Silent Dissent

So I often talk about the importance of transparency with respect to the progress we all hope to achieve as a society. To reiterate, I believe it’s crucial for people to be open and honest with their opinions in order for us to productively communicate. But that’s not happening. Maybe you disagree but my own experience certainly doesn’t reflect transparency as the prominent trend. Let me explain using the microcosm of my college community.

I go to Boston College. I’m a junior so by now I’ve experienced 5 semesters of life on my campus and I like to think that gives some weight to my words. To put it in context, BC is historically a conservative institution. However in recent years the liberal community has grown in prevalence and now definitely dominates a lot of the conversation at my school. Personally, I don’t identify as liberal or conservative but I definitely agree that the influence of a left-leaning student body has brought attention to some really important issues and certainly has done a lot to enrich the culture. I’ve noticed that students have a lot of energy to fight for what they think is morally right. I think that’s great.

Here’s what’s not great.

If a news organization came to my campus and asked people to come up and share their views on prevalent political issues of today, you would think BC’s student body was almost completely ideologically homogeneous. But that’s not the case. Being someone who tries to see and understand both sides in our heavily polarized landscape, I talk to both highly liberal and highly conservative peers on a daily basis. And I know this is anecdotal since I don’t know everybody of course, but I’m convinced the split is 50/50. Half the students hold conservative values but you would never think that! Why not? Because they keep quiet.

I’ve noticed time and again people I know to be highly conservative waiting to get a feel for the room before they say anything that could stir up a fuss. And if they suspect there’s a liberal within earshot, they start to censor themselves and sometimes even outright lie about their opinion. I even know of some students that put up BLM (Black Lives Matter) stickers on their door without fully supporting the movement. That’s not to say those people support police brutality or racism at all. They just felt uneasy about subscribing to something they didn’t fully understand yet but they did it anyway to avoid potentially being shamed. In my opinion this is a very dangerous trend for people on all sides of the spectrum.

Falsely supporting and/or silently dissenting to left wing rhetoric can only cause tension to bottle up. If you lean liberal, this should concern you. Why? Because when people on the other side nod in silent disagreement, their minds aren’t being changed at all. In fact they’re likely moving further right and maybe even growing resentful. If you lean conservative, keeping quiet might help you avoid conflict temporarily but it has to come out at some point. Eventually there will be some left-wing platform or movement that crosses the line for you. And when you finally say something the resulting conflict will be way more aggressive than it had to be.

Here’s the point. If you want to change people’s minds, you have to hear their side and talk it out. If you disagree with what you’re hearing, you have to speak up or else you’ll end up feeling isolated and resentful.

Now obviously I’m not saying the current situation is anybody’s fault. And historically the US has seen similar circumstances in the reverse form as well (McCarthyism as an extreme example). In any case, this doesn’t only apply to my college, of course. And I’m not taking sides on this stuff. Just sending a friendly message to both ends of the field. Still unbiased—that’s kind of my thing.

Filip, again.