The United States is more divided than it has been since the Civil War, with political tribalism often becoming ingrained in personal identity. So what happens if you live and work amongst a group with ideological dissimilarity? Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The United States is more divided than it has been since the Civil War, with political tribalism
00:04often becoming ingrained in personal identity. A big part of that likely has to do with political
00:09bubbles, communities of individuals that are strongholds for one side of the aisle or the
00:14other. But what if you're an outlier? What if your partisan viewpoint doesn't align with those
00:18around you? Often those individuals are forced to self-silence out of fear of repercussions,
00:23and a new study reveals just how widespread that act is. According to a survey conducted by YouGov
00:29and Think Tank Populous, 58% of those polled said they did not feel comfortable being honest
00:34about their opinions on sensitive issues. What's more, 61% said that in the past year,
00:39they had avoided saying things they believed because others might find them offensive.
00:43Professor of Government at Washington University in St. Louis, James Gibson,
00:47says these findings shouldn't be surprising, telling Insider,
00:50Social norms have made it costly to express views that one considers to be controversial,
00:54and therefore people withhold those views. He adds that the less things are said,
00:58the less chance they have to be deliberated in a public forum, and the less often more
01:02damaging ideals can be stamped out. Wildly, the study also discovered that those who
01:07self-silence more often also tended to trust others less as well.