I think the Spiral of Silence Theory refers to minority and majority opinions, not to racial/ethnic, etc. minorities and majorities in the classroom. Hopefully you can’t predict someone’s views and experiences on a controversial issue just by race, ethnicity or country of origin.
I am a card-carrying member of the dominant majority, yet I get commonly get talked over and interrupted by obnoxious jerks, some of whom are minorities, some are women.
Moderator’s note: This is not a history lessons thread. Please stick to relevant timeframe of the thread.
The Spiral of Silence theory applies to any type of majority /minority situation.
For instance, my son is the only gay student in the classroom. Many times it has happened to him where the class will be talking about free speech issue or something and someone will dis LGBT rights. A lot of anti-lgbt rhetoric will start happening in class as "examples "and my son won’t speak up in defense of his community or his beliefs (and he is an activist!) There is something about being the only one against the mob that intimidates and keeps the minority silent. Especially in a graded class situation. I don’t think race or ethnicity matters its more of a numbers thing… and a perceived power thing. He wants to be liked so he isn’t going to speak up against the majority…
In that same AP gov class, the only black boy agreed with the class arguing against affirmative action. When son, who knows him well and knows he actually does support Affirmative Action, asked him why he did that… the boy said “I don’t know it seemed easier to go along with everyone and not make waves” …
I think this is why at U Chicago its kind of hard to assume that minorities will just challenge other viewpoints in class. … Not that other views shouldn’t be aired but I think a professor needs to be very cognizant so that things don’t become too one sided and potentially silence other diverse opinions. This goes both ways. And I think its very important to make sure that the rhetoric doesn’t get out of hand.
@runswimyoga Thank you for explaining silence theory. I’ve been in numerous situations in which the theory could be applied. It’s exhausting to always “speak up” or bring clarifications of a minority group when you are the only one present in a setting. As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to pick my battles rather than staying completely silent, but it’s exhausting nonetheless.
EDIT: Typos left and right!
Don’t any of you see the inherent problem in assuming that all majority students think one way on a topic and all minority students think another way on that same topic? Gosh, I wish there was a word to describe the phenomenon of pre-judging what someone thinks just based on their race/ethnicity/sexual orientation etc. I seem to think there’s one that begins with “ster” and ends with “type.”
overview of controversy:
original speech:
http://time.com/4493032/lionel-shriver-cultural-appropriation-speech/
rebuttal:
If your son is the only gay student and simultaneously the only one who supports some issue in gay rights, then he certainly has a problem. I think in most college classrooms, speaking against gay rights would be more socially ostracizing. As for affirmative action, there are strong arguments for and against that anyone may make, black, white or other.
As for reclaimed words ~ if you reclaim a word and declare that the “majority” still can’t use it, that’s a power grab.The majority may say heck no, we don’t concede you that authority to decide.
Perfect example of whining:
"The festival’s director, the poet Julie Beveridge, responded to the outrage by organizing the “right of reply” session, inviting as speakers Ms. Abdel-Magied, as well as the Korean-American author Suki Kim, whose best-selling book “Without You, There Is No Us,” was based on her six months working undercover as an English teacher in North Korea.
Ms. Kim complained that books by white male writers on North Korea were better received in some quarters than books like her own. Adam Johnson’s “The Orphan Master’s Son” won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2013, though Mr. Johnson did not speak Korean and had spent only three days in North Korea, Ms. Kim said. She attributed that acclaim at least partly to racism from institutions dominated by white men."
I read her book. It was ok, but wasn’t all that great. She’s not really a great writer IMO. Maybe books by white male non-Koreans on N Korea sold better because they were better writers than you, Ms Kim. Guess what, if I want to read a book on N Korea, I am not obligated to “privilege” a writer because of their ethnicity if she’s really not as good of a writer.
And the nonsense about not writing characters “out” of one’s race/ethnicity? Are you freaking kidding me? That’s what good fiction authors do. If you want to read only stuff written from one’s own experience, confine yourself to autobiographies. But writers have a “right” to create whatever characters they want and write from that point of view.
I’m glad the NYT commenters are as tired of this nonsense as I am.
Don’t these people get that this is precisely what emboldens the Right to condemn liberals as precious snowflake SJW? There are real issues to concern ourselves with in this world?
