Under the First Amendment, United States citizens have the freedom of religion, freedom for religion, freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom to petition, and the freedom to assemble. However, even though we have the freedom to do all of these given in the Constitution, that does not mean that everyone does so. But why not say what you are thinking truthfully or doing what you honestly want to do?
This is called the Spiral of Silence theory. The Spiral of Silence theory is when people remain silent because of the fear that they do not agree with the majority’s opinion. An example of this theory is when someone wants to speak about their political views, but knowing they do not have the same opinions as the majority of people, they won’t speak about it.
This theory was proposed by Elisabeth Noelle-Nuemann in 1974. Later on, results of the theory were looked into. It suggested that people feel as though speaking will make them feel isolated due to their differing opinions. Another result was that people may fear speaking their opinion for consequences worse than the concept of isolation.
Reflecting on this concept, it can be seen every single day in modern society. There are so many people that speak confidently about their opinions, but for those that do not have the confidence to speak up, they might fall into the Spiral of Silence. Has modern day society intensified this theory?
With the advancement of technology and current society, it can easily be argued that the Spiral of Silence has intensified. People are able to project their opinions through the internet without even seeing someone that they want to address with differing opinions.
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