SUMMARY:
With the
· Advent of technology
· Concept of global village
· Concept of citizen journalism
the spiral of silence theory holds no ground of existence. It needs to be treated as an obsolete concept, practiced before the age of Internet.
RESEARCH INTRODUCTION:
Spiral of silence theory states that the opinion of any “minority” community or individual currently existing in the society, will be slowly ‘spiraled’ into nothingness in the future. The majority opinion will prevail. Majority opinion is the ‘public’s opinion’ and by public’s opinion, we mean any opinion which can be voiced in society without fear of facing ‘consequences’, particularly the fear of one’s ‘isolation’.
POINTS OF AGENDA:
The opinion of this research paper (which will be explained in detail in the later part of this paper), mainly revolves around the following statement:
“With the introduction of concepts such as
1. ‘Citizen journalism and
2. ‘Global Village’
the original concept of ‘spiralling down’ of minority’s opinion is now no longer valid”. In the later part of this research paper, I’ll present personal experiences and observations which led me to write this paper, believing that Spiral of Silence theory now does not exist. Lastly, I’ll explain why it’s nullification is actually long overdue. Before that let’s see what spiral of silence theory comprises of:
SPIRAL OF SILENCE THEORY:
This theory has 4 prime points which stand out. The points alongwith brief explanations are given as under:
‘Quasi-statistical’ approach is used by a new person in society to form an opinion about any issue. This issue has to be one that the individual was previously unaware of. This process involves taking hints from interpersonal communication, observing one’s environment, and seeking out information that media gives to form an opinion about that ‘new’ topic/issue. Note that the mind (of that new person) was previously unexposed to this issue.
The unpopular opinions in any society are spiralled down until at the very bottom they eventually disappear. Others have already argued that, to regard a deviant opinion as ‘lost’, ‘forgotten’ and ‘disappeared’ is not a practical approach. Silent opinions still remain strong opinions rooted in and believed by the hard core members of society. And eventually, the hard core members find a way to express their unpopular opinion. These minority opinions do not, as the spiral of silence proposes, get silenced forever. Remember that the “slow downward ‘spiralling’ effect” upon a minority opinion holds much importance in this theory. (And this is what the author is going to challenge in this paper, his point being that the spiralling effect doesn’t exist now)
The third point of spiral of silence theory is that anyone daring to stand up to the majority opinion is going to face a threat of isolation. This isolation can come from the whole community itself, or from just the part of groups that (s)he is a member of. Daring to deny a publicly held opinion brings isolation as a consequence
Finally, Spiral of silence theory states that due to the consequences discussed in the above point (#3), people don’t usually express deviant opinion. And any opinion, right or wrong, when left unexpressed, becomes a minority opinion. So with the fear factor of isolation spread in by media and enforced by one’s surroundings, general populace stops expressing opinions that are condemned, even though they might be morally right and their opinions might be justified. Before choosing to express themselves, people wait and see, lest they might be left isolated.
EXISTING LITERATURE THAT ‘DILUTES’ SOS THEORY:
All the points above were proposed and later put to many uses by other theorists in various fields of life, all before the herculean introduction of internet and the change brought by social media (and the subsequently emerging concept of Global Village). Studies done after the millennium have actually addressed this concern several times. For example, in the reference (Spiral of Silence in online media interactions may also be diluted because of the internet's global interconnectivity” (Kim et. al, 2014, pp. 714-715)) the critic presented falls a little short of actually erasing the theory itself by using the term ‘dilution’ in his paper. In the same research paper, the researcher refers to the anonymity of internet as a reason of denial of the fear of isolation in his following words: “Thanks to the anonymous nature of the internet, individuals within groups can voice their opinion without fear of retribution (Kim et. al, 2014, p. 715; Malaspina, 2014, p. 3). (Nowadays, we all find groups/communities that agree to our particular perspective on any issue and thus, we no longer fear the threat of major isolation at all: Author’s Note)
EXPLANATION/REASONs OF NULLIFICATION
Internet is not just a feature added to our lives as mostly thought of. It is a cause of a massive paradigm shift in the way human beings think, act and respond to very basic, everyday situations. With the advent of mobile phones, every Tom, Dick and Harry now can become a source of news. Disregarding the factor of reachability, everyone on the internet today can be a media outlet. Thus, in the previously isolated minority parts of the society, whom the majority treated as ‘untouchables’, there are now media sources and citizen journalists within. The isolated are no more isolated. Rather they’re more voiced and louder in retribution of ‘silencing’ sanctions that society may put over them. They speak bluntly and act more boldly. This confidence in opinion instils a charm in their actions, such that the general public, without knowing the facts, begins to follow them. Twitter trends now can form just as easily on minority opinions as a majority.
In today’s world, a concept of political correctness exists. It has gained more and more power and over the recent years, has become instilled in the ethical conducts of major international corporations.. The minority group of people have taken advantage of internet and formed communities where they can express themselves and give good finishing touches to their point of view in such a way, that it is mostly accepted by the public. For the sake of argument, I’ll give some examples below.
