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Comment by alexb_ | Hacker News Reader

A lot of people see this as a left-wing issue, but this was actually pretty surprising to read:

>In public, 43% of people say public schools are focusing too much on racism in the U.S. However, in private that number is ten points lower (33%). This trend of greater public agreement than private holds for almost all subgroups.

>Second, while in public a majority (60%) say discussing gender identity in public schools is inappropriate for young children (K-3), in private this is not the majority view (only 40% privately agree).

Shocking stuff! I think when anyone starts talking about "cancel culture" and people hiding beliefs, this is something that should be brought up more.

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I'm not terribly surprised. We over index on the whole twitter-sphere cancel culture idea that impacts like 2% of People. For a less modernly-controversial example, I bet a lot more people hold socialist/communist beliefs than admit so in public. I would think most kids go through a "but wait, why is communism bad" phase and I bet many don't feel completely satisfied by the answer. Though I guess it depends on how you define held political beliefs. Some part of me still asks that question, even though the majority of me holds the moderate "normal" position on capitalism

Perhaps the question is interpreted differently when you ask privately.

If you were to ask me in public I would say that gender identity is an inappropriate topic for young children. But as a parent, I know my own kids can handle a "woke" teacher. In fact, it's good for them to see a concrete example of what we're talking about, so I would answer the question differently in private because I would be answering for my own family and not for what I think would be good for society.

Interesting result. I assumed that more people pretended to espouse left-wing beliefs, but secretly harbored conservative beliefs. It's interesting to see evidence that it's the reverse.

The evidence doesn't indicate the reverse.

It indicates that individuals have complex ethical matrices that don't map onto "for/against" binaries and worse: individuals work to mask that matrix given social context.

Reality has neither a liberal or conservative bias. People do.

People are pressured to agree with those around them, which political slant that is depends on their surroundings.

It's called preference falsification and is not new. Happens all throughout history, especially in dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. We are seeing a different version of it because of cancel culture, twitter mobs, foreign adversaries fueling the flames, and the like. Because internet...

It's interesting, when the right expresses beliefs unpopular with liberals, they then complain about cancel culture, twitter mobs, etc. When the left expresses opinions unpopular with the right, they're met with constant harassment with guns, death threats, fire and brimstone rhetoric, etc. Seems like one is a little more worrying than the other.

And when your in the middle, both sides attack

If you think liberals don't make death threats or engage in violence, or that conservatives don't cancel speech, your sources need updating.

Knockout punches do kill people.

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