to "operate" under a relatively color-blind mindset, as far as identities are concerned.
It is known human tend to reciprocate kindness and inclusion (can't find the paper, but this is not important), whites are
no exception.
The five studies taken together show first that white people associate the concept of multiculturalism with exclusion. However, this association can be lessened if white people are explicitly framed as included in multiculturalism. Due to their relatively color-blind mindset, the whites are less likely than people of color to incorporate multiculturalism as part of their self-concept and this contributes to the finding that white people are less likely to support diversity efforts. If one does not consider color as part of one's identity, what logical basis is there for one to support efforts based on colors?
The findings clearly suggest that to get everyone on board for a diversity effort, explicit attention must be given to including white people. The authors make the practical argument that little will change unless white people are on board. Unless white people feel included, they will likely not support “diversity efforts.”
MLK understood that, Obama understood that, the progressives today don't. Not only are they pushing their agendas on campus,
at the expense of all other less radical groups, they are also creating social movements and policies that are
specifically alienating whites. ALM could have very well been a reactionary slogan, but BLM by its very name makes whites think they are not included. Their intention to explicitly make it illegal to say offensive things to blacks might have been good, but there should not be a massive gap between whites and all other racial groups. I have shown that when whites feel alienated or discriminated against because of identity politics or w/e (and they do), they will be very resistant and not helpful, and as we saw, they went to trump.
Guitar, I have now shown you data that suggest white people as a group do feel excluded and discriminated against, its no longer just anecdotes. What's more, I showed it's no longer just conservatives, but also moderates and liberals being censored against. I have also shown whites are less likely to identify with color, and tend to be on the "censored" end when it comes to free speech on campus and in general. I have also shown whites do become more supportive when they feel included.