Porn industry has become one of the most widespread taboo in human history. Even though a young guy who’s still in middle-school, to an Eskimo sitting in an Igloo on the any of the extremities of Earth, we know the implications of porn on human health, yet somehow, the people who regularly submit themselves to be recorded in such movies have not only categorized themselves as a ‘working class community’ but also attained the status of celebrities among us. Spiral of silence dictates that the actual majority who think porn is bad would be more vocal. In reality the case is reversed. Actual majority becomes a perceived minority and stays silent while the actual few people who are working in the industry arm themselves to become the perceived majority and end up changing the opinion of newly arrived person who still has an opinion to make.
Let's take another example. LGBTQ+ groupings, within their own social circles and by the general population, are treated as a minority. Lesbians and gays march along the routes of cities almost every day in at least some part of the world. In reality, the internet generation grew up with these people and has no objection against LGBTQ+ community. The people don’t care. We don’t care if our friend of is bisexual, gay or a lesbian when we come in interaction with him/her/them. Perceived minority (LGBTQ+ community) is now not a minority as more and more people are being opened to ‘let-them-do-what-they-want-to-do’ liberalism. The fear of isolation that the differently-sexually-oriented people had once, is now closed. In rural areas with little or no awareness, there is fear present in the teenagers who feel attracted to their same-sex friends, but this fear cannot be used to opinionate that being LGBTQ+ would spiral to its own death in these teenagers. Sexual orientation is a reality, a fact and no matter how oppressed, it can’t be simply erased altogether like Ebola. With education and awareness reaching newer far-flung areas every year, less and less people are now afraid to be openly homosexual and get accepted. However, this must not be compared with the general disliking (and consequent retaliation) of a particular community by another community (like Muslims by unaware, politically/emotionally charged Hindus in India).
Jews are a quantitative minority in the world. Their culture is far less widespread than Muslim culture when compared in the whole wide world. (Specifically Jewish culture is not to be confused with Western culture). But still in the recent Palestinian-Israel conflict, because of their advantage of being a ‘minority’ in number and authority in arms, Jews ringed the world’s media far louder than Palestine. They were able to massacre the Palestinians for days while their community (in numerical minority) was just as vocal as the Islamic majority combined, or more. Jews are a nation, a religion, worthy of acceptance following the quasi-statistical sense of human being, keeping in mind the concept of ‘Spiral of silence’, the jews should have been (theoretically) silenced a long time ago. Jews surrounded by a plethora of Muslim nations have managed to keep themselves afloat and grow in power.
It is not the pre-existing majority and minority groups in the modern world which determine what side a new human mind will take. Now a new human being will look at the logic each side put in its argument to arrive at a conclusion and choose his/her/their side. Every new person now is mindful enough, thanks to internet, to form an independent opinion. No minority lives in the fear of isolation now, except in the cases where internet or basic education is not available or intentional misinformation is intended for whatever the purpose may be (Flat Earthers). In the modern world, the only way to stop a false thing from staying a trend is for it to not be false. Excluding the exaggerations presented in the form of memes/jokes, every minority group now has a convincing argument to make. The only way forward now is to listen, accept or reject subjectively, and move on. Majority can attack minority no more. With logical reasoning (excessive information) available in every minority group, now they have the power needed to convince a majority. Majority can simply choose not to care. Issues like the ones mentioned above can be accepted or neglected but not erased as the spiral of silence would suggest.
Theory of technological determinism supports the author’s stance, that follow. “Due to the advent of social media and digital platforms for people’s expression, a change has arrived in the society rendering Spiral of silence theory useless and untrue”. Now everyone with internet and basic education can find like-minded people and express themselves in their community openly. When one finds like-minded people, one tends to lose the ‘fear of isolation’ proposed by the Spiral of Silence theory, among the opposing majority too.
One thing to note is that people having minority opinion still face more difficulties in ‘getting stuff done’ compared to the people who merely have hold a majority’s opinion. We however are discussing the ability of people to express or not to express their opinions and voice out themselves in public. Many people living among us having opinions differing from ours, and they still express themselves easily. They have some sort of justification for it, and they know that we (the listener) will respect their opinion instead of outrightly nullifying them.
A survey was done on social media platforms of Reddit and Instagram for this Research paper. People were asked a controversial question (in a third world country) to know how many people will be okay with answering in a public vote. Note that every person who answers this question knows that their IDs are public and visible. The question goes
Do you care if your friend is a lesbian, gay or bisexual?
Out of a total of 171 people answering on reddit, 72 people said they do care. 99 however answered that they don’t care about this matter. On Instagram, a total of 32 people participated, 7 of which said they do care to not be friends with a homosexual. But again, 25 people said they don’t care and they won’t judge. These opinions were expressed in a public poll. This is the change, the ‘openness’ that the author makes a ground of to reject Spiral of silence theory. It has come in recent years as predicted by the technological determinism theory. Educated majority and minority are now equally open and comfortable in expressing their opinions.
CONCLUSION:
Conclusively we reach a point that:
The advent of technology
The concept of global village
And citizen journalism
has rejected the spiral of silence theory, rendering it false. It needs to be treated as an obsolete concept which was practised before the age of Internet.
REFERENCES:
This is the existing research paper used to write the above piece of research:
This is the survey conducted on reddit. The Instagram survey is not shareable but can be submitted for observation in person, for this assignment. https://www.reddit.com/r/pakistan/comments/rmoq5v/research_survey_please_participate_thanks/
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