I completely disagree with the last link alh posted. Here’s a quote:
"It became about the fact that a white man should be able to write the experience of a young Nigerian woman and if he sells millions and does a “decent” job — in the eyes of a white woman — he should not be questioned or pilloried in any way. "
Well, yes. A white man who is a talented author CAN write about a young Nigerian woman. Or anyone else he wants to. And it works the other way too! Anyone can write about anything! Maybe it will sell, maybe it won’t. If someone wants to only support young female Nigerian writers, that’s terrific. But the social pressure to “prohibit” or shame fiction writers for being fiction writers is ridiculous.
What happened to admiring people who do a year or two of research and then write historical fiction based on Shaka the Zulu or Rasputin or whatever? Who would dare condemn a black or Asian author who did that?
The best response to Ms. Abdel-Magied’s post is the following comment:
Amen to that. Grow up.
Because when “oppressed” people throw tantrums, the rest of us are obligated to indulge them. Guess they are the ones with the power.
“As for reclaimed words ~ if you reclaim a word and declare that the “majority” still can’t use it, that’s a power grab.The majority may say heck no, we don’t concede you that authority to decide.”
Thats kind of how I feel about the word thug, which was a perfectly fine word used to denote a worthless petty criminal of any race/ethnicity, til suddenly it was decreed one day that it was a racist word. Boy, “oppressed” people sure have a lot of power if they get to redefine meanings of words on their say-so. I sure don’t have that power. And no, I’m not using that word anymore, blah blah blah, but I still feel the arbitrary decree that it’s racist is ridiculous.
“What happened to admiring people who do a year or two of research and then write historical fiction based on Shaka the Zulu or Rasputin or whatever? Who would dare condemn a black or Asian author who did that?”
I’m not even sure I should go to Europe anymore, or at least only the parts where my ancestors came from. Biology IS destiny, apparently.
Inclusive, open-minded, and honest conversations need to take place. The university I attended didn’t have a sensitive social atmosphere so it’s been a task for me to differentiate the demographics, communities and approaches that have brought my campus where it is and how it differs from other campuses. What the majority and minority both need is self-reflection and an environment where beneficial experiences can be developed. Awareness and empathy go a long way.
Niquii, many of the SJW don’t want “inclusive and open-minded” discourse. They want to control the discourse and have only their views expressed. You need only look at the Yale video for Exhibit A, but the links alh provided show the same thing. The woman in the third link had to walk out of her conference because her presence “legitimized” a view she disagreed with. Honey, get over yourself. Your presence or absence doesn’t legitimize a view because you’re no more important than anyone else (and no less important). You don’t have that power. Too bad you didn’t have the guts and maturity to engage in respectful discourse in a Q&A session. It’s just easier to be “outraged” all the live long day.
I wondered whether, in a majority white population, white readers prefer to read books by white writers (people more or less like them), regardless of subject matter. Or maybe, publishers just tend to accept books by white writers, so that is what is available to readers. I would hope we are in agreement all the “good” books don’t get published. We can only read what is available to us.
It is a complicated question but I think it is possible to unethically appropriate a narrative. Should parents tell the story of their children or does that narrative belong to the child? Of course, parents have the right, but is it sometimes an abuse of power?
This was a big controversy a few years back when Joyce Maynard wrote a memoir about her youth, which included her relationship with Salinger. She was heavily criticized for writing about him, but it was her own story as well.
Given the choice I’m reading Maxine Hong Kingston, not Pearl Buck. I am glad I’ve had that choice.
I don’t disagree with her walking out of the lecture. That is free speech. The speaker was deliberately provocative. The audience gets to decide how to respond. They don’t “owe” it to her to be polite.
I prefer people to be polite, but the world doesn’t really care what I think.
I didn’t find Shriver’s talk very polite. fwiw
edit: In the scheme of things, this debate will probably be over pretty soon and Niquii will be my age in a very different world 
:
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-tps16.html
@alh I’m pretty excited to see how our demographics shift our society’s norms and culture, especially professionally. I can hold my own, but it’ll be refreshing to not be the first minority to come into the company in a couple years. 
While things are turbulent now, as with any swing in the system, I have faith some good practices and knowledge will come out of this.