A diversity of listeners enables speakers to voice public-spirited ideas they otherwise suppress

Evidence

Having other groups and alternative national institutions as an audience provided a welcome counterbalance to the ears of the state and company officials. The study of speech usually does not include the study of listening — of speakers’ anticipation of listeners’ reception — but I propose that these elements are inseparable. … In public life, too, ears are precious, but for another reason. Here, a diversity of ears was valuable because they made it possible for activists to say, and to think, different ideas in public contexts than they could if all ears were equally closed to public-spirited discourse. Getting beyond the language of self-interest required explicit discussion of the relation between national policy and local activism, and to carry on that kind of discussion, the group had to discover that someone might be willing to listen to it. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1472

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: People voice political opinions privately but suppress them in group settings.; Activists switch to depoliticized language when speaking in public. — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 118; People voice fearful knowledge privately but suppress it in public interview settings. — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 151 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Suppressing unpopular speech also silences the unconventional ideas society needs #corroborates (0.92) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1067
• Free speech requires being heard, not just the right to speak. #expands (0.88) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 898
• A single dissenting voice can shift private attitudes about racism #exemplifies (0.80) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1922