Angela Erickson of FIRE, or Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, says her group was disappointed but not surprised at the study by Michigan State University. The findings by MSU mirror a FIRE survey, done in 2022, that found 58% of Americans are afraid to voice their opinion.
Supporting and defending free speech is the main purpose of FIRE, which formed in 1999 to fight censorship on college and university campuses.
"Particularly for students, we want them to be engaging with difficult ideas so that they can learn from each other,” Erickson says. “And if they're uncomfortable doing so, that creates a bad environment for learning."
In the MSU study, its researchers looked at a famous personality test, the Gosling-Potter Personality Project, to examine human behavior over time. More than 1 million participants have used the online survey from 2000 to 2020, so MSU pored over the responses and saw the trend of a less-vocal, self-censoring society over time.
Overall, the research showed a 6.5% drop in people willing to publicly defend their beliefs.
Erickson, who is vice president for research at FIRE, tells AFN the free-speech organization supports a “vibrant culture” with varying ideas.
“If we don't have this robust discussion around the ideas that we hold, and the opinions that we have,” she warns, “we are losing a lot of this strength that our country is based on."
