LONDON LETTER: Social pressure is the new measure

ONE of the most misused phrases in current English is ‘the silent majority’. It used to mean people who believed common sense was so self-evident that they didn’t need to trash property in protests, and who considered democracy to be so bulletproof that casting a vote was all that was needed to make your point.

No longer. Today, the silent majority comprises people who are too scared to speak their minds.

Not because they are cowards, but because doing so is harmful for health and career prospects. That’s why opinion pollsters get it wrong. People are fearful to say what they truly believe. No one thought Britain would vote for Brexit, because those who opposed the EU were patronisingly told they were racist xenophobes.

So they expressed their silent beliefs in the anonymity of the voting booths. The same happened to Trump, although it can be argued that the majority of Americans voted for Clinton.

But even that is in dispute as America’s voters’ rolls have so many illegal registrations and dead people suddenly coming to life Lazarus-like on election day, that it’s borderline farce in some areas.

In Chicago the standing joke is that you can be a Republican all your life, but when you die you’ll vote

Democrat. Trump’s win was such a shock because many did not say they were voting for him to avoid the hassle of being ridiculed.

This is what it has come to. If you told me a decade ago that freedom of expression could be outlawed during my lifetime, I would have laughed in your face. Now I’m not so sure.

Even if it’s not illegal, it certainly is already almost impossible to speak openly. Social media crucifies anyone who does not conform, so it’s easier just to keep quiet and go fishing.

Personal I experienced this first-hand with Facebook. Soon after 9/11, I wrote a potboiler about international terrorism.

It was harmless ‘skiet-en-donder’ stuff, but the good guys were those on the side of democracy.

I sold a few copies, but after Osama Bin Laden was killed, I unpublished the book.

However, I still give it away to people interested, and a few months ago I advertised it as a freebie on Facebook.

Within hours, I was emailed by some faceless geek saying the book did ‘not conform’ to Facebook’s guidelines.

I was banned forever from advertising with them. If the book’s baddies had been Evangelicals, it

would have been just fine. I am a one-man business. I cannot afford PR companies and advertising campaigns.

If Facebook bans me, there’s nowhere else to go on social media with the same clout.

So, being banned is a big deal. If Amazon does the same, I will be out of business and packing shelves in a supermarket with a wig and a false name.

That is how you nurture a silent majority. You ‘shame’ them for not following the hipster narrative. China is taking this to new extremes. The Beijing elites are creating what they call ‘a national reputation index’.

Every citizen will receive a ‘virtue score’ based on factors such as political allegiance, hobbies, shopping, and whether you play Western video games.

Your score rating will go over a cliff if you utter alternative political opinions or publish ‘unauthorised’

information. It gets worse. Your virtue score reflects not only your activities, but also those of your friends.

So, if you have a mate who mentions Tiananmen Square, for example, your score will do a suicide spiral.

All scores are public. Everyone can see exactly how virtuous you are. Not only that, your friends will also know if you are dragging them down. It’s easy to see where this is going.

The intense social pressure generated by a ‘virtue rating’ will force people to toe the government line. Low scorers will become the dregs of society, both socially and professionally. They will be shunned

like lepers.

On the flip side, high-scoring goody- two-shoes will get privileges denied to their naughty compatriots, such as (wow!) permits to visit other countries.

In my day, we thought Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell’s dystopian novel of the future, was a warning. Today’s elites think it’s a guide.