I'm actually surprised about the 82% agreeing that hate speech is a problem. When I first read the article, I must have unwittingly interpreted the sentence to mean that 82% agreed that classifying certain speech as hate speech was a problem, but after drilling down in the report, they indicate that 82% actually said that speech should be classified and limited to protect disadvantaged groups. This is troubling, because as you've indicated, it goes against our free speech principles. It's pretty unsettling that the exhausted majority feels this way about such contradicting issues. It's interesting to me that the conservative media focused so much on the fact that the majority of Americans are tired of political correctness while sweeping the hate speech point under the rug. It seems like something worth distinguishing for those who can't connect the dots.

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quote:
Free Speech and Political Correctness

Many Americans regard freedom of speech as a foundation stone of their democracy. This freedom, however, runs into constraints when it threatens important values such as public order and the prevention of hate speech. The vast majority of Americans want to feel free to speak their mind, but they also recognize that there should be limits on speech that is dangerous or hateful. Levels of conviction on both of these subjects are relatively similar among the liberal segments and the Politically Disengaged. However, among Moderates, Traditional Conservatives, and especially among Devoted Conservatives, there is a stronger recognition of the need to preserve free speech than of the need to protect against hate speech.

On each issue, there is a wide gap between the majority of Americans and the views of either the Devoted Conservatives or Progressive Activists. Devoted Conservatives value freedom above other concerns, and are almost three times as likely to disagree strongly with the need to protect people from dangerous and hateful speech than Americans on average (34 versus 13 percent). Progressive Activists, on the other hand, worry that free speech is often a cover for offensive and dangerous speech, and 36 percent of them strongly disagree with the claim that political correctness has gone too far, compared to an average of 7 percent of Americans generally who strongly disagree with that claim.

On both issues, we find a significant gap between the views of the highly ideological wing segments, who are most active in public conversation, and those in the Exhausted Majority. While there may be agreement about the problems with “political correctness,” this phrase is hard to define. On issues ranging from gender and Islam to race and immigration, at least 50 percent of Americans claim there is “pressure to think a certain way.” Even among liberal groups, a significant percentage feels constrained. This pressure is highest regarding Islam, about which fully 66 percent of Americans say they do not feel that it is “acceptable” to voice their opinions. Context matters, though: More than two-thirds of Americans say they feel less inhibited voicing their perspectives when they are among “people like me.”