Breaking America’s Spiral of Silence

Bill Dutton

7 months ago

A democracy would not send military forces against its own cities. It would not defund university research that used the wrong words, such as inclusion, or shut down scientific research in progress. A US democracy would not erode the checks and balances within the government. There are many more problems, but most generally and to the point: a democracy cannot be resilient if it fails to address a slide into more authoritarian rule.

However, the public across the US has been remarkably silent, leading me to wonder if our citizens are in what Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann (1984) called a ‘spiral of silence’. In contrast to what Paul Lazarsfeld called a ‘bandwagon effect’ – a term that has become well-understood across the world of a desire to be on the right side – Professor Noelle-Neumann, influenced by Tocqueville, coined the social-psychological concept of a spiral of silence. You may feel like you are on the wrong side. Basically, silence might stem from a fear of being isolated by expressing unpopular views, leading others to avoid you because they do not agree with your views. You might be dismissed or laughed at for suffering from ‘Trump derangement syndrome’. But you should not be silenced.

The spiral of silence is a controversial concept, and its application is even more controversial. Is it a justification, for example, for the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany’s Weimar Republic? Does it help explain the rise of the MAGA movement in the USA?

I am not sure on either question, but I turn to the spiral of silence when I see many highly controversial, unconstitutional, or illegal actions of the Trump Administration met with silence. Why did so many in US universities fail to speak out when stripped of large numbers of grants for merely citing diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) language? Were they afraid of losing more financial support? Did their administrators ask them to be silent?

Many failures of the public and representatives to speak out against President Donald Trump, even when his actions and policies were illegal or incomprehensible, have been self-evident. For example, the President’s literally red-carpet reception of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the US state of Alaska was unbelievable. Putin was the subject of an arrest warrant, a war criminal, by the International Criminal Court, over his individual responsibility in the forced illegal abduction of thousands of children from Ukraine, moving them into households and institutions in Russia.[1] Putin was met by a fly over, a red carpet, and a ride in the President’s limo, laughing all the way.

How can we explain silence in such circumstances? Some may feel it best to be nonpartisan in a polarized context and refrain from criticizing the country’s president. But if fear of controversy, fear of retribution, or a wish to be perceived as non-partisan means silence, then it is partisan, as the Trump administration wins by silencing you.

However, this spiral of silence might be breaking down. Anecdotally, I sense a rise over time in the propensity of leaders and the American public to speak out more often and more forcefully. A growing number of state and local officials, such as US governors have stepped up to the plate to call out actions of the President, such as California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. More Senators have joined Senator Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), and others in denouncing conflicts of interest and other problematic or blatant failures of the President. More court decisions are challenging Trump’s actions. More independent journalists, such as The Contrarians, are debunking the Administration and the President. And the public seems to be coming out on the streets to protest actions, such as during the No Kings protests, also known as the ‘No Dictators’ or ‘No Tyrants’ protests.[2] Days ago there was a major protest in Washington DC to demand the removal of troops deployed by Trump.[3] The Governor of Illinois has been vocal in criticizing Trump for using crime as a justification for sending federal troops in an effort to militarize American cities.[4]

Many have drawn analogies between dealing with a playground bully and dealing with Donald Trump. Neither will stand up to real opposition. While not that simple, no democratic nation can let a political leader intimidate the press, politicians, independent agencies, or the public, even if the President represented a majority of citizens, but we know that he represents a shrinking minority of the public who approve of his actions. All of those who see the danger of democratic backsliding need to speak out online and in person to foster a more explicit and informative debate over policy and practice in a democratic nation.

Dictatorship is not OK. Don’t be silent.

References

Noelle-Neumann, E. (1984), The Spiral of Silence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.