1/Here's a story from my college days about persuasion and majority rule that I think is instructive for the present moment.

When I was a freshman, my dorm was debating whether to use dorm funds to buy alcohol for parties.

2/Our dorm, by coincidence, had a number of future frat/sorority types. They all got up and spoke forcefully and eloquently in favor of using dorm funds for alcohol.

I also spoke in favor of it.

These speeches seemed well-received. No one at all spoke against alcohol.

3/But when it came time to vote, alcohol lost. An RA confided in me that the vote, which was by secret ballot, "wasn't close."

(One of the RAs who counted the vote is on Twitter and hopefully reading these tweets, but I won't embarrass him by tagging him, hehe)

4/The likely reason alcohol lost was that our dorm had many Christians, who were not easily swayed by the kind of pitches being made by the party crowd (and by me).

I was stunned. I thought alcohol was going to win. No one got up and opposed it! But it was crushed.

5/From that day on, I understood the awesome power of Secret Ballot Majority Rule.

Secret Ballot Majority Rule is what allows silent majorities to defy the popular crowd. To express their beliefs and desires without fear of direct personal repercussions.

6/My school had a number of co-ops that used consensus decision-making systems, where everyone had to vocally assent in order for a decision to be made.

It seems difficult to imagine the shy, quiet Christians defying the outspoken, aggressive frat people with a consensus system.

7/The phrase "silent majority" has acquired a somewhat negative connotation because of its association with Richard Nixon, but silent majorities are the only counterweight to the power of outspoken bullies.

8/Twitter feels like a consensus system. There's a Shouting Class on Twitter that has the time, energy, aggression, and cohesion to shout down anyone who disagrees with them.

http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-shouting-class.html

9/You might be saying something that 90% of the country agrees with, but if you run afoul of the wrong Twitter mob, 1000 people can ratio you.

For many people, that's a strong deterrent. Most people are afraid of getting ratioed.

And that allows the few to shout down the many.

10/And that means that when it comes time to actually vote on stuff, silent majorities can come out of nowhere and vote down the loud aggressive Cool Kids.

Just like they did in that dorm alcohol vote. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/01/jeremy-corbyn-labour-twitter-primary/604690/

11/Secret Ballot Majority Rule has come under criticism from many different people. But ultimately it's our society's main defense against Shoutocracy.

We must never, ever abandon Secret Ballot Majority Rule, or forget the importance of silent majorities.

(end)

(Oh, and don't worry, we just took voluntary collections for alcohol at parties, and it worked out just fine.)