<\/p>\n
More than 90% of American undergraduates believe \u201cwords can be violence\u201d in the aftermath of the horrific assassination of free speech activist Charlie Kirk in early September.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0new data\u00a0was compiled by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which asked more than 2,000 college students about their perceptions of free speech in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Staggeringly, researchers found 91% of respondents agreed to various extents that words are a form of violence, with only 9% believing words could not be violence. Two-hundred-and-four of the students surveyed were from Utah Valley University in Orem, where Kirk was fatally gunned down while peacefully and cordially taking questions from attendees.<\/p>\n
A smaller but still alarming percentage of students (79%)\u00a0said they agreed to varying degrees with the claim \u201csilence is violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foundation called the survey results \u201cespecially startling coming in the wake of\u00a0Charlie Kirk\u2019s\u00a0assassination \u2014 an extreme and tragic example of the sharp difference between words and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people start thinking that words can be violence, violence becomes an acceptable response to words,\u201d said Sean Stevens, chief research advisor for FIRE. \u201cEven after the murder of\u00a0Charlie Kirk\u00a0at a speaking event, college students think that someone\u2019s words can be a threat. This is antithetical to a free and open society, where words are the best alternative to political violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study also revealed American college students \u2014 especially conservative ones \u2014\u00a0feel increasingly unsafe sharing their opinions.<\/p>\n
A plurality of respondents said they have become less comfortable expressing views on controversial topics in class (45%), common areas (43%), and with other students via social media (48%).<\/p>\n
Nearly half of the students asked said they feel less comfortable attending or hosting events on campus and 35% said they are now less comfortable attending public events in general, with 21% admitting they no longer feel safe attending classes.<\/p>\n
The report stated, \u201cConcern is significantly more pronounced among students at\u00a0UVU, and among politically conservative students nationwide. But students who do not identify with Kirk\u2019s politics also report pulling back from public expression, suggesting that the effects of this political violence cross ideological lines.\u201d<\/p>\n
FIRE\u2019s research also revealed how stark the divide is between conservatives and leftists.<\/p>\n
\u201cModerate and conservative students became significantly less likely to say that shouting down a speaker, blocking entry to an event, or using violence to stop a campus speech are acceptable actions,\u201d the report noted. \u201cIn contrast, liberal students\u2019 support for these tactics held steady, or even increased slightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The survey found 28% of students agree using violence to stop a speech on campus is \u201calways,\u201d \u201csometimes,\u201d or \u201crarely\u201d acceptable, while 71% said violence is never acceptable.<\/p>\n
Of those who said violence is permissible, 26% said it \u201cthrowing projectiles\u201d is acceptable, 22% said the same of using \u201cchemical irritants\u201d like bear spray, and 20% said \u201cphysical assault\u201d on a speaker can be acceptable. Close to half of respondents (46%) said none of those things are acceptable.<\/p>\n
All of this comes after Kirk\u2019s assassination and two assassination attempts against President Donald Trump. And yet, 73% of students agreed with the claim that \u201cpolitical violence is a problem among conservatives,\u201d with 42% saying the statement described their thoughts \u201ccompletely\u201d or \u201cmostly.\u201d<\/p>\n
A smaller majority (63%) agreed \u201cpolitical violence is a problem among progressives.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for\u00a0Faithwire\u2019s daily newsletter\u00a0and download the\u00a0CBN News app\u00a0to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More than 90% of American undergraduates believe \u201cwords can be violence\u201d in the aftermath of the horrific assassination of free speech activist Charlie Kirk in early September. The\u00a0new data\u00a0was compiled by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which asked more than 2,000 college students about their perceptions of free speech in the United<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[372,2221,373,1259,1073,388,267],"class_list":{"0":"post-11270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jesus","8":"tag-charlie","9":"tag-college","10":"tag-kirk","11":"tag-murder","12":"tag-students","13":"tag-violence","14":"tag-words"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}